Margaret June Wade was born near Gem, West Virginia in August of 1928. She was the middle sibling with two brothers and eight sisters.  Yep, eleven children! Not uncommon in those days. You raised your own farm hands. The daughter of a dirt farmer in the hills of West “by God” Virginia. They moved to a farm (and raised corn, hogs, chickens and cows) near West Springfield, Pennsylvania when June was about thirteen years old. Her dad found employment working the ore boats docked at Conneaut, Ohio. The ore boats ran lake Erie to Canada hauling ore and coal. There was a major railhead at Conneaut. Her oldest brother graduated from Kings Point and served as a Merchant Marine Officer during WWII. Her oldest sister was a Sergeant in the WAACS (WWII). They helped with the relocation of the family. Remember that this was the depression era. June washed dishes in a restaurant and did other odd jobs during WWII and attended school. When the Korean War broke out, she was driving a taxi cab in Conneaut. Naturally some of the less desirable details are left out as too personal in nature.  She joined the WACS and took basic training at Fort Lee, Virginia. Ultimate assignment was to a detachment at the Pentagon Motor Pool. Early assignment was as a pickup driver hauling laundry. Imagine that; the Army took a civilian driver and made a military driver. Rather unique? Anyhow, as she became more proficient and made PFC, she was moved up to “staff car” duty. Then for about eighteen months, she met families and transported them to and from Arlington National Cemetery as their loved ones were being returned from the battlefields of Korea for interment. That was arduous duty any way you look at it! After separation from the Army, she attended a beauty operator school on the G.I. Bill  and waitressed on the side for supplemental income. Upon obtaining her Virginia Beauticians license, she was employed as a Beauty Operator at the Hecht  Company (a large department store) in Arlington. By the way, she left the Army as a single parent. DOD Policies were different then from our current era.

An aside: A young sailor was assigned to the Fire Control Conversion School at Anacostia Naval Station (1/56 –12/56). He reported in as an RD2 and was promoted to RD1 on 16 May of that year. He spent much time at the, “Victory Grill”, the nearest bar to the gate (oh, they did serve food as well). Esther Goldstein, wife of Harry the owner, offered an introduction to an attractive redhead. Wasn’t too difficult to persuade a lonesome sailor to take on a little female companionship. So Roy Ator fell head over heels in love! Smitten is probably a better word for it. Anyhow, on 14 July they were married by a Navy Chaplain in the Anacostia Naval Station Chapel with reception following at “The Victory Grill”. Certificate.

January of 1957 they moved to Alameda, California where Roy was assigned to the U.S.S. Hancock CVA-19 for duty. Roy was still a RD1, but that’s another story. They had underway training and a dependents cruise prior to sailing on a routine six month deployment to WESTPAC.  The relief carriers were notorious for delays and these deployments averaged nine months.  Their son Richard was born at Oak Knoll Naval Hospital in Oakland on 13 May 1957. He was four and one-half months old when the Hancock returned to Alameda near the end of September.

Perhaps, I’ll add more to this saga later, but suffice it to say that June has been a loving wife for almost 45 years. Four years as a skimmer wife followed by thirteen years married to an active submariner. She bore me three more children. We lost one daughter as an infant.

I went back to sea as a civilian in my post service career. I made my last cruise in the spring of 1986 aboard the M/V Indian Seal doing marine seismic surveys in Santa Barbara channel. I experienced a major coronary event in February 1985. This contributed to my early retirement decision. In January 1986, June had a radical mastectomy due to malignancy. When ARCO offered me an early retirement package in March of ’86, I didn’t hesitate to accept.

In early February 1998, we attended the Most Coast Bash at Fort Pearce, Florida. I was popping nitro’s with little to no relief. June had a ‘sore gum’ which isn’t too uncommon with dentures. Put a dab of anbesol on it and keep on, keeping on. So, on Valentine’s Day, 14 FEB 98, I had a quintuple bypass at the Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC), Fort Sam Houston. I experienced an uneventfully recovery. That Army surgical team and staff did an exemplary job!

But, June’s gum was still sore. Went to a Dentist that referred to a specialist that ran extensive tests and diagnosed  a malignant condition. A second opinion was warranted. We managed a referral to BAMC where a most thorough diagnostic testing scheme was prosecuted. Diagnosis was confirmed as Squamous Cell Carcinoma. On the 28th of June 1998 the malignant area was excised including a significant portion of her left mandible and some of her tongue. All malignant growth was removed and in August and September following she received 34 radiation treatments just in case something may have been missed. To date, she is cancer free. But there are side effects from the radiation therapy and she has a stomach tube (PEG) for feeding that she must use for the remainder of her natural life. There is some inconveniency that we consider as minor. We continue on with an active life style with veterans’ organizations and doing volunteer work with patients that are veterans or families of veterans.

Update - 20 July 03: Another small malignant node was excised on June 30, 2003. A skin graft was done. All stitches were removed on July 7th. The pathology report is good. A routine follow-up is scheduled for August 4th. Her recovery has been better than expected. We observed our 47th anniversary on the 14th while on the way to Pennsylvania for a visit with four of her sisters. We had an enjoyable trip.