Notes
Note N736
Index
From the Find a grave Memorial:
Robert Leavell, born September 15, 1718, in Culpeper County, Virginia, died June 28, 1797, in Newberry County, South Carolina.
Robert Leavell, 1718-1797, married Sarah COLE circa 1740; she died in 1795.
Robert Leavell, 1718-1797, apparently had left Virginia before January 12, 1769 when he was granted 300 acres in Newberry County, South Carolina.
At the time of his death he was a deacon in the Bush River Baptist Church, in Newberry County, South Carolina.
There does not appear to be a grave marker extant for Reobert LEAVELL, 1718-1797; however a number of his descendants are buried there.
Notes
Note N737
Index
Neil Fletcher Sr., 84, who collaborated with his brother to invent the renowned Fletcher Corny Dog sold for decades at the State Fair of Texas, died of cancer Tuesday morning at Denton Community Hospital HCA.
The Fletchers were responsible for Fletcher's Original State Fair Corny Dogs, which have been sold by fair concessionaires since 1942. The Fletcher family began franchising the popular food-on-a-stick in 1982, but last year the family business filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code.
Neil D. "Skip' Fletcher Jr., Fletcher's son, said his father, a longtime Lewisville resident, had been ill since September, when he fell and broke his hip. The elder Fletcher was found to have cancer after his hip injury, his son said.
The accident forced the elder Fletcher to miss this year's State Fair and ended the former vaudeville entertainer's tradition of frying corny dogs and working the fair crowds. Each year, fair concessionaires sell about 500,000 Fletcher corny dogs, a spokesman said.
"He was a colorful character,' said David Nixon, vice president of concessions at the State Fair. "He was outgoing, very friendly and had a good speaking voice.'
Fair spokeswoman Nancy Wiley said: "He was a wonderful spokesman for his business and for the State Fair. He was at the fair every year behind the counter adding his show business touches to his product.'
Fletcher and his brother Carl, who died in April 1984, were reared in a family that had seven generations of entertainers, Neil Jr. said.
The brothers came to Dallas with their tent vaudeville act in the early 1930s and liked the city so much that they stayed.
As a child, Rose-Mary Rumbley watched Fletcher perform his vaudeville act. Ms. Rumbley also worked with Fletcher when he was an announcer on a children's radio program in Dallas in the 1930s and 1940s.
"He had such a gorgeous voice,' said Ms. Rumbley, who taped a bank television commercial with Fletcher 15 years ago. "I was so influenced by Neil that I became an actress.'
During the 1936 centennial fair, Fletcher and his brother performed together in the play The Drunkard.
But the entertainment side of the brothers' career was put on hold in 1938, when fair officials offered them a chance to rent a booth.
"His favorite line was that he and his brother Carl helped kill vaudeville because they were so bad,' Neil Fletcher Jr. said of his father.
After hearing about a man in Oak Lawn who sold hot dogs covered with a cornmeal batter, Carl Fletcher had an idea to improve on the novelty.
The unidentified Oak Lawn man baked the hot dogs in cornmeal molds for 25 minutes. But Carl Fletcher devised the idea of putting the cornmeal-covered hot dog on a stick and quick-cooking it in hot grease.
It took the brothers nine years to refine the formula for the modern corny dogs.
In 1942, they opened their first stand at the State Fair midway and sold the corny dogs for 15 cents each, grossing $8,000 that year.
"He was a super salesman,' Ms. Wiley said. "He was a delightful person, as well as an astute businessman.'
When his brother Carl began taking a reduced role in the business in the 1960s, Neil Fletcher Sr. and his three sons took over.
With their father's blessings, the sons opened Fletcher's Industries Inc. in 1982, corny dog franchise restaurants separate from their Fair Park business, Neil Jr. said.
"He was a giver who was always in the process of helping people,' Neil Jr. said of his father. "He'd always been here to help his family.
"We're not going to change a thing he has done. We have so many fans. The family will continue the State Fair operation.'
Besides Neil Jr., Fletcher is survived by his sons John and Bill, both of Lewisville; 10 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
Services will be at noon Thursday at Restland Memorial Park and Funeral Home chapel. Burial will be in Restland Memorial Park.
Dallas Morning News, The (TX)
Date: December 21, 1988
Notes
Note N738
Index
In 1920 Census, living with parents Archie D and Emma Vandeman
Notes
Note N739
Index
Last name Scott in 1930 Census
Notes
Note N740
Index
Ridgecrest, Calif. -
On Monday, June 1, 2009, Jack Bates went home to be with his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He was 89. He had been a resident of Ridgecrest since 1966, coming here from San Bernardino after retiring from the Air Force.
Jack was born in Anson, Texas, on Feb. 12, 1920, the youngest of nine children. He spent his school years in Levelland, Texas, working on his father’s cotton farm.
Jack had several jobs at China Lake, but the one that he loved the most was working with the Marines on aircraft gun systems. He was the program manager for the development of the GPU-2A gun pod and then the 25 MM gun system for the AV-8 Harrier. He retired from the base with 45 years of government service, including his 20 years of active duty in the U.S. Army Air Corps and then the U.S. Air Force.
After two years of college, he enlisted in the Army in the summer of 1941 and then went to OCS at Ft Belvoir, Va., and was commissioned in the Army Corps of Engineers. In 1943, he was selected for pilot training. Training was in Waco, Texas, Ft. Worth, Texas, for B-24 transition, then Muroc (Edwards AFB) for Advanced training. In January of 1945 he picked up his new crew and his B-24J named "Betty J" at Lemoore. His copilot and life-long friend Gene Gelson was from Southern California. Jack and Gene completed 47 combat missions against Japan from January through August 1945, flying from Guam, Saipan, and Okinawa with the 42nd Bombardment Squadron. Their last flight together was when they brought the Betty J home to Sacramento on Nov. 11, 1945. The Betty J was the last B-24 to leave Okinawa. Jack and Gene would always telephone each other on the 11th of November to recount their wartime experiences.
One of the most memorable missions they had was on August 6th when, enroute to their designated target area, they witnessed the mushroom cloud from the bombing of Hiroshima.
After the war Jack was discharged and went home to Texas. A few months later he decided to go back in the service and went back in as a Master Sergeant, Crew Chief on B-29s. A couple of years later, he got his commission back and went back to flying. During his career he flew the PT-19, PT-17, AT-6, B-24, B-25, B-26, B-29, B-36, C-45, C-47, C-54, and C-97. His assignments were at Carswell AFB, Texas, Munich, Germany, Reese AFB, Texas, Randolph AFB, Texas, Tachikawa, Japan and Norton AFB, where he retired.
Jack and his wife Midge, who passed in 2007, were married 64 years.
He is survived by two sons, Russ Bates and wife Linda, and Brett Bates; two grandchildren, Josh and Jenny; and two great-grandchildren, Jared and Allison, all of Ridgecrest.
Visitation will be from 4 until 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 9 at the H.K. Holland Memorial Chapel. A memorial service is planned for Wednesday, June 10 at 10 a.m. at Calvary Chapel, Ridgecrest; 210 E. Springer St. Burial with Military Honors will be immediately after the memorial service at Desert Memorial Park.
Arrangements provided by Holland & Lyons Mortuary, 371-1376. Media information provided by the family.