Maybelle Katherine Jewhurst Maybelle is the daughter of Frederick Hunter Jewhurst and Mary Grace Farrell. Her name is the happy joining of the first name of her mother, who was called "May", and her father's mother, who was called "Belle". Her upbringing was marked by the joy, love, and affection of the special relationship between Fred and May Jewhurst.Maybelle was born on August 25, 1907 in her paternal grandmother's (Isabella Ranier) farmhouse in Troopsville, NY, near Auburn. Maybelle lived with her mother an father on the top floor of an apartment house at 341 East 41st Street, Manhattan, NYC. Her father, Frederick Hunter Jewhurst, Worked as a night clerk at the Plaza Hotel and later at the Railroad YMCA on 47th St., Manhattan. The family moved to 496 East 139 St. when Maybelle was three and again to 263 East Tremont Avenue, just off the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, when she was 7 years old. Maybelle attended school "across the street" at PS 28 on Tremont Avenue. In addition to her NYC upbringing, Fred Jewhurst remained close to his upstate NY roots, buying property on Lake Owasco. As a young girl, Maybelle spent many summers in the Auburn, NY, area with a close family (notice May Jewhurst on far right with young Maybelle seated next to her mother) of Jewhurst cousins (in this photo, Maybelle is second from left). Maybelle attended high school at Evander Childs on 188th St., near Fordham Road and attended Sunday School at Holy Spirit Church on University Ave, near Burnside, where she received her First Holy Communion and Confirmation. A new parish, St. Margaret Mary, began and Maybelle joned the young adult program and became president of The Children of Mary which was moderated by Father John Nevin. With this group, Maybelle enjoyed a series of outings including trips to the beaches, boat rides, and participated in plays and musicals. Maybelle has a good singing voice and love of music. When Maybelle was 16 years old, she worked for a summer at a cosmetic firm on Rector Steet in lower Manhattan. After graduating from Evander Childs in 1924, she worked for Duncan I. Roberts, the owner of the William Henry Hotel in Lake Placid, NY, for $15 a week. Her next position was in the advertising department of the New York Daily News at 25 Park Place for a gentleman named Bill Dixie. Mr. Dixie's daughter, Martha, also worked there and the two became lifelong friends, a friendship which came to include their husbands, Len Pinover and Ed St.John. Maybelle married Edward St.John on April 18, 1931 at St. Margaret Mary in a ceremony performed by Father John Nevin, who maintained a friendly relationship with the couple for the rest of his life. When Maybelle left the Daily News at the end of 1931, she had advanced her career from $16 a week to, six years later, $25 a week. The first of Maybelle and Edward's seven children, Ed Junior, was born on March 3, 1932. The couple moved into a two family house at 33-39 69th St. in Jackson Heights, Queens, NYC. This was a two family home owned by Maybelle's parents, Fred and May Jewhurst, with Ed and Maybelle living in the five room apartment upstairs with Ed's mother, Mary Agnes Cotton. Here Maybelle began raising a family, beginning with Edward Stafford St.John, Jr, and Mary Katherine. After the birth of their third child, Janet Patricia, the family moved to 34-32 72d St. and shortly after that, a little up the block to 34-40 72d St. Now the family included Frederick Miles, William Patrick, and the twins, Robert Thomas and Richard Francis. The children all attended the parish school, St.Joan of Arc, on 35th Avenue at 82d St. The twins were in the 7th grade in 1958 when the family moved to 1 Eastern Crest Road, Port Washington, Long Island (Nassau County), NY. Here, at St.Peter of Alcantara, Ed and Maybelle took their wedding vows again, celebrating their Fiftieth Golden Wedding Anniversary. In 1981, Ed and Maybelle moved to 46 Ocean Driver, Jupiter, Florida. Edward passed away in 1984, but Maybelle still enjoys life and delights her friends and family by celebrating her 91st birthday. Other photos of Maybelle:
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