SUGGS

After her divorce from Al DeLUCCHI, Genevieve met Walter Graham SUGGS Jr. at Camp Mather, near Yosemite, CA. Gen went there with her sister Ginny and nephew Craig CHIOINO, and Walter worked there in the cafeteria. He would give Gen extra treats and flirt with her when she went through the line. Ginny teased Walter by saying that he should go after Gen since she was a "rich divorcee" (she was a divorcee, but not rich).

Back in San Francisco, Genevieve told Walter that she would not marry him unless he got a better job. He had been in World War II and after the war the army air corps paid for him to go back to school at San Francisco State College. He eventually applied to both to the San Francisco Police Department and the San Francisco Fire Department. For each job he had to take a test in order to be ranked on the waiting list. Walter scored extremely high on each: first on the policeman test and fifth on the fireman test. There were no immediate openings in the police department so he ended up as a fireman.

Walter and Genevieve were married in Reno, Washoe County, NV, on 13 July 1947.20 Walter was born 20 November 1915 in San Jose, Santa Clara County, CA, the son of Walter Graham SUGGS and Sarah Edna McDONALD. His original birth certificate recorded his name as "Frederick G. SUGGS", but his parents changed their mind on his name and did not change the certificate. The discrepancy was discovered in 1942 (probably when Walter needed a birth certificate for World War II service) when he and his sister Florence added a second page which corrected the error. Uncle Fred SUGGS remembers that his brother used to joke that his birth certificate said that he was a female. The certificate did say male, but it had the wrong name.

Walter SUGGS grew up in San Jose but later moved to San Francisco and lived with an older sister. He went to the High School of Commerce and afterwards he worked as a gas station attendant. At a dance he met Muriel Margaret MAROSKY (b. 1921), daughter of Joseph MAROSKY and Lorena BRUGGENION. They were married 15 June 1940 in San Francisco.21

Before World War II, Walter and Muriel traveled to several cities for training: Selma, AL; Union City, TN; Tallahassee, FL; and Tucson, AZ. They were married for about five years and separated after he returned from the service in August 1945. The divorce was finalized about a year later. Muriel later remarried to a man named HAWKINS and had children.

In WWII, Walter SUGGS Jr. served in the U.S. Army from 30 June 1943 to 2 August 1945. His army serial number was 0-805-598. He was a 1st Lieutenant of Squadron B of the 3501st Army Base Unit. On 22 February 1944 he was co-pilot in a bombing raid over Germany when his B-24 aircraft suffered mechanical difficulties. They succeeded at hitting their target, but Walter then had to take the controls when the pilot's oxygen system failed after a close attack. Through many skillful maneuvers in moving through the formations he was able to protect his craft and return to safety. This, along with his fifty successful missions, earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Walter and Genevieve's daughter Gail Mignon SUGGS was born 7 February 1949 in San Francisco, CA. The family lived briefly in the lower apartments at 2401 -24th Avenue, San Francisco, and then moved to 2570 Great Highway, right across the street from the Pacific Ocean. They also had a summer cabin on the Russian River in Sonoma County. The house was on Cherry Street, Guernewood Park. Before Walter purchased it for $1000 and fixed it up, it was known as the Haunted House of Guernewood Park because the floor of every room was littered with garbage, dishes, pots and pans, and ketchup that was mistaken for blood. Mervyn and Ginny CHIOINO owned a place a block away, as did many other friends who formed a group known as the River Rats.22

Walter was very intelligent and very artistically talented. As mentioned before, he had very high scores on the police and fire tests. He always knew the answers to questions on the television trvia programs. He was very clever at building things, such as a downstairs rumpus room complete with an enclosed corner bar at the Great Highway house. He also converted part of the garage into a bedroom for Sharon and later Gail. He was great at drawing cartoons and making wooden decorations. One time he made a wooden Santa Claus on a bicycle for the front of the firehouse. He was a great cook also.

He had a problem with alcohol though, that eventually led to his death when he committed suicide on 9 June 1964. He turned on the car engine in the closed garage and died from the carbon monoxide fumes. He was buried at Golden Gate National Cemetery, in San Bruno, San Mateo County, CA.

Currently I am doing research on the ancestry of Walter Graham SUGGS Sr. in Montgomery and Edgecombe Counties, NC, and Norfolk County, VA. The first SUGGS ancestor to come to America was William SUGGE who arrived in Isle of Wight County, VA, from Bristol, England, in the early 1660s. His son George SUGG married Sarah IVES, daughter of Timothy IVES and Elizabeth HURLEY. We might descend from George twice: the direct paternal line through his son Thomas SUGG Sr., and possibly also through Priscilla SUGG who married Jacob ALLEN.