ANCESTOR 2: SUZANNE DOWNS

 

A person sitting in a chair AI-generated content may be incorrect.

Picture taken in the 1940s

Mom was born as Suzanne Downs on January 16, 1931, at a hospital in Newark, New Jersey. She was her parents’ first child, and she had a sister Joyce born two years later. Both girls had dark brown, straight hair. Suzanne had green eyes and Joyce had blue eyes. Their parents were Herbert Eugene Downs and Viola Elizabeth Bertha Bruguier. They lived in Townley, a part of Elizabeth, N.J. It was the beginning of the Depression, but her father had a steady job as a bank teller.

When she was about thirteen, the family moved to Chatham, a wealthier town. She told me she was never a good student, but nevertheless, she attended Madison College in Harrisonburg, Virginia, for two or three years. After the 1952 school year was over, she returned home and did some secretarial work in New York City. At some point between grade school and graduation, she started using Bruguiere as a middle name. On May 2, 1953, she married James Kirner, a boy she knew from high school, but had never dated then (she said).

As the wife of an Air Force pilot, she moved to Lubbock, Texas, then northern California, where she had my brother and me at Travis Air Force Base (I was a twin, but the other was stillborn). The marriage was not a happy one, and she left her husband twice, taking us with her, once to live in San Francisco, then to live near her parents in Monmouth, New Jersey, in late 1963. She worked as a secretary until she married Albert Kirms on August 13, 1967. They both worked at Progressive Insurance Company in Red Bank. Albert was a widower about thirty years older than she was. They bought a house in Rumson, which had a good school district. However, Suzanne became restless again and, in the summer of 1971, she left Al, moving back to California, settling in Rohnert Park, in Sonoma County, where she worked as a secretary. She finished her college degree at Sonoma State College in the mid-1970s. She did her student-teacher training in middle school English, but could not maintain an orderly classroom, so she wasn’t able to get a teaching certificate.

My brother and I were young adults and left home. Years later, I was surprised to read in the newspaper that she got a marriage license in November 1974, but she did not marry after all. About 1980 she moved from California to Texas; we lived in Lufkin, which she didn’t like, so she settled in Austin. Once my brother was reassigned to Arizona and had children, our mother moved to Tucson to be near them. She liked that state and, except for short moves to Maine and Paris, France, she stayed in Arizona until she needed to be near family, settling in San Angelo, Texas, then Austin. While she was in Tucson, she attended journalism school at the University of Arizona. She liked writing but her career in journalism was short-lived. She loved reading the newspaper and a couple of times she moved (to Luling, Texas, and Show Low, Arizona) because she got jobs at the local newspapers as a reporter. The fast-paced news cycle was too much for her, though.

 Mom was curious and many of her friends were from other countries. She loved opera and anything Mexican or Spanish.

Going through Christmas cards she had saved (and a few online city directories), I was interested to see all the places she had lived before having to settle down once and for all.

She started married life at 924 East Shotwell Ave. Bainbridge, GA.

In 1955 Mom lived at 122 Texas Ave., Travis AFB, Fairfield, CA.

In 1957 Mom lived at 949 Fell St. in San Francisco. We were still there in March 1960 (per a letter from a friend).

In 1961 we lived at 38 Eastwood Court in San Jose, then on Planet Parkway in Sacramento.

In 1963 we were at 3913 Apple Blossom Way in Carmichael.

in March 1964 we were at 50 Church St. Little Silver, N.J.

In January 1966 we were at Apt. 12 Molly Pitcher Village in Red Bank, N.J.

In 1966-1967 we lived in Fair Haven, N.J.

In 1967-1970, at 7 Narumson St., Rumson, N.J.

Mom was at 182 Allen Ave. Rohnert Park, CA from 1970-1974, at least.

In 1977 she lived at 4666 Daywalt Rd. Sebastopol, CA.

She lived in Bodega Bay, California sometime in the 1970s.

In January 1981 Mom lived at 1713 Cullen Ave. Austin, TX.

Before February 1983 Mom lived at 1616 W. 6th St. #108 in Austin.

In 1983-1984 Mom Lived at 5605 Shoalwood Ave. Austin.

From Sep. 1884 to at least Jan. 1985, Mom lived at 1907 Newning Ave., Austin, TX

From 1986-1987, Mom lived at 821 1/2 E. 8th St., Tucson, AZ 85719.

In Sep. 1988, she lived at 1308 N. Howard Blvd in Tucson, AZ.

In Jan. 1990 she lived at 931 N. Dodge Blvd Tucson.

I cannot remember when she moved to Portland, Maine for about half a year, but it may have been between 1990-1995. She worked as a census enumerator so it must have been 1980 or 1990.

In 1995 she lived in White Mountain Lake, AZ.

In 1998 and 1999 She lived at 1869 Rainbow Circle, Show Low, AZ 85901.

 

A person in a white dress AI-generated content may be incorrect.

September 15, 1973

 

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