A then and now look at the potential gravesite of Velda’s from 1934 and a current view from 2019.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nDuring our correspondence, Todd reported that his father Donald found a box of his mother\u2019s items which included photographs (more on that later) and books of stories she had written. Todd stated that two of the stories he read had a similar theme of families torn apart by tragedy and struggling to get back together. He shared with us her short story written in 1928 called, \u201cA Little Lonely Lad.\u201d It reveals unexpressed emotions concerning her parents passing and the family transitions that followed (and will published in its entirety on our website).<\/p>\n
The 1921-1923 Martinez City Directories shows the brothers still working for PG&E and keeping their families close despite several moves. 1921: Ray\u2019s family – 1101 Smith St, George\u2019s – 1023 Smith St, Harry\u2019s – 1001 Smith St, while Natelene is now living with Lousia and Velda at 402 Berrellesa St and a clerk for D. Stathakis. 1922: Ray\u2019s – 1015 Smith St, Harry\u2019s – 1005 Smith St, and George\u2019s – 514 Thompson St. 1923: Ray and George\u2019s families don\u2019t move but Harry\u2019s does to 602 Berrellesa. However, the 1925 City Directory shows Harry\u2019s family living at 2502 Humboldt, Oakland while still working for PG&E.<\/p>\n
By the 1930 census, the family is now scattered. Harry 33, wife Ada 27, daughter Betty 9, and son Harry Jr. 5, live at E. 33rd St, Oakland. Raymond 32, wife Evelyn 30, their son Raymond Jr. 9, and his brother, Billie Earl 16, live at 1013 Highland Ave, Martinez. George 29, wife Mildred 27, daughter Miriam 10, and son George 1, live at 1025 Green St, Martinez. Natalene 24, husband Frank D. Bennett 26, daughter Jane 7, are living on Monroe St, Monterey. Walter 22, is a US Army private stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington. Finally, Velda 16, (a soda fountain counter girl) grandmother Louisa Mersich 85, (a tire factory inspector) are living with her aunt Della Hamblin 43, on W Queen St, Inglewood with a border.<\/p>\n
Velda 18, marries John Thomas Acker 31, on March 5, 1932 in the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Ana. The following year her grandmother, Louisa dies on June 1, 1933 in Los Angeles. Nine months later, she passes herself on February 27, 1934.<\/p>\n
Although we located her parent\u2019s gravesite in the Alhambra Pioneer Cemetery, we could not find a listing or marker for Velda. Referencing the earlier mentioned photos, one seems to be of Velda\u2019s gravesite taken in 1934. However, after finding the depicted location we discovered a few missing headstones leaving her grave unmarked. Which brings us back to Donald and Todd\u2019s original question, where is Velda Dunn-Acker? If anyone has any information on her exact resting place, her marker, or the Dunn family, please contact us as the Acker\u2019s would be extremally grateful for your help.<\/p>\n
Judie and Joseph Palmer are two of the founding members of the Martinez Cemetery Preservation Alliance (MCPA) and the Potter\u2019s Field Restoration Project. Both have a passion for discovery, history, genealogy, anthropology and archaeology. The MCPA is always looking for any information or photographic evidence regarding the Alhambra Pioneer Cemetery, Potter\u2019s Field, or its residents as well as monetary or material donations to finish this and other future projects. If you have anything to share, would like to donate, become a member, or volunteer, please visit their website martinezcemetery.org<\/a>, email them at martinezcemetery@gmail.com<\/a> or call them at (925) 316-6069.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By JOSEPH & JUDIE PALMER Special to the Gazette Velda Lillian Dunn-Acker, 20, gave birth to her only son Donald Jay Acker, February 27, 1934 … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8713,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[7],"tags":[5,70,213,72,1284],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/martinezgazette.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Velda-Dunn-16-1930-featured.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Ntvs-2gv","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinezgazette.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8711"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinezgazette.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinezgazette.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinezgazette.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinezgazette.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8711"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/martinezgazette.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8715,"href":"https:\/\/martinezgazette.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8711\/revisions\/8715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinezgazette.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinezgazette.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinezgazette.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinezgazette.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}