Betty Stonebraker

 

On June 27, 1928, Betty Stonebreaker (Stonebraker) was invited by Dr. & Mrs. T. P. Melbourne of 422 South Nevada for a game of bridge with their friend, Dr. R. W. Blodgett. Betty was recently transferred from the Riverside Pacific Telephone office to that in Oceanside.

Oceansiders might be familiar with dentist Melbourne and optometrist Blodgett.  The intension of the night seems pretty clear with 20/20 hindsight.  Thomas Melbourne had married Helen Plausse just three months before and Stonebraker and Blodgett were both single.

The 1930 Census, though, seemed to show the night as unsuccessful as it has Betty unemployed, back with her parents and Ralph Blodgett living in a bachelor pad with another dentist.

I was somewhat surprised then, that five years later, R.W. and Betty are married.

After some research I found that Dr. Blodgett grew up in Riverside, where Betty’s father, Perry Stonebraker was a “Stable Handler” at the local fertilizer plant, but had six daughters. Their homes were a half mile apart and Ralph certainly attended school with Betty’s older sister, Lucy.  So, the Melbournes were not the ones to introduce the two. They’d met growing up.

During the intervening five years, the two meet up again several times as covered in the newspapers back in the day. I can’t however, find their wedding announcement for January 1, 1933. 

The couple had two daughters, Sharon & Sandra Blodgett.  Sharon, doesn’t seem to have married, and she died in a car accident in Ramona in 2016.  Sandra married marine 2nd Lt. Robert B. Johnston, an English major she met at SDSU. Johnston is eventually promoted to Lt. General in the Marine Corps, and he served as Chief of Staff to General Norman Schwarzkopf in Desert Storm. The couple have retired to Tucson.