Pannells and Langleys in Santa Ana, Part 3

The 1930s meant school, sports, and scouting for Bob Pannell. He graduated from Julia Lathrop Jr. High School on January 26, 1933, according to the Santa Ana Register, and entered the High School. Two days later, he was awarded the Life award by the Boy Scouts of America, in addition to five merit badges. The Register also reports Bob among a group of boys headed to Orange County's Boy Scout Camp Rokili in the San Bernardino mountains (named after the Rotary, Kiwanis, and Lions clubs) in July 1933. He probably earned the last of his 21 required merit badges there, as he was awarded the Eagle award on November 18, 1933, aged 15. In the newspaper photo below, Bob is on the far left.

Bob is known to have attended at least one event at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles when he was 14. He may have taken his 9-year-old brother Ben with him. Security and hoopla surrounding the Olympics were much less in 1932 than we are used to. It seems unlikely that the young Pannells could have afforded any tickets to events during the Depression, although they didn't cost much back then, but it was fairly easy to find some standing room to at least catch a glimpse of some events.

I can find no records from Bob's high school years. By February 1937, Bob is listed as playing rugby for the Dons, the rugby team of Santa Ana Junior College. In the yearbook (Del Año), Bob is seated fourth from the right.

 

In the mean time, the Santa Ana Register also shows that Ben was active in sports (he ran track for the Santa Ana Saints--see below). There is also a 1936 Little League baseball game reported where a Pannell (probably Ben) is playing third base for the South Methodist team. Maybe Ben chose Little League instead of Scouting, as there is no record of Ben having received any awards like his older brother. Another Register article lists a Pannell on a YMCA basketball team.

Ben is listed in the Santa Ana Register in a Christmas tribute to employees in December 1935. Ben, aged 12, is listed as being in the "circulation department," which I fathom meant that he was a paper boy.

At some point (probably fall 1939) Bob transfers from Santa Ana Junior College to the University of California at Berkeley ("Cal"). By the time he registers for the draft on October 16, 1940, he is living at 2140 Oxford St in Berkeley, or Oxford Hall, which was the largest student-run cooperative (from 1933-1977) located right across the street from the university. He is listed as 5'6", 145 lb,. with blue eyes and blonde(?) hair.

Bob would graduate with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with an emphasis in aeronautics in 

1941. Here is his yearbook entry:

ROBERT LEMONT PANNELL Santa Ana Engineering — Mechanical Engineering Transfer from Santa Ana Junior College; Oxford Hall. 

BEN MEETS HIS FUTURE WIFE

At some point in the 1930s, the Pannells have moved from 1109 S Flower St to 313 S Garnsey St., also in Santa Ana. The 1940 census indicates that they resided in the "same place" in 1935, although some other directories continue to list the Flower Street address right up to 1940. Aunt Betty would tell me stories that her family and Ben's family lived right nextdoor, and indeed, the Pannells are right next to the Ranums at 309 S Garnsey St.

            

Eula L. Pannell is 51 and listed as a stenographer for an oil company (Langley Oil). She is said to have completed three years of high school. Robert L. is 22 and has completed two years of college. Benjamin D. is 17 with two years of high school. The monthly rent on their house is $21.

The entry for the Ranums also indicates that they lived in the "same place" in 1935. In 1940 Alton W. Ranum is 34, born in Montana, and is an optician. His wife, Esther A. is 35 and was born in Texas. Betty L. is 13, born in Montana, and has completed the 7th grade. Her brother, Kenneth A. is 7, born in California, and has completed the 1st grade. Their monthly rent is $32.

Below is the current 313 S. Garnsey in Santa Ana. The building at 309 is now an apartment complex, not the 1940 structure. The street now deadends at the property of the high school to the north, but older maps of Santa Ana show that the street did not deadend in 1940. Also, the current location of the high school is not where the Pannells and Ranums would have attended, which was located on North Main and 10th Street.

Ben continues as a student at Santa Ana High School. He is depicted in the Santa Ana Register on November 11, 1938, in a Veterans Day Parade as a trombonist (then still called Armistice Day), when he was a freshman or sophomore. He was a letterman on the 1941 varsity track championship team. He probably graduated in 1941 or 1942. 

With Bob's graduation from Cal in 1941 and Ben's graduation from high school, the family leaves Santa Ana for North Hollywood, California, where Bob has begun his career working in aerospace. Thus ends our 3-part sojourn to Santa Ana, California. We will meet up again in the San Fernando Valley....