Shenandoah County Library Archives

Shenandoah County Library Digital Archives

Gerald Fravel

Files

http://10.10.10.10/zach/Morrison09000jpg/09797.jpg

Dublin Core

Title

Gerald Fravel

Subject

Fravel, Gerald Clark (1925-1990)
Sailors - United States - Virginia - Shenandoah County

Description

Portrait of Gerald Fravel wearing his U.S. Navy uniform.

Gerald was the son of Jacob Marvin (1895-1954) and Katherine (Clark) (1897-1983) Fravel, from the Edinburg area of Shenandoah County. He had an older brother, Alva M. Fravel (1919-1984).

In the 1930 census, the family lived in the Madison District with his mother’s parents where his father worked as a salesman in a radio shop and his grandfather was a blacksmith. Ten years later, Gerald was still there.

Gerald moved to Washington D.C. soon after. When he registered for the WWII draft, he worked for the telephone company in D.C. and was described as being 5’8 ½” tall and 125 pounds. His mother, in Edinburg, was listed as his emergency contact.

Gerald served in the U.S. Navy from 1943-1946. About a year after his discharge, he married Phyllis Amanda (Wood) in Washington D.C. Phyllis was born in Pennsylvania but had grown up in D.C. She was working for the wartime federal government and taking night classes when she and Gerald met. Her parents were Benjamin F. and Jean Wood. Gerald’s brother, Alva M., served as his best man.

In 1950, the census found him living with his wife and young son, Richard Clark Fravel (born 1948) back in the Edinburg area of Shenandoah County. Gerald worked as a switchboard repairman for the telephone company.

After a few years, the couple moved to Prince William County and raised five children together.

When he died many years later, Gerald worked as an Analyst for Contel and lived in Aldie, Loudoun County. (Continental Telephone company was ranked the third largest telephone company operating in the United States before the 1996 telecon deregulation.)

Creator

Morrison Studio

Source

Morrison Studio Collection - Shenandoah County Historical Society

Publisher

Shenandoah County Library

Date

Labelled "June 1945" on box of plates.

Contributor

Identfied by Nancye Bowman, who knew the subject in school.
Additional biographical information was compiled from public records.

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT - NON-COMMERCIAL USE PERMITTED

Relation

Gerald Fravel is pictured in Morrison Studio Collection numbers 009797 and 009798.

Identifier

009797

Still Image Item Type Metadata

Original Format

Glass Negative

Citation

Morrison Studio, “Gerald Fravel,” Shenandoah County Library Archives, accessed November 21, 2024, https://archives.countylib.org/items/show/33412.

Comments

Allowed tags: <p>, <a>, <em>, <strong>, <ul>, <ol>, <li>