Wilbur Ticknor Love was born on 26 August 1886 in Navasota, Grimes County, Texas. He was the fourth of seven children born to Robert and Joella Love. Not much has been recorded about his youth.
On 7 April 1917, WIlbur married
Florence Faye Alkire in Alvin, Brazoria Couthy, Texas.
On 5 June 1917, Wilbur joined the Marine Corps as a Private. On his
Registration Card he listed his employment as an Assistant Sales Manager at the Imperial Sugar Company in Sugar Land, Texas. His physical description was listed as tall and slender with blue eyes and light hair.
Wilbur served in the Marines for eight years, both in the Phillippines and in the European Theater. He was a Lieutenant serving with the 2nd Marine Division, and while in France with the 6th Machine Gun Battalion. He received many high military decorations, including the Croix de Guerre, the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and the Fer du Jour.
Wilbur Love (in the sidecar) in Germany in 1919
Recently, I was talking to a lady at the Daughters of Utah Pioneers and she asked about an artifact that I had brought to display at our luncheon. I was telling her about Gpa Love and where he had served. When I mentioned Verdun, France (where Wilbur received a medal for his involvement), she started to get teary-eyed and told me that was where many of her family were from and that many of them had not survived. I realized that I knew absolutely nothing about the
Battle of Verdun, so I came home and did some research on it. It is still referred to as the worst battles in wartime history. One of the websites I found was the
Sons of the Sixth (referring to the 6th Machine Gun Battalion). I emailed the webmaster and asked him about Gpa Love's citations, etc., and I sent him a photo of WIlbur and copies of his citations. He has added Gpa to his website,
Old World War , and soon, also to his Sons of the Sixth website. He found an even better description of why Wilbur received one of his medals. Very cool!
When Wilbur returned home from WWI, he and Florence had two daughters, Juanita Faye, born in 1921 and Wilburta June, born in 1922.
Wilburta, Wilbur, Florence and Juanita Love, 1934, Reseda, CA
According to Gma Willie, when he returned home from the war, Wilbur and his brother-in-law, Clyde established a restaurant equipment business in Los Angeles, until the depression. Later he worked for the California Department of Employment in Los Angeles, as an Assistant Manager, until he retired in 1952.
In a book called "Grandma, Tell Me Your Memories. . . .", Wilburta Linenbach wrote of her father:
"I'm proud that my parents wanted to name me after my dad, but I wish his name hadn't been Wilbur. Nobody could spell it and half the people could't say it correctly. I think my family started [calling me] "Willie" for my sake.
"My father, bless his heart. It was never a secret that he wanted a son. He never, ever made me feel like I should have been a boy, except once. I wasn't too old but he told my mom one day that he'd take me for a haircut. He did ask me if I would try a "boy's bob". I know I did not want one but I said yes to please him and then I think I cried for 24 hours.
"When we lived in those two years in Reseda, next to Van Nuys, it was because my dad had a relapse of what they use to call "shell shocked" from WWI. He went on total disability for two years. The small acreage we had there did him a world of good. No outside work as far as another job went but outside work physically, garden, chickens and rabbits, eggs to sell, etc. Anyway, when we moved there from Glendale I was broken hearted - but it turned into the best memories I'll never forget.
"My dad was an ex-Marine and had tons of pictures, medals and clippings. For yeas my mom had letters he wrote to her. He had volumes of pictures that you view through a view master and I looked at them a million times. I wish I knew what happened to them.
(I do too!!) "My dad was super military oriented. I remember being proud of him as a "big wig" in the American Legion and in parades. I always was aware of how much he loved my mom.
"My dad didn't give advice, as I recall, but he instilled a deep patriotism in me. He loved our country.
"He wasn't good at building and even not good at girl's toys or games. But he taught me card games and a love of reading. He did not finish school but he could do the hardest word puzzles and read tough to read books. He was a born leader of men - not in a big way like a governor, etc., but among his friends and employees. His gift was his family love."
Wilbur was a commander of the Los Angeles American Legion Post, commander of the Second Division Association, a member of the J.B. Clark American Legion Post 149, the John R. Simpson Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1513 (both in Escondido, CA) and an elder in the Presbyterian Church.
In an undated newspaper clipping it is reported that "Wilbur T. Love, 52, suffered injuries that required hospital treatment when he was struck by a Pacific Electric bus."
Wilbur died from complications due to heart disease in Escondido, San Diego County, California, on 5 June 1958. He was cremated on the 15 July 1958 and is interred at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California.
In a recent email from Lindi to me she wrote of her Gpa Love:
"I remember Mom & Dad brought him to live near us in Fresno after Gma Love died, but I was in 3rd grade, or so, and don't remember a whole lot. He was a kind Gpa, soft spoken. From what I am told he had PTSD, which was called "shell shocked" at that time. I also learned that he worked for the State of CA at the EDD/Unemployment office after the war. That is where I started my first State job. His birthday was 8/27, mine is 8/28. So with a few things in common with him I have always had a soft spot in my heart for him.
"Gpa [Richard] Marshall doesn't have a whole lot of good things to say about him due to him always reminding Gma that she was supposed to be a boy. (Keep in mind the one pic of her dressed like a boy.) I guess it was a real issue. Also, the "Love" side were more "commoners" than the Marshall's. Social class was a real biggie in those days.
"Darryl has great memories of him as he taught him how to fish. Darryl still loves to fish to this day. Those are my memories of him. I treasure the new ones that you are finding. Thank you!!"
Lindi said that Gpa and Gma Love would be proud of me for doing this, and that means so much to me!
Wilbur Love, late 1950s
