March | 2024 | Clutch Cargo Lips

Raymond Tyler was born in Sioux City, Iowa on Christmas Day in 1912. He was the son of my mother’s father’s Uncle Ralph and his wife Mabel. It seems he had a happy childhood based on the few photos I have of him. His life after childhood was filled with tragedy. He lost his brother, father and mother before he turned 20. Then lost his wife after ten years of marriage.

Raymond had a brother named Robert who was born within two years of of Raymond’s birth and is listed on the 1920 census but is missing from the 1925 census, even though his mother, father and brother are listed. There is no grave for him at the cemetery where his parents are buried, but if he died earlier perhaps they buried him somewhere else. I could not find an obituary for him either. It seems Robert died between ages 7 and 12.

Raymond’s father, Ralph, was a firefighter and on March 20, 1929 died suddenly of pneumonia in the lobby of the state capital where he was lobbying for some legislation for Iowa firefighters. He was only 44 years old. Raymond was 16 years old.

In 1932 Raymond lost his mother to a ruptured duodenal ulcer. She was 39, Raymond was 19. At the time Raymond and his mother lived in a duplex.

Raymond married Willetta Mae Iwen on January 28, 1938. They lived in a boarding house in Sioux City. Raymond was unemployed at the time of the 1940 census, except for 12 weeks working in a tavern. He was actively looking for work. His 1940 draft card lists him living at a different address. It also lists his mother-in-law as a point of contact. Usually it was a spouse. He’s also listed as working for a C. Hutchins at 816 Fourth St.

On August 17, 1948 Willetta died of tuberculosis at the Iowa State Sanatorium. She was just over 31 years old. Raymond was 36.

In 1950 Raymond was a lodger at a different home. He was not working, had not worked in a while, and was not looking for employment. He was 38.

In 1960 Raymond lived in a house (possibly his in-law’s home) and died of the effects of several years of alcoholism on August 2, 1960. He was 47 years old.