Tom Tracy - His Stay at the Lark Ellen Home for Boys - 1935-=1940

Paul, My Dad was at Lark Ellen during the time you were there. Sadly he passed away in October of 1995. He really would have loved to be in touch with you. I somehow feel it was his gentle hand which guided my hands to search Google one more time today. And there you were. My Dad's name was Thomas Jack "Bones" Tracy. He was born in Los Angeles.

I'm not certain of the year he arrived at Lark Ellen. He was there with his older brother, Howard Phillippi (1/2 brother) and aged out when he graduated from Uni High (Brentwood) in the Summer of 1940. My mother used to tell me stories of "The Boys" from Lark Ellen and when they got to Sunday services at The First Methodist Church in Sawtelle. Mom and Dad didn't know each other then but they met - in 1942 - and were married for over 50 years.

Dad shared many stories with me from Lark Ellen, sad to say his memories weren't as warm as what I read of yours. Perhaps it was more difficult for the older (teen) boys. The matrons came across as horrible in his memories.

There is another Lark Ellen Boy still around, Melvin Conrad. I located him by way of Classmates.com as a graduate of Uni High. I've e-mailed him twice but he has not answered. One other name just came to me, Don Dix, he died many years ago, but he was one of the boys. Do you have memories of going to summer camp up at Ridgecrest? Frank and Dorothy Weller (Glendale, CA) were somehow important to many of the older boys at the home...Mom can't recall just why the Weller's *were* so important, but I remember our receiving a Christmas card from them for many years...into the mid 1970s. If any of the other Boys might remember the Weller's, I'd surely love to hear from them. Thank you for being there, Paul.

Contact: Tom Tracy's daughter at: woodlark@newsguy.com