Person:Russel McBRIDE (1)

Russel “Russ” Albert MCBRIDE, youngest son of Bert and Birdie (EVANS) MCBRIDE, was born May 24, 1917, in Rock Island, IL. He grew up in extreme southern Rock Island in the area formerly known as Sears Town. There was a small power plant on Rock River, owned by the Sears family, that produced a loud humming noise that could be heard from Russel’s house. This was the power plant in which his father badly injured his hand. Russ graduated from high school in 1935 and jobs were scarce. My Dad (Earle C. McBride) was about to quit his job with the People’s Power Co. in Rock Island. He recommended Russel for the job and Russ got it. About the beginning of WW II he went to work for the Rock Island Arsenal. Shortly after that he was “drafted” = called up for induction into the Army. The day before he was to be inducted into the Army, he had spent all day collecting old newspapers for recycling as a member of the Junior Chamber of Commerce. He worked hard and in the rain. The following day he went by train to Chicago. During his physical exam, an X-ray showed that he had a partially collapsed lung and he was rejected and assigned a 4F status (unfit for the military). He then made a visit to his father-in-law, a physician who confirmed the bad lung. Russel then continued to work at the Arsenal. He began writing instruction manuals for ordnance and once was sent to Philadelphia to help write a special manual. Russ married Elizabeth “Betty” Reed on August 23, 1942, in Rock Island; the couple had two daughters, Connie and Cynthia. Witnesses to the marriage were brother Kenneth and his wife Helen. Russ and Betty lived at 4626-12th Street in Rock Island at the time of their marriage. After the war Russ joined John Deere Co., where he worked 35 years in the Advertising and Publication Division. He started work as an artist in generating the graphics for machinery instruction manuals, and then later worked as the editor of manuals. He said that the manuals had to be written for the lowest “common denominator”. Later, nearing retirement, he worked on putting a parts catalog on computers. At one time he worked with John Theus, a distant cousin of mine, employed at Deere Spreader Works, on an instruction manual. He retired in 1982 at age 62. In 2004 at age 87 Russ lives alone and is active in church activities. He provided much family information to me about the McBride clan.

RI City directories list these activities and residences: 1932: student; living at 820-47th Ave 1936: salesman for Peoples Power Co; same house 1939: clerk for Peoples Power Co 1940: salesman for People’s Power Co. 1942: clerk for IA-IL Gas & Electric Co. 1947: salesman: IA-IL Gas & Electric Co; wife is Betty; living at 1119-4th Ave. 1950: working for J. R. Kohler; living at 1516-41St Street

Elizabeth “Betty” Adleria Reed, daughter of Dr. Fred and Julia Davis Reed, was born November 6, 1919, in Detroit, MI. She lived in Davenport, IA, at time of their wedding. Betty’s father was a successful surgeon first in Detroit and later in Chicago. He left the bustle of Chicago to practice in Three Rivers, MI. He commented that in Three Rivers he had to learn to remove fishhooks- a task he didn’t have to do in Chicago. Betty came to Rock Island to visit her mother’s brother (Lee Davis), who ran a florist shop in the Fort Movie Theater in downtown Rock Island. Betty’s father divorced her mother and married a young nurse, which created a bad family atmosphere. Betty then returned to Detroit for college, but after her mother died she returned to Rock Island, where she planned to live with her uncle, Lee Davis. Instead, the opportunity arose for her to room with Helen Schnitger (Ken McBride’s wife to be), who had a big house. Betty lived with Helen in her house before her marriage. Russ went with a friend to a picnic at the Episcopal Church and there met Betty. After marriage, Russ and Betty visited her father in Detroit a couple times, but he seemed to be away making house calls much of the time and there was little opportunity for socializing. Betty died on January 26, 1985, at age 65 in the Lutheran Hospital in Moline, IL of respiratory failure as a consequence of lymphoma. She was cremated at the Chippianock Crematory, Rock Island, Co. SS# 485-10-7269.

“BETTY MCBRIDE Funeral services for Betty A. McBride, 65, of 2000 41St. Rock Island, who died Saturday, will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Hodgson Funeral Home, Rock Island. The Rev. Robert Mushruch, pastor of First Methodist Church, Rock Island and the Rev. Gary Dalmasso, will officiate, and burial will be in Rock Island Memorial Park Cemetery. Visitation is 2 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home. Memorials may be made to cancer research. The former Betty Reed was born Nov. 6, 1919, in Detroit, Mich., the daughter of Dr. Fred and Julia Davis Reed. She married Russel McBride Aug. 23, 1942, in Rock Island. Mrs. McBride had been employed at Jerry On The Spot Cleaners, Rock Island, and also had been a sewing instructor for the Singer Sewing Machine Co. She was a former member of the above church; a past president of the Mothers Club of the Rainbow Girls Assembly; formerly active in the PTA of Denkmann School; former member of the OES Chapter 269; and formerly active in the Jayceettes and Lioness Clubs, all Rock Island. Surviving are her husband; two daughters, Mrs. Connie Hussey and Mrs. Cynthia Clarquist, both of Rock Island; seven grandchildren; a sister, Nancy Mitchell of Yachats, Ore.; a half-sister, Mary Snow of Miltom, Fla.; and a half-brother, Fred Reed of Three Rivers, Mich.”, ,

1. ↑ Birth certificate: State file number 0048887..
2.   Phone conversation with Russ McBride, February 2002; personal conversation June 2003..
3.   Phone converstion with Russ McBride; February 2003..
4.   Obituary in The Rock Island Argus, IL, Jan. 28, 1985..