Our Family Tree

Birth Certificate request filed July 9, 1940 and accepted September 11, 1940. Birth Certificate # 39710 was issued by State Registrar of Vital Statistics, State of Texas, County of Travis.

in hh 14 14 as McLean, Alonzo D., Head, Rent, Male, White, Age: 38, Married, Can read & write, TX TN MO, Speaks English, Trade: Farmer, General Farm, Employer, Farm: 10; Lossie M., Wife, Female, White, Age: 30, Married, Can read & write, TX, MO, MO, Speaks English, Trade: None; Perry O., Son, Male, White, Age: 8, Single, Attended school, TX TX TX; Lee C. [Blake Charles.], Son, Male, White, Age: 4 8/12, Single, TX TX TX.

394 Walnut Street, family 416 as Lon McClean, Head, Home: owned, $1800, Male, White, Age: 48, 1st marriage at 25, Did not attend school, Can read & write, TX TX TX , Speaks English, Truck driver, Ice Plant, 4 x 68, Worker; Lossie McLean, Wife-H, Female, White, Age: 41, 1st marriage at 18, Did not attend school, Can read & write, TX MO MO, Can speak English; Perry McClean, Son, Male, White, Age: 18, Single, Attended school, Can read & write, TX TX TX, Can speak English; Blake McClean, Son, Male, White, Age: 14, Single, Attended school; Can read & write, TX TX TX Can speak English; Melba McClean, Daughter, Female, White, Age: 4 3/12, Single, TX TX TX.

[Family tradition (as I was always led to believe, bdc) has said that Blake became knowledgeable about “radios and communication” by responding to an advertisement in the back of a comic book. Could this correspondence course that he took be the course that tradition has had reference to? He apparently also went to Kansas City, MO to take the exam needed to complete the course.]

Recommendation letter dated April 3, 1941 from Robert E. McKee, General Contractor, Construction Engineer, by Charles K. Moore, Camp Bowie, Brownwood, Texas. “This is to certify that Mr. Blake McLean was employed in the contractor’s office at Camp Bowie from October 1940 through March 29, 1941; that he was employed as a bookkeeper in various departments in this office during that period time; and that he has been diligent and cooperative in his work here.”

Longs Theater offered him a job in Bay City. Texas with a promise of $20.00 a week as an operator. Got there April 24, 1941 and was offered a job in El Campo, Texas at $17.00 per week, but promised "to make a manager of him as soon as he gets on to the way this company runs things." Since he had already moved and sent his family to Lampasas, he took the job. Blake & Myrl paid $17.00 per month for a house and utilities.

Operator & Snackbar Manager- $20 per week. First raise $2.50 per week September 1941. 2nd rise $1.00 per week for running a midnight show on Saturday nights. 3rd raise $2.00 per week March 20, 1942 ¶Rented a garage apartment – 3 rooms – bedrooms, kitchen and bathroom upstairs and living room downstairs - for $17.50 a month plus gas, water, and electricity.

..."amateur radio station W5IZJ at Wharton, Texas, Owned by Blake McLean Having been duly recommended by the Communications Section of the Texas Defense Guard to serve in Amateur Radio Zone 160 M is hereby designated a Texas Defense Guard Radio Station. This appointment is made in appreciation of the valuable patriotic services rendered to the Texas Defense Guard and the State of Texas by the operator of this Amateur Radio Station in handling Official Radio Communications for the Guard... it does empower the holder to transmit and receive such traffic of an official nature as may be necessary to the proper performance of his duties. . . "

Tradition says that Blake was not sure if he would take the job with Tennessee Gas & Transmission Company. Buckshot Lane, the Sheriff of Wharton County, helped him make the decision by threatening to fire him if he did not quit and take the job with Tenneco. In 1951 Blake took care of 46 mobile units, 14 base stations comprising a district from Edinburg, Texas to Houston, Texas. Tenneco sent Blake to Bolivia in 1958 to set up satellite communications stations for pipelines throughout the country. He was promoted to the home office in Houston and took care of communications for the southern district of the U.S

Funeral Service 1:00 p.m., Saturday, June 4, 1994, Earthman Southwest Chapel, 12555 South Kirkwood, Stafford, Texas. Officiating: Mr. Eugene Polvado, Mr. Shawn Jones and Mr. Rene Moya

Blake Charles McLean, 10 years 8 months old (b: 25 April 1915 d: 1 June 1994), taken December 30, 1925, son of Alonzo and Lossie McLean, Lampasas, Lampasas County, Texas, USA