Notes for: Kenneth Leland Bodine
The information below was edited from a file by Samuel Joseph Bodine, Kenneth's brother.
Clarence and Esther Bodine's second child was Kenneth Leland born April 12, 1922. April 12 is a very popular day in American history. This is the day Fort Sumpter was fired on in 1861 starting the Civil War and it is the day that President Franklin Roosevelt died in Warm Springs, Georgia in 1945 near the end of World War II. It also saw the birth of the second cottontop in Clarence's family. Kenneth Leland grew up in Marston and graduated high school there in 1939. Unlike Robert, Kenneth liked school and was an excellent student. After graduating, he joined his brother and dad's unit of the Missouri National Guard, Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 140th Infantry. He went off in December of 1940 for a year's training after the unit was mobilized. The training took place at Camp Joseph Robinson near Little Rock, Arkansas. Both Kenneth and Robert were involved in the Louisiana maneuvers in 194l and were to have been discharged in December of 1941; however, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor put that off until after VJ day in 1945. Kenneth served overseas in the infantry. He was present at Dutch Harbor, Alaska when the Japanese were turned back. At the same time, they were being defeated at Midway Island in June of 1942. The U. S. forces were able to stem the tide and start on the offensive and defeat the Axis Powers.
Kenneth was a staff sergeant. Once the Japanese were halted, he came back to Camp Robinson which became a basic training center. He served on the cadre, training recruits in basic infantry skills. He came back from Alaska in August of 1944 and remained at Camp Robinson until discharged in September of 1945. He had stayed in Alaska until the Japanese had been punched out of the Aleutians. They had occupied Amchitka, Attu and Adak and some of the other islands near to the Japanese homeland. This operation was not only tough from the stand point of the enemy being dug in, but the weather was and is so lousy it made the operations even harder. Anyway, Kenneth survived all of it and came back to Little Rock. He was eventually discharged there in 1945.
Upon discharge, like Robert, Kenneth came back to Marston. He later met and married Dorothy L. Hawkins from Wardell early in 1946. They lived in Marston where Kenneth worked in stores and on the river for the Corps of Engineers. He eventually worked for the postal department. He was working for the department when he died. Dorothy was the daughter of W.N. and Myrtle Hawkins of Wardell. She had graduated from Wardell High School and Draughons Business College and was keeping books for an oil company in Wardell at the time she and Kenneth married. She was born in Portageville December 3, 1925. After the children were born, Dorothy worked in Farmer's Bank of Portageville then for Walter Richardson and Barry Richardson Cotton Company until she retired a few years ago. While Kenneth worked, he was very active in the reorganization of the National Guard unit which was located in Marston (then later at Portageville). He was first sergeant of the split unit of Portageville and Sikeston at the time he died on July 25, 1976. He was to have gone to summer camp when he had a heart attack the Sunday before departing. Kenneth is buried at the Mounds Park Cemetery.
Kenneth and Dorothy had two children: Saundra Elaine, and Thomas William. Saundra Elaine was born in Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau in 1946 and Thomas William was born in Presnell Hospital in Kennett in 1948.
From Ronny Bodine:
Kenneth Bodine was a U.S. Army veteran of World War II serving overseas with the infantry. After the war he worked for the Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Postal Department. He also served with a local National Guard unit as its 1st Sergeant right up until his death. Kenneth was buried in Mounds Park Cemetery, Lilbourn, New Madrid County.
From Pemisot County, Missouri Marriage Records:
Kenneth L. Bodine, of Marston, New Madrid County AND Dorothy Hawkins, of Marston, were married 27 March 1946 at New Madrid, New Madrid County by Rev. Fred L. Reeves.
Obituary, The Daily Standard (Sikeston, Mo.) of 26 July 1976.
MARSTON---Kenneth Leland Bodine, 54, died Sunday afternoon of an apparent heart attack. He was born April 12, 1922 in Marston to Mary Esther Latimer, who survives, and the late Clarence Bodine. He was a member of the Marston United Methodist church and had worked at post offices in Marston, New Madrid and Lilbourn for 28 years. He served five years in the Army during World War II and was active in the National Guard. In 1946 in New Madrid, he married Dorothy Hawkins, who survives. Also surviving are one daughter, Saundra Thomason of Marston; one son, Thomas Bodine of Columbia; two brothers, Sam Bodine of New Madrid and Robert Bodine of St. Louis; one sister, Salome Haubold of Memphis, Tenn.; and two grandchildren. Friends may call at Richards Funeral Home in New Madrid. Services are scheduled at 2 p.m. Tuesday in the Marston United Methodist Church with the Rev. Vaughn Marsden of Campbell officiating. Burial will follow in Mounds Park Cemetery.
Obituary, The Sikeston Standard-Democrat of 7 Jan 2008.
NEW MADRID - Dorothy Bodine, 82, died Jan. 6, 2008, at the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Born Dec. 3, 1925, in Pemiscot County, to the late WIlliam and Myrtle Morefield Hawkins, she was a member of the Marston United Methodist Church. In 1946, she married Kenneth Bodine, who preceded her in death in 1976. Two sisters and two brothers also preceded her in death. Survivors include: one son and daughter-in-law, Tommy and Peggy Bodine of St. Louis; one daughter and son-in-law, Sandy and Malvorn Thomason of Marston; two sisters, Emogene Davis of the state of Florida and Bonnie Caetano of Cape Girardeau; four grandchildren, Sara Bodine, Casey Bodine, Ken Thomason and Jeff Thomason; and one great-grandchild, Sean Thomason. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Richards Funeral Home, where services will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday. The Revs. David Dee and Toni Dee will officiate. Burial will follow in the Mounds Park Cemetery.