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Gertrude Opal Florence McKnight, known as Trudy, was born on 3 December 1916 in Hatfield, Mingo, West Virginia, United States to Orlando Clinton McKnight (1895-1963) and Ida Belle Romans (1890-1932).
When Trudy was 14, her mother died. Her father was completely bedridden with the plague of the coal miner, black lung. Her oldest sister got married right away and that left Trudy to take care of her father and her siblings. She had to quit school and later find a job to help. She was employed by a military academy in Charleston, West Virginia working in food service. There she met a student, William Warren Cobb (1917-2007). They fell in love and she eventually became pregnant. He asked her to marry him, but she was afraid his family would not approve of an uneducated girl from an impoverished coal mining family. She secretly fled to the farthest she could go with the money she had and went to New York where she entered a home for unwed mothers. She had her son and named him after his father. Then she sought and found employment with a family in Dobbs Ferry, Westchester, New York. The woman was a medical doctor and the man was the vice president of Anaconda Mining Company.
Trudy lived with and cared for this same family, the Boschens, most of her life. They took her son into their hearts and became secondary parents. Eventually much later, for inheritance purposes, they adopted him. In the meantime, the father of her child was looking for her. He had questioned one of her sisters and finally she revealed where Trudy was and why. Bill came knocking on the door of the house in Dobbs Ferry to be greeted by the doctor who told him Trudy didn't want to see him and that the baby had died. She selfishly wanted to keep the baby there with her and even intercepted and destroyed letters from him. Trudy didn't know any of this until the 1960's when her son was much older, married and a father himself. It was too late to even find Bill Sr. What she didn't know was that the father of her child had gone into the United States Army in 1941, participated in WWII, and that he had become Major General William Warren Cobb, married and had 2 children. A boy, also named William Warren Cobb Jr. and a girl. The family didn't find him until Trudy and he were both dead. Now all of the children have met and welcomed one another into their extended family. They, of course, waited until the wife of the General was deceased also.
Trudy married Ernest Lee Wade (1911-2001) on 21 June 1968 in Carson City, Nevada. She had received other offers of marriage but this was the one she accepted.
When she married Ernie, she was living in Rancho Santa Fe, San Diego, California with the Boschens. They moved to Marysville, Yuba, in northern California for a number of years until the Boschens became infirm and she felt she needed to return to help. After Mr. Boschen died, Trudy's son and family found land in Valley Center, San Diego, California to build and cultivate. They all intended to move to separate lots on a large piece of property. Trudy and Ernie lived there, close to Dr. Boschen's house to care for her as long as she could in old age. After Ernie's death, she continued to reside there until her own death.
Trudy died on 9 September 2004 in a nursing facility in Escondido, San Diego, California, United States at the age of 87. She had been placed in the care facility due to extreme complications of tuberculosis, complicated by many years of smoking. She probably contracted the TB as a youngster and it finally showed up when she was too old and frail to combat it anymore. Her mind was sharp until the end and she died surrounded by family and loved ones with the same incredible grace that she lived her life. She is sorely missed by everyone who knew and loved her. She was buried in the Valley Center Cemetery, Valley Center, San Diego, California. Find A Grave: Memorial #62885956
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Trudy is 27 degrees from Herbert Adair, 24 degrees from Richard Adams, 20 degrees from Mel Blanc, 26 degrees from Dick Bruna, 22 degrees from Bunny DeBarge, 33 degrees from Peter Dinklage, 21 degrees from Sam Edwards, 18 degrees from Ginnifer Goodwin, 21 degrees from Marty Krofft, 15 degrees from Junius Matthews, 17 degrees from Rachel Mellon and 22 degrees from Harold Warstler on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
M > McKnight | W > Wade > Gertrude Opal Florence (McKnight) Wade
Categories: Borderland, West Virginia | Dobbs Ferry, New York | Rancho Santa Fe, California | Marysville, California | Valley Center, California | Valley Center Cemetery, Valley Center, California