Byline: BETTIE RENCORET
LANCASTER - What's in a name? Coincidence, as far as Letha Bleasdell Rathbun
is concerned.
More than 55 years ago at an Iowa church college, young Letha Bleasdell met
another Letha whose last name was Rathbun.
They became friends and talked a lot about their families, as slightly
homesick young women away from home for the first time do.
"You know I have a brother in Arizona that I'd sure like to have you meet,"
Letha Rathbun said to Letha Bleasdell one day.
Somehow, the subject was dropped. Then Letha Rathbun's mother went to work
in the campus cafeteria and she and Letha Bleasdell got acquainted. The
subject came up again.
"I have a son in Arizona who has just broken up with his girlfriend," said
the mother. "I sent him a letter describing you - along with your picture."
Not long after that
Phillip Woodrow Rathbun
came from Arizona to meet Bleasdell, and now their romance is history.
"When we were married June 13, 1941, it was in his aunt Letha's home in Van
Nuys. You can imagine the confusion.
Phillip
not only had a sister named Letha Rathbun, but a wife named Letha Rathbun,
both in the same house with Aunt Letha."
They all had fun with the situation.
"That isn't all. He had an uncle, a brother and a brother-in-law all named
Bob. The family had a plethora of Lethas and Bobs. You could call out one
name and three people would answer."
Born and raised in Iowa, Letha Bleasdell came to Van Nuys a week before her
wedding in 1941.
Phillip, an electronics wizard classified
as an essential civilian defense worker, was sent to California to work in
an aircraft plant.
In 1952, after their two children, William Woodrow and Phyllis Lee Lavery
Burch were born, they came to Edwards Air Force Base.
"
Phillip worked there as an electronics
technician in instrumentation research. They were inventing things," Letha
Rathbun said.
"We lived in base housing until we moved into our newly built home in North
Edwards in 1956. We moved off base to free up housing for people who needed
it more."
At Edwards,
Phillip was not only working in
instrumentation research but also was selling and repairing television sets
at the base commander's behest. This helped supplement the family income.
To enable her husband to quit the television business, Letha took a job on
base.
From 1956 until her retirement in 1971, she maintained the Air Force master
reference library.
In 1964, her mother-in-law suffered a stroke and required care until her
death. Then her own parents became ill, and she and
Phillip brought them into their home. After
her father died, her mother needed care for eight more years.
"So I retired from my job, but not from work," Letha said.
Tragedy struck when
Phillip and the
Rathbuns' son, William, both were killed in 1980 in an automobile accident.
Letha now dotes on her three adult grandchildren, Darrell Rathbun, 27, of
Virginia Beach, Va.; Devin Lavery, 26, on duty with the U.S. Navy; and Erin
Michelle Lavery, 24, of Tehachapi.