George Michael Willy and His Three Wives

George Michael Willy was born 05 Nov 1906 in Philadelphia, the oldest child of Pauline Kappler and Nicholas George Willy. By 1910, he and his family were living at house his parents had bought at 2620 Hicks Street. George lived there until 1930, when he married his first wife, Edna M Vickers.

Edna was the daughter of Elizabeth F Stork and Charles H Vickers, born in Philadelphia 30 Oct 1908. She was enumerated twice in the 1930 US Census, once on 08 Apr 1930 as living with her parents and once on 11 May 1930 as living with George at 2939 Smedley Street. George was working as an agent at an insurance company. By 1939 the marriage had ended in divorce. "Edna M Willy" married Edward Droxler in Philadelphia in 1939. On the 1940 US Census, they were enumerated as living with her parents.

George also remarried, on 14 Oct 1939 in Washington DC. His second wife was Laura Geneva Beckett, born 10 Jun 1908 in Seabrook, Prince George's County, Maryland. She was the daughter of Walter Howard and Sarah S Beckett. As of 1940, George and Laura were living in Philadelphia at 1029 Perry Street NE. George was working in advertising and promotion at an auto parts company.

I know that George and Laura divorced before 1968, because Laura married Claude Glenn Walker on 14 Jan 1968 in Bryson City, North Carolina.

George's third wife was Florence Irene Wooley McGaffey, a professional musician and voice teacher. She was born 09 Oct 1906 in Harrod, Allen County, Ohio, the daughter of John Wooley and Callie Wilgus. Her first husband, Garret Noble McGaffey, died in Los Angeles 06 Jan 1968. I don't know if she was widowed or divorced at the time she married George. Garret Noble had been born in Indiana. He and Florence were married there in Allen County (not to be confused with Allen County, Ohio) in 1927. In both the 1930 and 1940 censuses, they were living with their daughters in Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana.

The reason I'm mentioning all this is that both George and Florence died and were buried in or near Fort Wayne. I would assume that George either met Florence there or moved there to be with Florence.

George died in Fort Wayne in August 1979. Florence died 20 years later, on 16 Jul 1999, in New Haven, Indiana, 11 km east of Fort Wayne. They're both buried in Greenlawn Memorial Park in Fort Wayne.