OTHER RESOURCES

A very readable volume about the Grand Central Air Terminal is this book:

Underwood, John. 1984. Madcaps, Millionaires and 'Mose'. Heritage Press, Glendale, CA. 144pp.

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HELENE DORIS MADDUX

Helene D. Maddux, 1929 (Source: Site Visitor)

 

Helene Maddux is signed in the Glendale Register twice. At right is her portrait published in U.S. Air Services Magazine, November, 1929.

Helene owned a Bird Model BK aircraft, S/N 2053-33, registration number NC849W. She flew this airplane to both her Glendale landings. I have no information about this airplane. I do know that it no longer exists, because 849W is now assigned to a 1948 Beech A35 Bonanza. NC849W also landed at Glendale another dozen times. It was piloted by unidentified flyers six times, and any of these landings could have been flown by Maddux.

Helene Maddux was born Helene Doris Kuehne in 1892 in Missouri. None of the sources I reviewed provided a month or day of her birth. One source suggested she was born on December 29, 1890, in Marionville, Lawrence Co., MO.

Regardless, the Kansas State Census in 1905 places her living in WInfield Kansas with her father Henry F.W. Kuehne (age 48), mother Amalia (age 37), brother Milton (11) and sister Ester (5). Her parents were born in Germany.

The 1910 U.S. Census places her, at age 19, living in San Diego with her parents and siblings. She was single at the time of the Census on April 15, 1910.

On March 23, 1911, she married Herbert N Bowler of San Diego. Their marriage certificate, below, was issued in Everett, WA. They had one daughter, Helene. According to the San Diego Union, Sunday, February 24, 1918, Bowler and Kuehne were divorced February 23, 1918. She was 26 years old.

 

Helene Kuehne Marriage Certificate, March 23, 1911 (Source: ancestry.com)

 

Helene D. Maddux, Obituary, May 20, 1932 (Source: NYT)

 

Nineteen months later, on October 7, 1919, she married Jack Luthor Maddux of San Diego, CA. Please direct your browser to Maddux's page at the link over on the Davis-Monthan Airfield Web site for details of his life. In 1920, according to the Census, she was living in San Diego in a rented apartment in unit 127 at 935 Broadway. This three-story building still stands, with shops at street level. She lived with her new husband Jack Maddux (31), who operated a "Garage." Her age was given as 29. Her occupation was given as "Bookkeeper" at a "Garage."

According to the U.S. Census, Helene (age 38) was living at 162 Fremont Place, Los Angeles, CA in 1930. That address is now in a neighborhood of stately homes that could have been constructed in that time period. She lived with husband Jack, who was now the president of Maddux Air Lines, based at the Grand Central Air Terminal. Also in the household was Helene's daughter by her first marriage, Helene V.Bowler (18), son Jack L. Maddux, Jr. (6), a housekeeper and a cook.

Helene Maddux passed away May 19, 1932 of heart disease. Her obituary appeared in The New York Times of May 20, 1932, left. Jack would join her a few years later of the same cause. Note that she was vice president and secretary-treasurer of the aubo company. She is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale, CA.

I do not know when she learned to fly, who her instructors were, what she used her airplane for, or the date or reason she gave up her airplane. If you can help fill in the blanks, please let me KNOW.

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