This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: WCarradine7667 Surnames: Smith, Leeman Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.newmexico.counties.donaana/5171/mb.ashx Message Board Post: I am looking for information about a woman who, I am told, was a school teacher in Hatch in the 1920's. Her name was Smith. She was later known as Billy, but I am not sure that was her birth name. She had a young son named Roland Leeman, who, I suppose, would have been a Hatch student. I believe that they left the area about 1930. So, does anyone have suggestions about where I might find data? Might the school district have records? Are there school photos from that time? Were there newspapers which might mention teachers and/or students? Is there a library in Hatch which might be helpful? Any thoughts at all are appreciated. Thanks, Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.

Not sure this is the correct Roland, but note that his mother was Billy. No mention of Hatch, though. Casa Grande Dispatch (AZ) - March 17, 2010 Deceased Name: Roland Leeman ARIZONA CITY — The life of Air Force 1st Lt. Roland O. Leeman (retired) of Arizona City will be celebrated at the Florence Cemetery with full military honors at 10 a.m. March 17, which would have been his 90th birthday. "We would like to invite the community to come participate in showing our deep appreciation and respect for this American hero and truly remarkable man," said neighbor Gary Kuhn. Lt. Leeman was born on March 17, 1920 in Kansas City. He died on Jan. 18, 2010 at Hospice Family Care in Casa Grande. His mother, Billy Earley, and stepfather, Lynn Earley, moved in 1929 to Florence, where Lynn Earley later became county assessor, then sheriff. Lt. Leeman grew up in Florence and attended elementary and high school there. He left home at 16 to become a cowboy, joined the Army at 19 and was stationed at Hickam Field when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Lt. Leeman told Earl Owens, publicity officer for Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1677, in June 2008 that he was charge of quarters (on desk duty) the morning of the attack. "We thought it was the Navy," Lt. Leeman said. "We were under the impression that war games were going to be conducted for a month. Then they called it all off and removed the camouflage off of the airplanes and made them shiny as a line of soldiers on a flight line. Everything was clean and the guns were locked up. I looked out the window in that 10 minutes, and this plane was dropping a bomb on an office there. That was a red dot on that plane, it sure was not a Navy plane." The supply sergeant, who had the only key to the arms locker, was quartered off base. Lt. Leeman, a staff sergeant at the time, and a corporal used an ax to break down the door and distribute the guns. Lt. Leeman had applied to flight school before Pearl Harbor. After the attack, he was sent to flight school for enlisted men at Williams Field in Arizona. He was promoted to flight officer, equivalent to a warrant officer, when he graduated from flight school while World War II was in progress. "After that I flew in England, Africa and Italy," he told Owens. "After I had gotten the 130 points necessary for discharge I took it." Six months later he re-enlisted in the Army Air Corps, which became the Air Force in 1947. He worked on an Air Force rescue boat and was sent to Alaska. He became first sergeant of a squadron and then sergeant major before he was shipped back to the states. He retired from the Air Force as a first lieutenant in April 1960 and became a life member of VFW Post 9972 in Sierra Vista. He is survived by his wife, Angie. Memorial contributions to the Hospice Family Care Foundation or the VFW may be made in lieu of On Wed, Feb 2, 2011 at 12:33 AM, gc-gateway@rootsweb.com < gc-gateway@rootsweb.com> wrote: > This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. > > Author: WCarradine7667 > Surnames: Smith, Leeman > Classification: queries > > Message Board URL: > > > http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.newmexico.counties.donaana/5171/mb.ashx > > Message Board Post: > > I am looking for information about a woman who, I am told, was a school > teacher in Hatch in the 1920's. Her name was Smith. She was later known as > Billy, but I am not sure that was her birth name. She had a young son named > Roland Leeman, who, I suppose, would have been a Hatch student. I believe > that they left the area about 1930. > > So, does anyone have suggestions about where I might find data? Might the > school district have records? Are there school photos from that time? Were > there newspapers which might mention teachers and/or students? Is there a > library in Hatch which might be helpful? Any thoughts at all are > appreciated. > > Thanks, > > Important Note: > The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would > like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and > respond on the board. > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NMDONAAN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >