Albertha May Bangel
An Ancestral History
By her granddaughter, Cassie McBride
Albertha May Bangel was born May 2, 1915 in “the old Bangel homeplace” in Marion County,
Indiana. She was one of two children of Caroline Christina Rasener and Albert Henry Bangel, she and
her elder brother, Arley Martin Bangel, 14 years older than she was. She grew up on a farm, and loved it
and enjoyed following her father as he worked in the fields.
When she was 6, her mother contracted cancer and later died. Her father sold the farm after
going through two housekeepers. When the Great Depression came and wiped out her father’s large
inheritance, Albertha and her father were living in a garage and renting out the house to a woman who
took care of Albertha. There she stayed in the third through fifth grades. In sixth grade, Albertha stayed
with her Aunt Cynthia and Uncle Ed Rasener.
The next year, Albertha lived with her Aunt Maud and Uncle Vinton Welling in Indianapolis. She
did so well in math that they let her skip seventh grade.
During high school, Albertha was enrolled at Arsenal Technical School in Indianapolis. At 16
years old she worked for the rubber company. She says that she never had trouble finding work during
the Great Depression. She was even able to spend her Christmas holidays in Florida with some money
she’d saved.
Because she didn’t have the money necessary to go to college, Albertha decided to go to Art
School and continued working for the US Rubber Company. She saved enough money to go to the Vogue
Art School in Chicago for a semester and while attending school, she earned money babysitting. She said
after three months she finished the assigned work quicker than the curriculum allowed and ran out of
money. She then worked for Estelle Hedges Dress Shop making custom made dresses. In the summer,
she worked at a furniture factory working a power machine.
At this time she decided she wanted to get back into dressmaking and wanted to go to New York
or California. So, she went to a fortuneteller and asked her if she should go to California or New York.
The lady said California. So that’s where my grandmother went.
She hung out with some Mormon friends in San Francisco. It was at this time that Albertha
found out her father was in the hospital. She went to go see him and worked for Sears, where her father
had worked, during the Christmas rush. Her father died shortly before Christmas, 1938. Albertha was 23.
In January, Albetha went to New Orleans to find a job. She couldn’t find a place to stay at the
Y.W.C.A, but found a place to stay with a “lovely Baptist family.”
She found a job with Peck and Peck Clothing Retail Store doing alterations and did work for a
custom dress maker at night for a dollar an hour. She travelled to mysticism and spiritual lectures and
travelled with church groups around Florida.
When her job ended, she travelled to Cuba and spent a day there. Then, she travelled to New
York, stayed with some friends, and did custom dress-making for a store near Central Park for the
summer. She then worked in a department store in San Francisco for a year and then took an American
Youth Hostel Trip to Mexico. She went back to San Francisco and stayed with Bill and Louise Arntsen and
continued attending church with them. She was baptized December 6th 1941 and confirmed the next
day, Pearl Harbor day.
She worked for two years for an aircraft factory and then worked for many different dress
companies. She gained a job with Alice of California. Shortly afterward, she met Russel McQueen and
they got married in the Logan Temple September 11, 1950. They moved to Burlingame, California. They
had three children, William Albert McQueen on February 2, 1952, Helen Carol, born October 27, 1953,
and my mother, Beverly Jean on August 29, 1959. After her son was born, Albertha quit working away
from home to raise her children. She had a few callings, one was to be the Co-Pilot teacher trainer, and
she taught women how to make drapes for the chapel.
Shortly after my mother was born, Albertha went to the hospital to have major surgery to
remove most of her pancreas. The next years she spent in and out of the hospital and taking care of her
children. She wanted to make sure her family’s needs were met before she died. She died in 1960.
From what little I know about my grandmother, I know she was a friendly woman, industrious,
and generous. And she put her priorities in her family and the experiences that mattered most. I hope to
someday know and love her.
Sources:
Bangel, Albertha May. Albertha May Bangel: 1915-1965. San Mateo, California: n.p., 1965.
Jones, Helen. Personal knowledge. [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE].