John "Jay" Clyde Marlowe was born on April 5, 1925 in Oklahoma. He was the second son of William "Willie" Austin Marlowe Sr. and his wife Myrtle Marie (Hewlett). They would eventually have 7 children, all boys. Before their next child was born in 1932, the family moved to California.

William Austin Marlowe Sr.

Myrtle Marie (Hewlett)

Morrison Green

Mary Elizabeth "Mollie" (Cox)

Jay was named for Willie's uncle who took him in at about the age of twelve. Willie's mother, Ida F. Green died at the age of 19, in 1901. Willie was 2 years old. It is unknown when his father died but at 12 Willie was living with his grandparent's, Morrison and Mollie Green in Lubbock, Texas, according to the 1910 U.S. Census. His uncle, John Clyde Marlowe took him in shortly thereafter. This information comes from uncle John's eldest daughter Julia Beatrice (Hobbs): "Austin lived with various relatives until Mom and Dad took him at age 12". She also said: "Uncle Jim died in his early life, leaving one son Austin who later made his home with my Momma and Dad until about 24 years old". Willie apparently prefered to be called Austin in his young adult life. Notice that he switched his first and middle names on the registration card for the draft in 1918.

The shoulder patch of the Rainbow Division

Jay finished 3 years of highschool and began driving trucks for a living. On July 1, 1943, his older brother, William Jr. or "Indian" as he was called, enlisted in the military and barely a month later, on August 3, 1943, so did Jay. He was sent to Europe and served in the 42nd Division, also known as the Rainbow Division. According to a younger brother, Jay was wounded in combat and then got himself into trouble in Italy. As the story goes, he had met a girl who he was head over heals for. He and a buddy went AWOL, stole a Jeep and impersonating an officer, went to get the girl. Eventually the Military Police caught up with them and Jay resisted arrest, but to no avail. He was imprisoned in the U.S. Military Disciplinary Barracks at Leavenworth, Kansas. He was there for about 8 years, from the late 1940's to the early 1950's.

Distinctive Unit insignia of the Rainbow Division

After being released from prison, Jay went back to the profession he had begun before enlisting; driving trucks. Most of the Marlowe men had been or still were truck drivers, including his father and his older brother Bill.

Jay's DOT Health Card

Jay and William Jr.

Jay eventually met and married Wilma Corene Goff. They had one child, a daughter who was born in the late 1950's. By the mid 1960's Jay's first marriage was over. On July 1, 1964, Jay's father, William Austin Sr. died. Four years later, on June 19, 1968 his mother, Myrtle Marie died.

Jay met my mother around 1964-65 when she moved to Los Angeles to live with her grandmother, Pauline. She moved there after graduating highschool in 1964. They had a short fling, whereupon my mother became pregnant with me and moved back home. I was born in February of 1966.

On May 25, 1969, Jay married his second wife in Tijuana, Mexico. They were expecting their first child when, on May 22, 1970 Jay was killed while working at a construction site in Burbank, California.

Jay's daughter was born two months later.