Frank Kenneth DeVoe

Frank Kenneth DeVoe preferred to be called Kenneth. He was born on 15 March 1908.¹ He was the son of Frank Quinlan DeVoe and Eva Matilda Troup.

Frank Kenneth DeVoe appeared on the census of 22 April 1910 at 24 Bank Street, White Plains, Westchester County, New York, in the household of his father.²

Frank Kenneth DeVoe recalled that his family lived for a number of years as caretakers in a large sixteen-room house, the Anderson estate, on Post Road in White Plains. The estate included a barn and orchards. Eventually the estate was settled and the property sold.^3,4 Martha (Josselyn) DeVoe recalled the Anderson place as being at the top of a hill on the northwest side of the Post Road; she used to walk past it on her way to the Ridgeview Church. The old house was large and had been subdivided into two parts. She thought it was torn down later.⁵ A house and outbuilding labeled "Thos. Anderson" appeared in a 1907 atlas; the property was the area enclosed by the New York Post Road, Tibbits Avenue, Ridgeview Avenue, and Midland Avenue, excluding strips of property along the east side of Ridgeview and the north side of Midland.⁶

Frank Kenneth DeVoe appears in a photograph of a fourth-of-July picnic at the Anderson estate on Post Road in White Plains, probably taken around 1918.³

The DeVoes were also caretakers at one time at a house at 55 Mamaroneck Road, Scarsdale, Westchester County, New York.^7,8

Frank Kenneth DeVoe appeared on the census of 19 January 1920 at 53 Rathbun Avenue, White Plains, Westchester County, New York, in the household of his father.⁹

Frank Kenneth DeVoe attended White Plains High School, where his favorite club activity was the radio club.¹⁰ He graduated from high school in three and a half years in 1924 at the age of 16.^10,11 He was accepted for enrollment at the Cooper Union Institute of Technology in New York City, a demanding college with free tuition.¹⁰ His social life while in college was centered on the Ridgeview Church in White Plains, where he rediscovered Martha Josselyn.¹⁰ They had been in kindergarten together, but had not known each other in high school.¹⁰

Frank Kenneth DeVoe appeared on the census of June 1925 at 23 Bank Street, White Plains, Westchester County, New York, in the household of his father; his occupation was given as "college."¹²

The Bank Street apartment house was the DeVoe residence before the family moved to Davis Avenue.¹³ Frank and Eva (Troup) DeVoe lived on one side and Rachel (Walpole) Troup on the other; they were there when Frank Kenneth DeVoe was in college.¹⁴ Frank Kenneth DeVoe recalled that Rachel Troup rented the third floor.³ A letter received by Frank Kenneth DeVoe in 1929 was addressed to 86 Bank Street, White Plains, New York, so either the family had moved from one Bank Street address to another or the street was renumbered.¹⁵ In a letter written to Howard DeVoe in January 1989, Gladys (Troup) Stickler wrote "I knew your Dad well from my frequent visits to Grandma Troup when she lived on Bank St in White Plains. He was attending college at the time and always had his head in his books or was tinkering with his radio."¹⁶

Frank Kenneth DeVoe was in the Cooper Union Class of 1928, but was held back a year by a lab experiment that he missed due to illness.¹¹ He graduated from Cooper Union with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering.¹⁰ In high school he had always wanted to work for the telephone company.¹¹ In a letter dated 6 April 1929, he was offered a job with the New York Telephone Company in New York City.¹⁵ He began employment on 20 May 1929.¹⁷

Frank Kenneth DeVoe appeared on the census of 17 April 1930 at 36 Linda Avenue, White Plains, Westchester County, New York, in the household of his father; his occupation is recorded as "electrical engines" for "telephone Co."¹⁸

Eva DeVoe, Frank Kenneth DeVoe, and Marion DeVoe appeared in a photo taken at Kingsland Point Park.

Frank Kenneth DeVoe married Martha Josselyn, daughter of Edgar Alonzo Josselyn and Ella May Hannah, on 10 October 1931 at Ridgeview Congregational Church, White Plains, Westchester County, New York.¹⁹ They were married by Rev. William Dana Street and Rev. James A. Fairley.^20,21

Frank Kenneth DeVoe and Martha DeVoe lived from 1931 to 1960 on Hoanjovo Lane, Pleasantville, Westchester County, New York. The DeVoe home was designed by Martha's father, financed through the bank of Kenneth's cousin Harry Mayne, and built mostly by Kenneth's father with a helper.^22,23 The name of the private lane, "Hoanjovo," came from the names of the original residents: Holden, Angell, Josselyn, DeVoe. (Before the DeVoe house was built, it was called "Hoanjo Lane.") The original house on the lane was that of Judge Stephen Holden (a close friend of Martha's father) and his wife Clarissa; the house was called "Robins Roost." Mrs. Angell was Clarissa Holden's sister; her maiden name was Mary Angel(!) and the Angell house was called "Swing 'em Inn." The Josselyns called their house "Arbor Lodge," and the DeVoe house was "Hickory Hollow."^22,23,24

Martha DeVoe recalled that Kenneth's parents and the Maynes tended to drop in unannounced on Sunday afternoons, just when Martha and Kenneth had work to do on their house. This was annoying to Martha.²⁵

At first Kenneth worked Monday through Friday and Saturday morning, commuting to New York City by train. Later, during the depression, the telephone company kept its workers employed by moving them to other jobs and reducing the number of days they worked. Kenneth at one point was both a repairman and an installer in New York City, and worked only three days a week, which was better than being laid off.¹¹

During the depression Kenneth played a major role in setting up cooperative ventures which resulted in the establishment of county-wide grocery stores and service contracts for fuel, gasoline, laundry, and other essential at significant savings to hard-pressed families.¹⁰

Frank Kenneth DeVoe appears in a family photo taken 5 July 1936 at Harry and Mary Mayne's beach house in Morningside, Milford, Connecticut.

Frank Kenneth DeVoe appeared on the census of 1940 at Pleasantville, Westchester County, New York, where his occupation was shown as telephone installer.²⁶

During World War II, Kenneth was transferred from the telephone company to Bell Telephone Labs, on West Street in Manhattan, where he was engaged on a classified wartime project.^10,27 This apparently was an optical proximity fuze developed during the war by Bell Labs and manufactured by Western Electric; the fuze was mounted on a rocket fired from an airplane and used against enemy aircraft.^11,28 Kenneth worked five and one half days a week, not getting home until 2 pm on Saturdays.²⁵ The Bell Labs got him exempted from the draft because of the work he was doing.²⁷ After the war, he transferred to the Purchasing Division of the Western Electric Company, and for the next twenty-five years supervised contract negotiations for heavy electrical equipment used in Bell Telephone offices nationwide.¹⁰ His business address was 222 Broadway, New York, New York.^29,17

A photograph sent to Frank Kenneth DeVoe in September 1960 by the Kohler Company, Kohler, Wisconsin shows him on a visit to that company.

The Hoanjovo Lane home was sold on 15 June 1960, when Kenneth and Martha moved to a new home designed for them by Royal Barry Wills on Indian Chief Trail, Mauweehoo Hill, Sherman, Connecticut.³⁰ Until they retired, Kenneth and Martha spent their weekends in Sherman and stayed during the week in Tudor City at Apartment 1710, 320 East 42nd Street, New York, New York.^31,29

Between 1962 and 1995, Kenneth and Martha made sixteen trips to most of the countries of Europe and also Russia and Morocco.³² 26 March 1970 was their last day of work, and 28 March 1970 was their last day in the New York City apartment.^33,17

On 20 March 1973, Kenneth and Martha sold their Sherman home and moved to the condominium community of Heritage Village, Southbury, Connecticut.³⁴ In December 1973 they moved to a different unit which had more privacy.^32,35

In 1978 they moved again, this time to a house they had built at 6 Trout Pond Lane, Chatham, Massachusetts.³⁶ They received the occupancy permit for the Chatham house on 15 July 1978.³⁶

In 1986, Kenneth and Martha with five others formed the Chatham Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship. Kenneth obtained all the speakers and ministers for the Fellowship, and conducted the services.³⁷

On 26 July 1997, Frank Kenneth DeVoe was moved into Liberty Commons Nursing Home, North Chatham, Massachusetts suffering from respiratory problems and mild dementia.^38,39 On the occasion of his ninetieth birthday, his family held a party for him on 15 March 1998 at The Melrose, Harwichport, Massachusetts.⁴⁰

Frank Kenneth DeVoe died of respiratory failure at 8 am on 30 March 1998 at Cape Cod Hospital (Room 3501B), Hyannis, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, at age 90.^41,42 He was buried on 18 April 1998 in Forest Hills Cemetery, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.^43,40,44,45 A memorial service was held on 19 April 1998 at the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House, Chatham, Massachusetts.⁴⁶ A bench dedicated to his memory was placed outside the Meeting House.