Francis Patrick Carr
b. 12 January 1907, Kokomo, Howard County, Indiana, to Patrick J. and Blanche Eve (Record) Carr
d. 26 January 1980, Houston, Texas
m/1. 30 November 1930, Kokomo, Howard County, Indiana
Madge A. Oden
b. 24 May 1912 Miami County, Indiana, to Walter and Margaret Maude (David) Oden
d. 25 November 1986, Fulton County Indiana
m/2. 21 May 1954
Effie Lee Newton
Children with Madge A. Oden:
- Patricia Armilda “Patsy” (b. 1931)
- Mary Catherine (b. 1934)
- Johannah Kay (b. 1939)
Francis Carr’s father, Patrick Joseph Carr, was born in Ireland and came to Kokomo, Indiana, from Trenton, New Jersey, in the late 1800’s to open the Great Western Pottery and later the Kokomo Sanitary Pottery. He came as the kiln man boss. He married Blanche E. Record in 1905, and they had two children Francis and Agnes.
Francis was educated in public and parochial schools of Kokomo, Indiana, and graduated from Jasper College/Academy in Jasper, Indiana, in 1925. After graduating, he worked at the Hoosier Iron Works. There he became associated with the International iron Moulders of North America. In 1929 he was employed by the Continental Steel Corporation. He was an active organizer of the Steel Workers of Kokomo and ran for City Councilman in 1938.
He moved his family to Houston Texas sometime around 1942 and was employed by the Sheffield Steel Company. He returned to Kokomo, Indiana, around 1947 because his wife was unhappy. He divorced in 1948 and moved in with his mother Blanche and sister Agnes, working as a waiter at Ko-San Luncheon which was owned by his mother. He returned to Houston Texas sometime after 1950 and worked as a guard for a security company. He married Effie Lee Newton on May 21, 1954. They had no children. Around 1955 he was out of work again so he moved to Lafayette, Louisiana to work as a plant manager for a small manufacturing company. In 1957 the plant was downsized and he returned to Houston to look for employment but then went back to Lafayette to open a car wash financed by his mother Blanche. The car wash was unsuccessful and after it closed, he and Effie moved to Arizona briefly. He eventually moved back to Houston where he took a job as a security field director until his death on January 26, 1980. He is buried in Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery.
Submitted by:
Kathy Anne Coppola
Kokomo IN
E-mail: kcoppola@iuk.edu