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That has been one of my theories for weeks. She married before or after going back to Cuba and lived and died there. The only person who may know otherwise would be her friend Esperanza. Because Walter never met Mildred and Nannette never saw her after 1960-61.
She relocated or died in an accident or natural death. Either way I think she and Esperanza may have kept in touch until Mildred's death or Esperanza's death. Time may tell.
Last edited by howard555; 12-11-2017 at 03:45 PM..
I ask Mr. Skin a couple weeks back if it likely she could have married someone from Cuba and went back with him and just didn't tell her Family. Relations between Cuba and the U.S was very tense at the time
Yes, U.S.-Cuba relations were tense, but Americans were going to and from Cuba until 1962, when Kennedy issued the travel ban.
So, there was definitely a window of opportunity for her to return.
I do think that Walter Hecker should not be totally ignored. Here's why:
- We still do not know how Mildred supported herself when she first went to NY after leaving her son and husband OR after she left Esperanza's employ.
- We also still do not know how Mildred and Esperanza met; Nanette told Mr Skin that she didn't know. So, we can't rule out that Mildred and Esperanza may have met through Walter some time before her parents were no longer together.
As I said earlier, I've determined that Walter Hecker worked in the restaurant industry for many years. (I have some other information about him AND Esperanza that may or may not be important as well).
So, one possible scenario is that Mildred also worked in that industry and that is how she and Esperanza met in NYC.
And, if she did work in the hospitality industry, it is possible that is the work she returned to after leaving Nanette's Villa. So, that might give us some other ways to look for her (for instance, was there a NY restaurant worker's union in the 1960s?)
Also, the restaurant/hospitality industry connection might be important in other ways. For instance, as I pointed out much earlier in this thread, Cuba in the 1950s was sort of a Carribean Las Vegas. Americans (including members of the Mob) owned and operated restaurants, hotels, nightclubs, etc. there in the years before the revolution. It was a VERY popular place for well off Americans to visit and "live the high life." Many American women also worked in those restaurants/hotels/nightclubs as waitresses, hostesses, and performers.
So, if Mr Skin's mother did earn her living working in the hospitality industry soon after arriving in NY, there IS the possibility that she had connections in that industry in Cuba as well.
Granted, this is just a wild guess, but when we don't have much information, every bit you do have -- even if it seems unimportant - is a potential clue. So, again, I don't think we should immediately dismiss Walter Hecker as irrelevant.
By the way, I have some other information about Walter and Esperanza that may or may not be important, but I don't think we should immediately rule them out as possible links.
After all, so far, Esperanza is the LAST person we know of to have seen Mildred alive.
I also want to add that there is another scenario we haven't yet considered. We've all been working on the assumption that Mildred stayed in the U.S. after leaving the Heckers. Now we are discussing the possibility that she returned to Cuba.
But there is a third scenario: she could have moved to a totally different country.
Remember: Nanette said she does not know how Mildred and Esperanza met. So, that also implies that she cannot say with any certainty that her father never met Mildred.
We simply do not know.
Also, Mildred could have moved to another country besides Cuba after leaving the Heckers.
Remember: Nanette said she does not know how Mildred and Esperanza met. So, that also implies that she cannot say with any certainty that her father never met Mildred.
We simply do not know.
Also, Mildred could have moved to another country besides Cuba after leaving the Heckers.
Have you seen all the travel documents for the multiple trips that Esperanza made to Puerto Rico? She made at least one trip and never came back until all her PR relatives had passed away. If those travel documents are not able to be viewed, then maybe she sent Mildred $ and Mildred went to live in PR and died there.
Millions of people have died and there are no death records for any of them.
I agree that we do have to consider that she left the country entirely. Previously, Puerto Rico was mentioned and we already know that she went to Cuba.
And the Walter Hecker mystery needs to be further explored. Who was he and could he have been the source of the connection between Mildred and Esperanza.
There is so much that is yet unknown and they are things that would usually be out in the open, traceable by a paper trail. Things like--why did Mildred leave in the first place? This was highly unusual back in those days. A woman leaving her husband and child would be frowned upon even today. WHY would she leave?
Unfortunately, there wasn't a census until 1960, after she had already left, so we don't have any record of her living with her husband and child or of holding a job. She couldn't have just gone off on her own unless she had access to some kind of financial support.
I'll make something up: she was working as a waitress before she got married. This was usual for young women back then. Married woman usually didn't work in those days but maybe she did go back to work for a time. Maybe she was attractive and personable and she caught the eye of someone and ran off. Maybe the "someone" had a lot of money and took her to a fabulous resort in the Catskills, called Nanette's Place. Then he dumped her. And Esperanza took her on and helped her by letting her supervise her teenaged daughter, Nanette.
...and Mildred had such a good personality that she and Esperanza bonded as good friends. Esperanza liked her so much that she entrusted her with the supervision of Nanette. The three of them even traveled together--that's how important Mildred was to Esperanza. What next? Fantasy story with no answer.
WHY is there no record of an annulment of the marriage or a divorce in the first place?
With some kind of a reason for the end of the marriage, there might be a clue.
Does anyone know how the Catholic church works and where anyone would look for an annulment? We have never found a record of a divorce. There must be an official record of the end of the marriage or Mr Skin's father couldn't have remarried.
(and the mention of the ever present "mob" has not escaped me. It is ingrained here in CT and it was heavily involved in Cuba back in those days. They ran--and still do run--restaurants as a cover for their businesses. Strange how that resort just vanished after Fidel Castro took over.) Just fantasy and we are grasping at straws.
From Ancestry. com Marriage Index, there was a marriage license taken out for a Walter R. Hecker and Eppie Torres in 1948 in NYC. In further searching, I have found that "Eppie" can be a nickname for Esperanza. How this can help, I don't know but am parking it here just in case.
Crosby High School was where sister Catherine graduated from according to her obit. Did Mildred also graduate from there? If so the alumni association may have contact information.
I can not proceed further without more info contributed from Mr Skin, see post 295.
From Ancestry. com Marriage Index, there was a marriage license taken out for a Walter R. Hecker and Eppie Torres in 1948 in NYC. In further searching, I have found that "Eppie" can be a nickname for Esperanza. How this can help, I don't know but am parking it here just in case.
Yes they married but were not married by the late 50's and according to Walter's daughter her father never met Mildred. As Rosie said the fact that Nannette does not know how her mother met Mildred, then it still leaves a tiny crack in the door that Mildred knew Walter in some way, maybe employee, maybe friend, etc.
And as we know Mildred left Windham in late 1960 and out of all the places in the world she could have gone she went to Manhattan.
Quote:
Originally Posted by historyfan
Crosby High School was where sister Catherine graduated from according to her obit. Did Mildred also graduate from there? If so the alumni association may have contact information.
I can not proceed further without more info contributed from Mr Skin, see post 295.
Crosby High School alumni might be a good source.
The Op has already spoken by phone to kids of Catherine and they know nothing or little about their Aunt Mildred.
From Ancestry. com Marriage Index, there was a marriage license taken out for a Walter R. Hecker and Eppie Torres in 1948 in NYC. In further searching, I have found that "Eppie" can be a nickname for Esperanza. How this can help, I don't know but am parking it here just in case.
Yes, Esperanza used the nickname Eppie at times, as shown in other records and that is their marriage record.
Interestingly, Walter listed Esperanza as his "wife" when he registered for the draft in 1942, but they were not legally married until December, 1948.
So, if Mildred lit out for NY in 1948, there is a chance that she could have met both Esperanza and Walter before they split up.
The Hecker's daughter indicated that she did not know how Mildred and Esperanza met in NYC, so she cannot be certain that Walter didn't know her as well.
The fact that Walter worked in the restaurant industry does open the possibility that Mildred met Esperanza through related work.
Again, that is why I wouldn't ignore Walter entirely. If it is possible that Mildred worked in the restaurant industry before the Cuba trip, she could have returned to that type of employment after she left Nanette's Villa.
After all, a single women had to have SOME way of supporting herself.
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