They say every picture tells a story.
Fred Lavelle Casstevens had plenty of stories come to mind when he got his subscribed copy of last week’s Catalina Islander and saw his mother’s graduation photo on the cover.
“My mother, Iona Berning, later to become Iona Casstevens appeared on the cover of the Catalina Islander on June 14, 2013,” Casstevens said.
They say every picture tells a story.
Fred Lavelle Casstevens had plenty of stories come to mind when he got his subscribed copy of last week’s Catalina Islander and saw his mother’s graduation photo on the cover.
“My mother, Iona Berning, later to become Iona Casstevens appeared on the cover of the Catalina Islander on June 14, 2013,” Casstevens said.
“She married Assistant Fire Chief Fred Lewis Casstevens in January of 1931. They had a son Fred Lavelle Casstevens born at the Avalon hospital,” Casstevens said.
“They had two daughters, Betty and Lorraine who were born on the mainland.”
He went on to tell more history of his family ties to Avalon: “Mrs. Josephine Merson (Iona’s) mother and her husband James Merson also resided on the Island. Mr. Merson was a grounds keeper at the country club.
“A son, James D. Merson, was born at the Island hospital.
Fred and Gladys Berning (Fred is one Josephine’s son) lived in Avalon. Fred worked at Hoover’s Grocery.
They had a son, Robert Berning, born on the Island. Harley (son of Josephine) was not married while he lived on the Island, He also worked at Hoover’s Grocery.
Josephine Merson (formerly Berning) had two more children: Betty and Harley.
All of her children were born in Nevada near Gardnerville.
Betty married Wells Gillespie. Wells worked at the pottery factory near Pebbly Beach until he began working as a driver for the Island Company driving a tour bus.
We all had homes on Sumner Avenue.
Although most of the family stayed until the beginning of WWII, my father, Fred Lewis Casstevens tested and qualified as a fireman with the Los Angeles City Fire Department.
This was about 1937. World War II brought two reasons to leave the Island: defense jobs on the mainland and fear of invasion of our tiny Island.
All are gone now.
My sisters Betty Figueroa and Lorraine Uribe are the final chapter of my family who had anything to do with Santa Catalina Island.”
