Photo and text submitted by Joe Jennings

Light Line Airway Beacon Construction, Malad, Idaho, March 1930

Francis Joseph Jennings was born on 9 January 1894, in Somerville, MA. He enlisted in the US Navy on 17 November 1917. Frank was honorably discharged aboard the USS Langley, on 22 November 1922 at the rank of an Aviation Machinist Mate First Class. On 26 December 1925, FJJ (as he was also known), married my grandmother, Catherine F. Hans, at St. Peters Church in Washington DC.

FJJ worked as an electrician in the late 20’s. I’m not sure when he came to work for the Dept. of Commerce, Airways Division, probably sometime in 1928. Francis Joseph Jennings died on 17 November, 1931 at Anderson’s Infirmary in Meridian, MI, from complications of “Ruptured Gangrenous Appendix”. My father, FJJ’s son, was born 22 days later on 9 December, 1931 in Washington DC.

Francis Joseph Jennings (position unknown)

View below a touching letter written to Mrs. Jennings in 1931, wife of above Francis Joseph Jennings, regarding Joseph’s death in 1931.