2.12.3.2.2. Marvin Edward Jennings, Jr. (1927- )

Marvin Edward Jennings, Jr., was born on 23 July 1927 in East St. Louis, Illinois, to Marvin Edward and Alice (Muir) Jennings, Sr. He was their first son. In 1930 the family lived at 8304 State Street in East St. Louis. The home was rented and Marvin's father worked as a rate clerk for the Illinois Central Railroad. At the end of the next year, Marvin's younger brother was born.

In 1940 the family lived at 427 North 82nd Street in Centreville. The next year Marvin's father accepted a job with the federal government in Washington, DC, and the family moved. A year later they bought a home in the Spout Run area of Arlington County, Virginia.

On 3 November 1945 Marvin was inducted into the Army Air Corps at Camp Blanding in Stark County, Florida. After basic training, he was assigned to the Army Air Corps Hawaiian Department and also served in occupied Japan during his time in the military. He saw his first computer while in the service. After being honorably discharged, Marvin went to college and earned an accounting degree. He began working for the federal government.

Marvin Edward Jennings, Jr.; personal collection

On 5 April 1952 he married Rachel Mildred "Millie" Lange. His father had introduced them. Millie worked as a secretary and lived in a boarding house in Washington, DC. Marvin's father and Millie were on the same bowling league. They had their first daughter in 1954.

Marvin worked for the finance department at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He was stationed overseas on three separate occasions: 1) Okinawa, Japan, for 15 months; and Taipei, Taiwan, for 15 months; 2) Tehran, Iran for two years in the 1960s and 3) Bonn, Germany for two years in the 1970s. Marvin and Millie's youngest daughter was born in Taipei.

After returning to the United States from the Far East, they purchased a new home on 512 Stephen Circle in Vienna, Virginia. When Marvin was stationed overseas, they would rent their home.

When Marvin retired from the CIA, he worked for five years for what is now the Woodburn Center for Community Mental Health. He retired from that job when he and Millie moved to Aurora, North Carolina, where Marvin worked as the town manager for a few years in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Marvin and Millie then built a house on Dawson's Creek near Arapahoe, North Carolina, where they lived for many years. Their home was next door to the home of Charles and Dorothy (Lange) Jennings -- their brother and sister. All four of them enjoyed playing golf and they took many long trips across country, playing golf wherever they went.

Marvin worked part-time for the Town of Oriental and taught mathematics classes at the local community college.

In 2001 Millie suffered a severe cerebral hemorrhage and became wheelchair-bound. Their oldest daughter and her husband moved in for awhile to help Marvin care for Millie. Not long after they moved to Montana, Marvin and Millie built a house in Virginia to be near their youngest daughter and her husband. Millie died in 2009. Marvin still lives in Virginia and summers in Montana with his oldest daughter. He continues to be active, playing golf with his son-in-law and attending dances at the golf club.

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'Marvin in Uniform,' personal collection
1930 U.S. Federal Census, Census Place: East St Louis, St. Clair, Illinois; Roll: 557; Page: 13A; Enumeration District: 61; Image: 55.0; FHL microfilm: 2340292
1940 U.S. Federal Census, Census Place: Signal Hill, St. Clair, Illinois; Roll: T627_879; Page: 19B; Enumeration District: 82-35
US, Public Records Index, Volume I, 1950-1993, 1986 Arapahoe, North Carolina (Jennings, Marvin E., Jr.)
US, Virginia, Marriage Records, 1936-2014, 1952 Jennings, Marvin Edward - Lange, Rachel Mildred
US, World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946, 1945 Jennings, Marvin E., Jr.