Grable Family History & Genealogy

Eula M (Grable) Stikes was born on June 11th, 1897 in Parker County, Texas to Rudolph Grable (1865 - 1951) and Sarah Jane Howard (1869 - 1964). She had siblings Minnie, Milas, Andella, Elmo, and Admiral Grable. Eula May Grable married John F. Bartlett and they had children Robert and Colleen. Eula May Bartlett died at the age of 100 years in Yuba City, California, where she had lived for two years before her death. She is buried in Bethesda Cemetery in Garner, Parker County, Texas. See Eula M Stikes: Obituary.

CHAMPIONS live forever in the record pages, and movie stars live forever in old film revivals. And since Betty Grable was a grand champion, record-breaking movie star, she will always be alive somewhere, sometime, and not just in the memories of hard‐line fans like me. Nevertheless, it's a terrible shock to realize she's gone. Or, as film buff Eric Spilker told me when we first learned the seriousness of her illness, “I don't want to face a world without Betty." Actually, we have all been facing such a world for many years now. Betty's death only makes it official. Her last movie was made in 1955, and her true era was, of course, World War II. There is no definition of those years possible which does not include Betty Grable, who unofficially won the war. Whose photograph was marked off in sections to teach fliers how to read aerial maps. The pin‐up girl herself. Dancing lightly, singing slightly, cherries in hair, hands-on-hips, smiling her fabulous smile, and flashing her famous legs, Grable was the 40s. I was little in those years, and things were clear and secure in the midst of war's insecurity. Double‐dip ice cream cones were a nickel, movies were a dime. I said my prayers at night, schemed to get what I wanted for Christmas. I dreamed my small dreams about growing up. What did I pray for? That we'd lick those nasty Nazis and Japs. What did I want for Christmas? A bicycle with honest‐to‐goodness rubber tires. And what did I want to be when I grew up? Well, it's painful to remember, but wanted to be blonde, to be tanned and slim, to wear pink and white, to be rich and famous, to sing, to dance, to be downright Technicolor. In other words, I wanted to be Betty Grable. And even when I grew past that particular goal, I never forgot what she meant to me when I was little, especially my first sight of her. It was 1942 and I was sitting in my father's lap at the old College Theater in Brookings, S.D. The film was “Springtime in the Rockies,” and she was singing “Run, Little Raindrop, Run.” Well, that kind of security, that kind of America, that kind of musical, that kind of movie star (and even, God help us, that kind of Technicolor) are now more gone than ever. And I did not grow up to be Betty Grable. I didn't Jeanine Basinger is a lecturer in American Film History at Wesleyan University. Even come close. I did, however, grow up to meet her and, in some very, very small way, know her, when I was researching some material on fan clubs. In real life, she was still Betty Grable. Still tanned, blonde, slim, pink, and white. Movie star's qualities all. But she was also unpretentious. Kind‐hearted. Good‐natured. The kind of good pal who once inspired Victor Mature to defend her honor to a group of society matrons who called her “nothing but a wiggler.” Full of humor about herself and modest to the point of disparagement about her career, she was that imaginary creature—the prettiest and most popular girl in school who never let it go to her head. “I was lucky,” she always said in interviews. “I was just lucky.” She'd describe her success as a miracle, pointing out that it happened because she was no threat to anybody. Men felt she was too dumb to give them a hard time, and women felt she was too ordinary to be real competition. “Even the grandmothers wrote me fan letters.” And she'd never fail to add, “My films never once got a good review.” But, in truth, they did. Critics appreciated them for what they were: fun, sheer entertainment. And the fans stood in line to see them, making her the box‐office queen for years. The people who paid hard cash for the tickets just plain liked her. They sensed she was nice. And so she was. A nice person, who worked hard to entertain, having known nothing else since Childhood. Always did her best, and then let it go at that. Content to give it up when the time “I've got mine, honey,” she said to Marilyn Monroe when the latter more or less took over her place at Fox, “now you go get yours.” (“I really liked Marilyn,” she told me. “She was a good kid. She'd come over and I'd cook her a steak.” It was typical of Betty Grable that, with a few simple words, she could reduce two of the world's biggest sex symbols down to a couple of kids who ate steak together after a hard day at the office. I think that's really how she saw it.) It's hard for some people to appreciate what Betty Grable meant, I know that. But it isn't hard for those of us who grew up with her. How did we come to have someone so likable, so modest and unassuming, so much one of us, to reassure us and help us forget our worries in the dark days of the war and beyond? Who knows? I guess we were lucky. We were just lucky.

Dorothy Annette (Ashley) Grable was born on October 14, 1918 to Elbert Ashley and Lelia Ashley, and had a sister Norma Smith. Dorothy Grable died at age 85 years old on July 16, 2004. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Dorothy Grable.

Walter S Grable of Grand Tower, Jackson County, Illinois was born on April 25, 1918, and died at age 65 years old in February 1984.

Robert E Grable of Saint Ann, Saint Louis County, MO was born on August 10, 1924, and died at age 58 years old on May 23, 1983. Robert Grable was buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery Section O Site 197 2900 Sheridan Road, in St. Louis.

Robert G Grable of South Jordan, Salt Lake County, UT was born on June 21, 1924, and died at age 80 years old on December 29, 2004.

George A Grable of New Albany, Floyd County, Indiana was born on February 1, 1918, and died at age 63 years old in July 1981.

Harold L Grable of Leeds, Jefferson County, Alabama was born on January 4, 1924, and died at age 60 years old in January 1984.

Hugh L Grable of Marion, Grant County, Indiana was born on September 27, 1916, and died at age 64 years old in March 1981.

Ralph E Grable of Akron, Summit County, OH was born on October 8, 1906, and died at age 78 years old on May 15, 1985.

Lloyd L Grable of Twelve Mile, Cass County, IN was born on February 12, 1919, and died at age 72 years old on December 3, 1991.

Victor D Grable of Conneaut, Ashtabula County, OH was born on July 1, 1918, and died at age 79 years old on November 27, 1997.

Raymond Clifford Grable of Bonham, Fannin County, TX was born on March 22, 1928, and died at age 83 years old on May 4, 2011. Raymond Grable was buried at Dallas - Ft. Worth National Cemetery Section 86 Site 653 2000 Mountain Creek Pkwy, in Dallas.

Merrill L Grable of Twelve Mile, Cass County, IN was born on November 24, 1927, and died at age 71 years old on January 14, 1999.

Lawrence L Grable of Wenatchee, Chelan County, WA was born on September 29, 1927, and died at age 78 years old on June 18, 2006.

Bruce G Grable of Fredericktown, Washington County, PA was born on August 14, 1918, and died at age 81 years old on November 19, 1999.

Endle C Grable of Indianapolis, Marion County, IN was born on February 25, 1916, and died at age 81 years old on July 8, 1997.

Joseph M Grable of Willoughby, Lake County, Ohio was born on March 12, 1920 in Panama Canal Zone, and died at age 60 years old in May 1980.

James D Grable of Houston, Harris County, TX was born on June 17, 1945, and died at age 57 years old on February 7, 2003.

James E Grable of Demopolis, Marengo County, AL was born on November 25, 1916, and died at age 76 years old on December 4, 1992.