THELMAN LESTER, ENS, USN

Thelman Lester '25

Date of birth: March 23, 1904

Date of death: August 6, 1928

Age: 24

Lucky Bag

From the 1925 Lucky Bag:

Thelman Lester

Wilburton, Oklahoma

"T" "Judge" "Les"

"WHAT'N 'hell they tryin' to do around here: make this a theological seminary?"

"Les" got his early training in Oklahoma, and after having been associated with the Indians and others of that state, he developed a peculiar aversion to anything that approached mild nature.

Whenever "T" got in trouble with the upper classes during Plebe year, which was not so infrequently, his favorite remark was, "The fun I have is worth anything I get for it."

"Say, T, how about dragging for me this weekend?"

"Sure! Who is it, the chaperone?"

"Now, this a cold 4.0 and, just to show you that I believe what I say, I'll put up five dollars, and if she's a brick you get the five."

"Check, you're on."

This should have ended by "Les" getting the five, but he decided that being a man of honor, he couldn't do anything but refuse. Must have been some woman for usually he would call the Queen of Sheba a brick in order to get the five.

Class Track (4, 3, 2); Class Boxing (2); Class Football (3, 2).

Thelman Lester

Wilburton, Oklahoma

"T" "Judge" "Les"

"WHAT'N 'hell they tryin' to do around here: make this a theological seminary?"

"Les" got his early training in Oklahoma, and after having been associated with the Indians and others of that state, he developed a peculiar aversion to anything that approached mild nature.

Whenever "T" got in trouble with the upper classes during Plebe year, which was not so infrequently, his favorite remark was, "The fun I have is worth anything I get for it."

"Say, T, how about dragging for me this weekend?"

"Sure! Who is it, the chaperone?"

"Now, this a cold 4.0 and, just to show you that I believe what I say, I'll put up five dollars, and if she's a brick you get the five."

"Check, you're on."

This should have ended by "Les" getting the five, but he decided that being a man of honor, he couldn't do anything but refuse. Must have been some woman for usually he would call the Queen of Sheba a brick in order to get the five.

Class Track (4, 3, 2); Class Boxing (2); Class Football (3, 2).

Loss

Thelman was lost on August 6, 1928 when the plane he was piloting crashed near San Diego, California.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Thelman graduated from Wilburton high school in 1921. In April of his junior year, he won first place in the pole vault and first place in the boys oratorical contest. At the Tri School Literary Meet the next year, he tied for first place in the high jump, took second in the pole vault and won third in the running broad jump. He sang a solo and was part of the boys quartette. He was president of his class and was described in a senior poem as “tall and lank.” He played left guard on the football team.
Congressman C. D. Carter appointed Thelman to the Naval Academy. In September, 1922, Thelman spoke at the Wilburton Lions Club luncheon. He talked about academics at the Naval Academy and his summer cruise on the Delaware.
He married Thelma Phelps on June 7, 1928, in the First Christian church in Oklahoma City.

He earned his wings as naval aviator #3403 on April 7, 1928.

He was survived by his wife, parents, a brother, and three sisters. Both his father and his father-in-law were justices in the Oklahoma State Supreme Court. He and his wife had only been married for two months.

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.

The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.

The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.