Ray Edward Knowles (July 5, 1925–December 17, 1991)
By Charles Lewis and Sarah Schneider
Early Life
Ray Edward Knowles was born on July 5, 1925, in Miami, FL.1 His mother was Lovina Knowles, née Lovina Walker.2 His father, Melvin Knowles, worked as a fisherman.3 Ray came from a large family with five siblings: Henry, Melvin, Merrill, Ardis Louise, and Bessie.4 When Ray was only eleven months old, his mother passed away.5 Following her death, he was taken in by his older sister and her husband, Bessie and Daniel Jensen, as is shown here on the 1930 US Census.6 It appears that they adopted and raised Ray in addition to their two daughters.7
Ray Knowles’s brother-in-law and guardian, Daniel Jensen, worked as a tile setter in the building industry.8 As Ray was growing up in the late 1920s and 1930s the Great Depression hit families throughout the United States, and the Jensens may have experienced the Depression-era struggle to make ends meet.9 However, the Miami area was able to eventually recover from the Depression, and there was an “Art Deco hotel construction boom on Miami Beach” in the 1930s.10 As a result, “construction material companies had an outlet for their backlogged supplies,” and Daniel Jensen’s tile work may have benefited from this building boom.11
World War II Service in the US Navy
Ray Edward Knowles enlisted in the US Navy on April 29, 1943, at the age of seventeen, the minimum age for enlistment with the approval of a parent or guardian.12 It appears that Knowles’s brother, Merrill, also served in the Navy during World War II, and this may have influenced Ray’s decision to enlist.13 While in the military Knowles served as a naval painter.14 His duties likely included preparing paints, painting, repairing flooring such as tiling and linoleum, and maintaining emergency equipment.15 His work may have helped prepare the ship for the harsh environment of the sea and for fires and other emergencies.16 During Knowles’s service he was promoted to the rank of Petty Officer Third Class.17
Knowles left the Navy on February 8, 1945, before the end of the war.18 There are many reasons why he may have been released prior to the end of combat, including possible injury, combat fatigue, or release due to oversaturated jobs towards the end of the war. Interestingly, about a week after being discharged from the service, he registered for the draft, as evidenced by his Draft Registration Card, seen here.19 He most likely registered for the draft despite having just served in the military because it was required for men ages eighteen and older to register and he had not been of age when he entered the service.20
Post-Service Life in Miami
Ray Knowles moved back to Miami after exiting the Navy and initially lived with his brother-in-law Daniel Jensen.21 While he was in the Navy, his sister, Bessie Jensen, passed away at the age of thirty-eight.22 Little is known about Knowles’s post-service life and career. It is possible that he married at some point after his military service; there were individuals by the name of Ray E. Knowles who were married in Miami in the 1960s through the 1980s.23 Knowles died on December 17, 1991, in Miami, Florida at the age of sixty-six.24 A memorial marker at Florida National Cemetery serves as a reminder of his life and military service.25
Endnotes
1 “U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007,” database, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com (accessed April 20, 2017), entry for Ray Edward Knowles, Miami, FL.
2 Ibid.; “Louvina Knowles,” The Miami Daily News and Metropolis, June 19, 1926, page 2, Newspapers.com. Note: Mrs. Knowles’s name is also spelled “Louvina,” “Lavina,” and “Laviney” in various records.
3 “U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995,” database, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com (accessed August 3, 2017), entry for Melvin Knowles, Miami, FL, 1918.; “U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995,” database, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com (accessed August 3, 2017), entry for Melvin Knowles, Miami, FL, 1924.
4 “Louvina Knowles,” The Miami Daily News and Metropolis, June 19, 1926, page 2, Newspapers.com.; “Deaths…Mrs. Melvin Knowles,” The Miami Daily News and Metropolis, June 17, 1926, page 2, Newspapers.com.; “Ardis Louise Knowles,” The Miami Metropolis, April 15, 1921, page 9, Newspapers.com.
5 Ibid.; “Florida Deaths, 1877-1939,” database, FamilySearch.org, https://familysearch.org (accessed August 5, 2017), entry for Mrs. Lovina Knowles, Miami, FL.
6 “1930 United States Federal Census,” database, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com (accessed April 20, 2017), entry for Ray Knowles, Miami, Dade, FL.
7 Ibid.; “1940 United States Federal Census,” database, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com (accessed April 20, 2017), entry for Daniel Jensen, Dade, FL.
8 “1930 United States Federal Census,” database, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com (accessed April 20, 2017), entry for Ray Knowles, Miami, Dade, FL.; “1940 United States Federal Census,” database, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com (accessed April 20, 2017), entry for Daniel Jensen, Dade, FL.
9 David F. Burg, The Great Depression, Updated Edition (New York, NY: Facts on File, Inc., 2005), xvii.
10 Seth H. Bramson, Miami: The Magic City (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2007), 87.
11 Ibid.
12 “U.S. Veterans Gravesites, ca.1775-2006,” database, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com (accessed April 20, 2017), entry for Ray Edward Knowles, Florida National Cemetery.; Robert C. Daniels, World War II in Mid-America: Experiences from Rural Mid-America during the Second World War (Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2012), 81.
13 “Deaths Here, Elsewhere…Mrs. Bessie May Jensen,” The Miami Daily News, September 4, 1943, page 11, Newspapers.com.
14 Ibid.
15 “All Hands - Rates, Divisions & Pay Scales,” USS Enterprise CV-6: The Most Decorated Ship of the Second World War, accessed April 20, 2017, http://www.cv6.org/company/muster/organization.htm.
16 Ibid.
17 “U.S. Veterans Gravesites, ca.1775-2006,” database, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com (accessed April 20, 2017), entry for Ray Edward Knowles, Florida National Cemetery.
18 “U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010,” database, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com (accessed August 3, 2017), entry for Ray Knowles.
19 “U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947,” database, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com (accessed August 3, 2017), entry for Ray Edward Knowles, Miami, FL.
20 Norman Polmar and Thomas B. Allen, World War II: The Encyclopedia of the War Years, 1941-1945 (Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2012), 725.
21 “U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947,” database, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com (accessed August 3, 2017), entry for Ray Edward Knowles, Miami, FL.
22 “Deaths Here, Elsewhere…Mrs. Bessie May Jensen,” The Miami Daily News, September 4, 1943, page 11, Newspapers.com.
23 “Florida Marriage Indexes, 1822-1875 and 1927-2001,” database, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com (accessed August 3, 2017), entry for Ray E. Knowles and Patricia Sharon Johnson, Dade, FL, 1967.; “Florida Marriage Indexes, 1822-1875 and 1927-2001,” database, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com (accessed August 3, 2017), entry for Ray Edward Knowles and Barbara Lee White, Palm Beach, FL, 1968.; “Florida, Divorce Index, 1927-2001,” database, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com (accessed August 3, 2017), entry for Ray Edward Knowles and Mary, Miami-Dade, FL, 1971.; “Florida Marriage Indexes, 1822-1875 and 1927-2001,” database, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com (accessed August 3, 2017), entry for Ray Edward Knowles and Norma Hamasse, Miami-Dade, FL, 1972.; “Florida Marriage Indexes, 1822-1875 and 1927-2001,” database, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com (accessed August 3, 2017), entry for Ray Edward Knowles and Vivian Carol Massey, Miami-Dade, FL, 1984. Note: One or more of these marriages could be Ray Edward Knowles or they could be other people with the same name.
24 “Florida Death Index, 1877-1998,” database, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com (accessed April 20, 2017), entry for Ray Edward Knowles.; “Local…Knowles, Ray Edward,” The Miami Herald, December 20, 1991, page 4B, NewsBank.
25 National Cemetery Administration, "Ray Edward Knowles," US Department of Veterans Affairs, accessed August 3, 2017, https://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/NGLMap?ID=5522786
© 2017, University of Central Florida
