AUSTIN, Texas— Today, Texas Land Commissioner and Veterans Land Board (VLB) Chairwoman Dawn Buckingham, M.D., is proud to introduce the next installment of the series highlighting the VLB's Voices of Veterans oral history program. This week, we highlight the service of Frances Relyea, who served in the U.S. Navy's WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service) program.
A native Texan, Relyea was born in West Texas on October 3, 1921. She recalled that when she was born, “the doctor didn’t get there in time,” and her father delivered her in their family home. Her family remained connected to Texas, and many years later, both of her sons attended and graduated from Waco High, where Relyea also graduated.
It was 1940 when she received her diploma, and the following year, she would experience the beginning of the Second World War. “I was lying on a bed at my mother’s place, and I heard the news on the radio, and I got up and I shook my mother, who’s hard of hearing, got her attention, and I said they just bombed Pearl Harbor.”
Relyea said she feared going to war, but her strong family ties helped guide her. “I did go into the Navy. My sister talked me into it. I never would’ve done that because I was so shy, but I guess it’s one of the best things that ever happened to me because they really took that shyness out, believe me. It didn’t take long either.”
She did her basic training in the Bronx, New York, and went on to do clerical work as a part of the U.S. Navy’s WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service) program. Her sister also served in the WAVES program. Relyea was stationed at Whiting Field in Florida, and while living in the barracks, she met her husband, head of the WAVES’s “chow hall.”
Relyea discussed how her future husband would act “just like a sergeant,” and even told her roommate, who worked in the chow hall, that if it were her, “I’d go for the old man and take a court marshal for it before I take that off of anybody.” However, everything changed over a single night, in the library with her friends. “Some sailors sat down with us. I do not know to this day why or how it happened, but before the night was over, I was sitting with him, and I’ve been sitting with him ever since.”
She laughed when admitting her husband was born in New York, saying, “I married a dumb Yankee.” Despite his origins, Relyea didn’t want to be without her Yankee and was upset when it looked like he would be going overseas. “He had been called up for submarine duty. Well, for submarine duty, you have to be in perfect health; not one thing can be wrong with you, and he had high blood pressure, so they wouldn’t take him. It worked out real fine for us because I didn’t want him to go. So, we were together the whole time.”
After leaving the service, Relyea and her husband adopted their daughter, and the family, along with their two sons, eventually settled in Texas. At the time of her interview, Relyea and her husband were residents of the William R. Courtney Texas State Veterans Home in Temple.
While discussing where she and her husband would spend their golden years, Relyea remembered that she was eligible to live in the Texas State Veterans Homes in Texas. Her youngest son, Charles, helped her look into their options. She said of her first visit to the Temple Veterans home, “When we first came in here, walked in, Charles was with me.” She recalled telling her son, “Charles, this is it.”
To listen to Frances Relyea tell her story, click the button below:
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Veterans can email VoicesofVeterans@glo.texas.gov to tell their stories. Please note that the Veteran must be a resident of Texas at the time of their interview.
Voices of Veterans is a state agency's first Veteran oral history program. It records the stories of Texas Veterans through their time in service and after returning home from combat.
The VLB records interviews with Veterans over the phone or in person. Their interviews are then permanently archived in the Office of Veterans Records at the GLO, where they join the historical documents of other Texas heroes such as Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and William Barret Travis.
Veterans' interviews are also available to researchers, historians, genealogists, and the public. These precious records inspire future generations and remind us of our Veterans' sacrifices.
To listen to the over 500 archived stories of Veterans documented through the GLO's Voices of Veterans oral history program, click the button below:
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Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, M.D., brings a lifetime of experience to the Texas General Land Office (GLO). In 2016, she became the first Republican elected to the Texas State Senate from Travis County and the first woman to represent Texas Senate District 24. She made history again in 2022, winning a statewide election to become our state’s first female Land Commissioner.