According to Audrey Mae’s artistic cemetery map diagram and Audrey Mae’s gravestone numbering system, infant Frank Evarone, Jr.’s gravestone is Gravestone Number Thirty-Eight. He shares this stone with his older sister Anna Lucia who died three years before Frank, Jr. was born and died. Using her Smith-Corona typewriter in the 1980s, Audrey Mae typed the following mini-biography of infant Frank Evarone, Jr., an eleventh-generation Spencer in the East Greenwich area of Rhode Island, through his mother, Edith Anna (née Spencer) Evarone.
(2013 Update: Frank’s gravestone inscription and Bruce MacGunnigle’s book has Frank’s year of birth as 1926 whereas Audrey Mae mistakenly remembered 1925 as the year of death. Website author has Frank, Jr.’s date of birth as May 19, 1926 and date of death as May 21, 1926.)
Frank, Jr., born in 1926 is the first son of Edith Anna (née Spencer) Evarone and Frank Evarone.
Bruce MacGunnigle – 42
Audrey Mae’s reflection of Frank, Jr. is “born 1925 and lived three days”. Audrey Mae, Edith Anna’s younger sister, was a young teen when Frank, Jr. died.
Found in Edith Anna (née Spencer) Evarone’s possessions after she died at age ninety-three (December 8, 1991) was a notepad with the following dates: “1926 Edith went to hospital, May 18. baby born May 19, died May 21, buried May 23 (2 days old) Sunday. Edith came home May 30. Sunday. 1926 Edith & Frank & family started for Ca. Sept. 28 Tuesday in afternoon about 2, 1926.” (Web site author is unsure who wrote the information on the notepad. Most likely it was Edith Anna’s Mother, Mary Jane (née Vaughn) Spencer.)
Edith Anna is the first daughter of William J. B. Spencer who is the second son of John Johnson Spencer and Anna Maria (pronounce Mar-eye-ah) Spencer (shared gravestone No. 8). Anna Maria is the daughter of Richard Anthony Spencer (gravestone No. 7) who is the first son of Richard Anthony (“Deacon”) Spencer (gravestone No. 5). “Deacon” Richard, as he was called, was the sixth child of Huldah (gravestone No. 1) and Patriot John Spencer (gravestone No.2).
Edith Anna (6-12-1898–12-8-1991), the first daughter of William J.B. and Mary Jane (née Vaughn) Spencer was the first Spencer in Rhode Island since the 1600s to marry outside of the Yankee tradition. Frank, the children’s father, was born in Italy and came to America when he was seven years old. He did not speak English when he arrived. His parents and he settled in Providence, R.I. He met Edith at a dance in Providence, Rhode Island. Frank and Edith lived with Frank’s parents in Providence when they were first married.
Their first child Anna Lucia–named after both grandmothers–died of spinal meningitis when she was two years old. She died at Rhode Island Hospital on April 6, 1923 as there was no medicine for that illness at that time in history. Three years later Frank and Edith’s first son Frank, Jr. who lived only three days was born. Four months after the death of Frank, Jr., Edith and Frank, along with their second daughter, Gloria, and Frank’s parents, started for California on September 28th, a Tuesday at 2 PM in 1926.
Frank, Jr.’s and his sister, Anna Lucia’s maternal great-grandparents, great,great- grandfather, great great, great-grandparents and great, great, great,great-grandparents are buried in this Spencer Family Cemetery. However, Frank, Jr.’s and Anna Lucia’s parents and grandparents are not. Their maternal grandparents are buried in a neighboring town of Coventry, Rhode Island. Their parents and paternal grandparents are buried in California.
Edith and Frank and Frank’s parents and cousins lived their lives in California never returning to Rhode Island to live. Both Edith and Frank are buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California, but their first son, Frank, Jr. and their first daughter, Anna Lucia, eleventh-generation Spencers in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, are buried in the Spencer Family Cemetery in East Greenwich, Rhode Island.
 Photo Taken around year 2000 (A Spencer descendant placed an angel symbol in front of headstone) |
 Photo Taken around year 2002 |
Over time moss or mold is damaging the finish on the Evarone headstone. The photography of the gravestones below show the spread of the corrosion on the gravestones from 2000 to 2002. The gravestone photo at the top of this page was taken in 2012 and shows the advanced corrosion.
(If any web site reader knows how to clean this headstone, please add a comment to this website. Descendants get mixed messages. Some “experts” say cleaning the stone with harsh chemicals will only make it worse. Other “experts” say safe headstone cleaners are out there. The corrosion really bothered Audrey Mae, so please respond if anyone knows how to solve this problem. Remember, this gravestone lives in the extreme New England weather. Author does not think that the gravestone was there in the 20s when the children died. Author believes their mother purchased their gravestone in the 50s.) More research is needed.
“Spencer, Johnson, Goff, Tarbox, Vaughn and Evarone descendants, if you have any additional information on infant Frank Evarone, Jr., please add a comment to this web site and the web site editor will add this to the site. Thanks.”