Her life before the war
Roselyn Amorous Baker was born on November 14, 1922, in Atlanta, Georgia. She was the daughter of Robert Lynn and Roselyn Amorous Baker.
Her parents married in December 1920, and Roselyn was born two years later. The family is listed in the 1930 United States census as living in Jacksonville, Florida, with her father Robert employed as the manager for a truck company. No further record is found of the Baker family before the war.
However, Roselyn must have married a Mr. Allen some time before June 28, 1944, since by the time she enlisted in the WAVES, she was known as Roselyn Amorous Allen. She had moved by the time she decided to join the Navy WAVES: in 1944, she was living in Montgomery, Alabama.
Her military career
Roselyn when she enlisted, in June 1944
Roselyn enlisted in the WAVES on June 28, 1944, in Birmingham, Alabama, her service number being 746-93-56 (or 764-93-56, according to the sources).
She entered active duty on or around July 13, 1944, after about two weeks of inactive duty. She was ordered to travel from Birmingham to the Naval Training School for the Women’s Reserve in the Bronx, in New York City.
There, she underwent recruit training, where she learned about the different Navy ranks and ratings, about the ships and aircraft of the fleet, and about naval traditions and naval history. It was also there that she had her first physical fitness training in the military.
She finished her recruit training on August 21, 1944, after about five weeks, and was advanced in rating to Seaman Second Class on the same date (the seaman rating was the typical entry-level position, which means that she was performing general duties at this time). She was then transferred to the Naval Training School (Yeoman) for women in Cedar Falls, Iowa, where she undertook yeoman training. In the United States Navy, a yeoman performed clerical and administrative duties first and foremost.
Her yeoman training lasted for about two months, and then she graduated from the school and was thus advanced in rating to Seaman First Class (Yeoman). After her training was over, she was transferred to the Naval Auxiliary Air Station called Whiting Field in Pensacola, Florida. She arrived in Pensacola on October 27, 1944, after ten days of leave and travel.
She was stationed at Whiting Field for about a year, until October 1945. It was there, in February 1945, that she was advanced to Yeoman Third Class (Temporary), which confirms the fact that she must have had mostly administrative duties during her time in the Navy.
It was also in Pensacola that she married John Palmer Smith, Jr., on June 1, 1945. Due to her marriage, her name in the Navy muster rolls was changed to Roselyn Amorous Smith from June 18, 1945, until her discharge.
On October 1, 1945, she was transferred from Pensacola to the Naval Personnel Separation Center in Nashville, Tennessee. However, it wasn’t so that she could be separated from the service, but rather it was so that she could continue serving in her administrative duties as yeoman. On October 13, 1945, after just two weeks of serving at the Separation Center in Nashville, she was transferred to another Separation Center, this one in Memphis, Tennessee. It can be assumed that she was discharged from the naval service soon after that date, after about one year and fours months of service.
Some newspapers articles of the time also mention her service, such as The Montgomery Advertiser (Montgomery, Alabama), which tells us on September 17, 1944, that “Wave Roselyn A. Allen, of 1-8 Watson Avenue, was recently enrolled at the Naval Training School (Yeoman-W) on the Iowa State Teachers’ College campus, Cedar Falls, Iowa. Upon successful completion of the course makes her eligible for a petty officer rating before receiving further duty orders within the continental limits of the United States.”
The Montgomery Advertiser, Sunday, September 17, 1944, edition
She’s also mentioned in articles published in The Birmingham News (Birmingham, Alabama) on July 2, 1944, and The Montgomery Advertiser on July 8, 1944, where it is said that she was one of “five girls who put Montgomery over the top in the June WAVE recruiting contest.”
The Montgomery Advertiser, Saturday, July 8, 1944, edition
Her postwar life
After her discharge, Roselyn settled in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, with her husband (whom she had met and married during her service; he was a Navy pilot stationed at Pensacola, where she was serving too), and soon they had a son, MacDonald Williams Smith, who was born in April 1946. But before 1951, the family had moved back to Georgia, Roselyn’s birth state.
Roselyn and John also had two other children, Jeffrey Palmer Smith and Roberta Smith. Their birth dates are unknown. It is possible that they were born after the family moved to Statesville, North Carolina.
Roselyn then lost many people in a few years span: first, her mother, who died in 1975; then, her husband, who passed away in 1978; and finally, her father, who died in 1982. Her mother and father both died in Georgia, while John, her husband, died in North Carolina, where the family had settled.
Not much is known about Roselyn’s life after she lost her husband and her parents. It is said in her obituary, though, that she moved to Black Mountain, North Carolina, after John died, and that she was very fond of gardening (she started a gardening club in Seabrook Island, South Carolina) and painting.
Roselyn passed away on May 28, 2011, at the age of 88 years old. She was survived by her three children and their spouses, a lot of grandchildren, and even a great-grandchild.
Roselyn’s grave in Sudlersville Cemetery, Sudlersville, Maryland
She is now buried in Sudlersville Cemetery in Sudlersville, Maryland, and her rating and branch of service are visible on the tombstone.
Sources
Robert Lynn Baker and Roselyn Amorous Baker’s family trees on ancestry.com, for the date of their marriage
United States census (1930)
United States Navy muster rolls (available on ancestry.com) for Roselyn’s military career
newspapers.com (The Montgomery Advertiser, Montgomery, Alabama) for Roselyn’s picture and the two articles
Florida, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1823-1982, on ancestry.com, for information about her second marriage to John Palmer Smith, Jr.
U.S., Cemetery and Funeral Home Collection, 1847-current, on ancestry.com, for information about her first son, MacDonald Williams Smith
newspapers.com (Asheville Citizen-Times, Asheville, North Carolina, June 25, 2011) for information given by Roselyn’s obituary (notably on her postwar life)
findagrave.com for the photograph of Roselyn’s grave
WWII WAVES 