Lucille Mahon Mayea, Class of 1923

August 03, 2001
Santa Paula High School
By B. J. Harding, President, SPUHS Alumni Association Biography #148 (Have you submitted yours?)A second generation alumna, Lucille was the second child of Horatio Mahon (‘01) and May Ruggles Mahon (‘02). The other children in the family were: Bernice (‘21), Raymond (‘26), and Robert (‘28).Some of the special teachers at SPUHS in 1923 were Lorraine Noble, Bess Richardson and H. Peyton Johnson. Lucille was very active in the music department under the tutelage of H. Peyton, and learned the piano and organ. This hobby has enriched her life.Following graduation from SPUHS, Lucille went to the California Commercial College in Los Angeles and completed a business course. She came back to the town of her birth, Santa Paula, to work for the Santa Paula Citrus Association.Lucille then moved to Long Beach and went to work as a bank teller. While there, she learned the bank manager had absconded with a great deal of the bank’s money; the auditors closed the bank and hundreds of customers tried to break into the bank. This was quite a terrifying experience for all the tellers.From the bank, Lucille went to the Isthmian Steamship Company in Long Beach. She was secretary to the pier superintendent for this company, which sent pipelines to Saudi Arabia.
During this time Lucille married Bob Evans, but after a 10 year marriage failed she moved to Oakland to work as the secretary for the chief surgeon at the Oakland Naval Hospital. More than 6,000 amputees and frostbite cases were handled at this hospital during the Korean conflict.Lucille met and married Air Force Major Eugene Mayea, and for a while they lived in Roswell, New Mexico. On retirement they moved to Leisure Village in Camarillo. Gene passed away, and Lucille still cares for home and herself at Leisure Village.Besides her music, Lucy painted in oils. She has sold many of her paintings, but her favorites adorn her home and she is enjoying them as well as playing her organ and the keyboard. She has many friends at Leisure Village with whom she visits.



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