of a massive Spanish Land Grant, which was later divided into
smaller ranchos when Mexico gained its independence from Spain.
Beginning in 1901 efforts began to subdivide this area as well,
and the town of Playa Del Rey and later Westchester would be
born. In present day San Marino, CA, at Rancho San Pascual, one
of the founders of Los Angeles; and another Wilson; retired
Mayor Benjamin Davis ”Don Benito” Wilson, would at one time
acquire this former land grant, known as Rancho La Ballona.
In 1929 the Nation was reeling from the Stock Market crash, and
tragedy struck the Wilsons of Inglewood, when Everett Wilson
died suddenly of a heart attack. Tom Wilson was struggling to
work odd jobs; delivering groceries, cleaning up yards and
running errands to support his mother and younger brother. He
graduated from Saint Michaels Catholic School and would be
entering George Washington High School in the fall. He was
already showing signs of his athletic prowess, and the coaches
at his new high school had noticed him.
That same year, in far off South Bend, Indiana, the cornerstone
was laid and groundbreaking for Notre Dame Stadium had begun.
The great Notre Dame Coach Knute Rockne would be sidelined with
thrombosis but the Fighting Irish would win the 1929 National
Championship, coached by their assistant coach Tom Lieb. Lieb, a
former Notre Dame Football star, competed for the United States
at the 1924 Summer Olympics held in Paris, France in the discus
throw where he won the bronze medal.
The previous year, in 1928, up in Detroit, Michigan, my mother
Mary Jo (Thompson) was born.
In nearby Chicago, Al Capone would order the elimination of many
of his rivals at the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre. The month
before, in January, Joseph Stalin consolidated his power in the
Soviet Union by sending Leon Trotsky into exile. The Mexican
Cristero War continued in 1929 as clerical forces attempted an
assassination of the provisional president in a train bombing.
The arts were in the midst of the Modernist movement, as Pablo
Picasso painted two cubist works, Woman in a Garden and Nude in
an Armchair. On November 29, Floyd Bennett, U.S. Admiral Richard
Byrd, Captain Ashley McKinley, and Harold June, became the first
to fly over the South Pole.
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