PFC US Marine Corps, Tabby Lorena Lancaster Theodore

Tabby Lorena Lancaster Theodore enlisted in the Marine Corps on December 4, 1943. ¹ She was sent to basic training at the Marine Corps Women Reserve School at Camp Lejeune, in New River, North Carolina. ^{2, 3} When the Corsicana Semi-Weekly Light asked her why she chose the Marines she explained, “Because I thought I might be of service to my country and because I think I will like being a Marine.” ² In 1944, she trained as an aviation machinist in Norman, Oklahoma. ^{4 She} was then assigned to the engine overhaul section at Cherry Point Marine Base, North Carolina. ^{5, 6} In the 1945 Marine muster rolls, she was listed as an “engine mechanic.”⁷ Later she was transferred to El Toro, California allowing her to be closer to her ailing father. During this time, Lancaster Theodore was assigned as a Marine Base tailor, altering uniforms. ⁸

Lancaster, named after her grandmother, was born in Corsicana, Texas to Lois Myrtle Megginson and Claude Elias Lancaster. ⁹ She attended twelve schools in four states before graduating with high grades in math and home economics. ⁸ She graduated from Corsicana Senior High School in 1941. ^{2, 10} After high school, she worked two years for Southwest Bell, and according to her obituary, clearly remembered the attack on Pearl Harbor when only she and one other person were running the switchboard. ⁸

She met and married George P. Theodore, a fellow Marine, in 1945, and they shared a partnership that lasted 46 years. ⁸ The couple had two children. ⁸ After the war, Lancaster Theodore went to school to become an innkeeper and later became an auditor for Holiday Inn. The couple was involved in restaurant management for many years, eventually settling in Santa Fe. ⁸ They co-owned the popular Ernie’s Restaurant in Santa Fe and retired in 1989. ⁸ She and her husband moved to Las Cruces, where George passed away in 1990. ⁸ In 2008 she was on the “Honor Flight” taking veterans to visit the WW II Memorial Monument in Washington D.C. ⁸ When asked why she chose the Marines, she responded, without hesitation, “Because the Marine Corps was the best!”⁸