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Irene Mary Frey Dubach was born on March 26, 1926 Ironically, as I mentioned to her, the same year Marilyn Monroe was born. Irene was born three hous es from where she lives now on Route 84. Her mother died when she was eight months old of rheumatic heart fever. She then lived with her aunt the first few years of her life Her father had been in a similar situation. His par ents has died when he was very young. He was raised by his German-speaking grandfather. Irene first started school in a one room school house on EDT regional minutes T e and roaming ton ai cabling area SO IF IT’S WIRELESS, IT’S HERE. ASHTABULA SAYBROOK MADISON 63/ ** the Ashtabula Mall 440.998.6100 Tepermant AAN ONG JENN VOL! 480. 7790. UU 8 North Ridge Road 440.428.0090 Carson Road in Plymouth. The school had outhous es and they had to haul water for drinking water. The school is still there but it has been modernized and turned into a house. Agnes Wayman was the teacher and she taught all eight grades. Irene’s father moved around a lot and Irene ended up with stepmothers. In 1945, Irene graduated from Ashtabula High School. In the 1945 ’Bula yearbook, the caption with her pictures reads: farmerette — happy go-lucky — third finger left hand. Yes, Irene was mar ried. Her husband was the boy next door! She married on May 30, 1944, Memorial Day at the end of her junior year of high school. Fred had graduated in 1941 from Ashtabula High School. Irene Kay Frey was now Mrs. Fred Dubach. The problem was Fred was in the Army. They spent their short lived honeymoon at the Cleveland Hotel in Con neaut. After less than day of marriage, Fred boarded the train at the Ashtabula Depot for a trip to fight the Ger mans For eighteen months scores of letters were exchanged in which Irene still has. In the mean time, Irene continued with high school. She received Fifty dollars a month from the Army and at one time boarded with Hen rietta McKinsey of Bunker Hill School. She eventually was able to get own apart ment on West 48th Street. While she was in high school and her husband was away, Irene worked at the old Bula Theater on 46th Street in Downtown Ashtabula at the popcorn machine. In December of 1946, after over 18 months without see ing her husband, Fred Dubach finally came home, whole. While her husband was away, she was able to save over $300. Fred was able to find a job WILLOUGHBY 38721 Mentor Ave. 440.942.1555 WILLOUGHBY HILLS 2830 Bishop Rd. 440.585.4900 at the Ashtabula Box Com pany. Later on, Irene’s father got Fred a job with New York Central Railroad. Fred and Irene had six children, three boys, two girls and one stillborn. There names were Carol, Fred, Gary, Larry and Susan. Irene has lived most of her life on Route 84 except for a few years in Kingsville and the years she lived on West 52nd Street where Fred had a garage. At the garage Fred’s sons helped except when they were all in the service at the same time. Something Fred Sr. and his brothers had done in World War II. Ironically a friend of Gary’s would often visit Gary and his father and brothers at the garage. His name was Robert Beaver. Fred and Irene’s son, Gary had dropped out of high school to join the service at 17. Right before he left for Vietnam, Gary said good-bye to his family and his girl friend, Norma in June of 1968. The rest of his class mates which included myself would still be in high school. Gary’s little sister, Susan, was 10 years old at the time. He bought her a stuffed ani mal before he left. She still has it this day. At the time, the Dubachs lived on West 52nd Street. One Sunday in February, two service men got out of a car and started towards their door. Irene looked at her husband and said, “Uh! Oh! There’s something wrong.” After coming to the door and announcing who they were, they stated their son had been killed in action. They proceeded to tell them the details of Gary’s death. Gary had served as crew chief of a hel icopter when it was shot down. The crew survived the crash but the skids of the helicopter had broken off in the crash. Not realizing what had happened, Gary jumped out of the helicopter only to have the blades cut off the top off his head. That was on Valentines Day, 1969. Gary became the 14th county victim to die in Viet nam. Ever since, Valentines Day has not been celebrated in the Dubach home. Gary’s father died a couple of years ago. Irene tries to stay busy. One of her favorite past times is bowling. At one time she wrote a neighbor hood column for the Star Beacon. Her children take very good care of her. Carol lives in Arizona while Susan makes frequent trips from Madison to check on her mother as do Irene’s sons. Today Gary Dubach and Robert Beaver are both included in the Ashtabula High School class of 1969 roster. We salute them. DARRELL E. HAMILTON GARY DUBACH
Newspaper Details
Ashtabula Star Beacon
Ashtabula, Ohio, US
Sun, Feb 15, 2004
Page 20
Full Page
Clipped by
Jared D.
USA 28 Aug 2026
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