Who was George Brody?- Part 2.

[SherlockJr]

It was in a kind of cardboard frame, but when I took it out, I didn't find a date on the back. However, I DID find something I've never looked at before: A typed, undated letter to "Margie" (obviously composed by GB and typed by GW) postmarked May 12, 1967, addressed to Mary Kay at the Noe Street address and forwarded to Con S. Shea, public administrator, at 1212 Market Street, San Francisco 94102. The return address on the envelope says 625 Market Street, Third Floor, Room 300-308, San Francisco 94105 (it is a printed address which may not be the address of the sender.) The content is the usual paranoid baloney.

Annasmom, isn't Con S. Shea the person who signed Anna's birth certificate?

 

[Julessleuther]

So this is a letter GB wrote to Margaret before she died? So the writing on the front of the photo must have been for her. Please, if you would, what does the letter say? Perhaps a clue in there?

 

[Annasmom]

So this is a letter GB wrote to Margaret before she died? So the writing on the front of the photo must have been for her. Please, if you would, what does the letter say? Perhaps a clue in there?

I'll scan it and post it. I didn't really see anything, but you never know.

 

[Annasmom]

Here's what the Public Administrator (to whom "Mary Kay"s letter had been forwarded) does:
Public Administrator
When a San Francisco resident dies and there are no family members able or willing to take care of his or her affairs, the Office of the Public Administrator will manage the estate. The Public Administrator searches for family members and wills, arranges for disposition of remains, locates and manages all assets, monitors creditor claims, reviews taxes and provides all services necessary to administer each estate through distribution to heirs and beneficiaries.

The work of the Public Administrator is defined by the California Probate Code. The Public Administrator receives and investigates 300 to 500 new referrals each year. In about half of these cases, the Superior Court appoints the department as administrator of the estate. The average time span of an estate from referral to final disposition by the court is 2.5 years. Under state law, the department is required to present to the court a detailed accounting of all client assets, debts, payments, obligations, and any other relevant fact regarding the estate.

 

[Annasmom]

Here are copies of the envelope and the letter (unsigned, as you see) which appears to be a carbon copy of a typed letter.

 

[Annasmom]

Annasmom, isn't Con S. Shea the person who signed Anna's birth certificate?

No, that was Ellis D. Sox, the director of public health and local registrar. But, knowing your prodigious memory, I did have to look it up, as I thought you were probably right.

 

[OzzieMum]

Annasmom, isn't Con S. Shea the person who signed Anna's birth certificate?

Hi SherlockJr,

Copying your post from 'Who was George Brody' post# 741.

Just wanted to update everyone with what we've been looking at in the past few days. I have spoken with the crematory in CA who performed the cremation of Margaret K. to get a name of "anyone" who would have signed her papers. I was told the signature belonged to "Con S. Shea". Further research shows the San Francisco Public Administrator was Con T. Shea. I forwarded the handwriting of GB to the crematory to see if they could determine if the same handwriting as GB. They replied back saying they did not look the same. If there is anyone in the local San Francisco area not far from the courthouse who can look up the filing of MK's estate, we may actually find who George Brody really was.

iNTERESTEDWOMAN has found census for Con Shea in 1930, he was an insurance broker.

Another search we found Con T. Shea was also a notary. He responded to TIME magazine about an article. This really sounds like something GB would say:

Sirs:
That smart crack you made in your issue of Jan. 31 about nosy notaries being unable to see figures on the 1937 income tax blanks because of one of Magill's reforms in putting the affidavit on the back instead of the front ! . . . I am most surprised that it did not dawn upon TIME . . . that before a notary can certify to any instrument, it must be looked over carefully to see that it is properly filled out.
While I have a long nose, it is not nosy enough to give a damn what figures appear on anyone's income tax statement, and I guess I certify as many as any notary. . . .
CON T. SHEA
Notary Public
San Francisco, Calif.

 

[OzzieMum]

Here are copies of the envelope and the letter (unsigned, as you see) which appears to be a carbon copy of a typed letter.

Need to re-read this letter a couple of times on the weekend when I have a bit more time to absorb it properly, but I think Margie's friends saw though GB right from the start.

I have to wonder who Margie's friends and GB's enemies were.

The reference to politics is also interesting. Who is Thomas Dewey? Sorry, not from the US.

 

[raf]

hi, a article of Oakland Tribune 4 Jan 1972 abt Con Shea-Public Administrator Guardian of San Francisco:

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/9906/conshea4jan1972.jpg
raf

 

[SherlockJr]

Here are copies of the envelope and the letter (unsigned, as you see) which appears to be a carbon copy of a typed letter.

Wasn't MK in the hospital at least 6 months before she died? Could she not even been aware of this letter? or was this letter written earlier when he first met MK?

In his letter he speaks of the "late" Thomas Dewey of NY. Dewey died in 1971, but by 1967 he was no longer in the political arena which could be why he used the word "late".

The envelope is the original envelope stamped by Shea's office. How did GB get the original envelope back into his posession?

 

[OzzieMum]

Wasn't MK in the hospital at least 6 months before she died? Could she not even been aware of this letter? or was this letter written earlier when he first met MK?

In his letter he speaks of the "late" Thomas Dewey of NY. Dewey died in 1971, but by 1967 he was no longer in the political arena which could be why he used the word "late".

The envelope is the original envelope stamped by Shea's office. How did GB get the original envelope back into his posession?

My guess would be that MK's mail was re-directed to Shae's office and he returned it to GB after MK died.

MK had living family so why would her estate have been handled by a public administrator? Maybe GB told the she had no family in the hopes of benefiting from her estate?

 

[Annasmom]

My guess would be that MK's mail was re-directed to Shae's office and he returned it to GB after MK died.

MK had living family so why would her estate have been handled by a public administrator? Maybe GB told the she had no family in the hopes of benefiting from her estate?

See Post 271...Evidently there was no family member willing to act, and I don't think she had much of an estate except POSSIBLY a life insurance policy with Brody as the beneficiary (no proof of this, however.) I don't understand how this wound up with Brody's papers in that particular envelope with that receive-date stamp. Very odd. I do remember that Brody brought a couple of things to the house to give GW after Margaret died, including her stethoscope and maybe even a microscope. He was very secretive about this, however.

 

[SideKick]

Thomas Dewey
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_E._Dewey

Dewey rocketed to fame in 1935, when he was appointed special prosecutor in New York County (Manhattan) by Governor Herbert H. Lehman. A "runaway grand jury" had publicly complained that William C. Dodge, the District Attorney, was not aggressively pursuing the mob and political corruption. Lehman, to avoid charges of partisanship, asked four prominent Republicans to serve as special prosecutor. All four refused and recommended Dewey.[6]

Dewey moved ahead vigorously. He recruited a staff of over 60 assistants, investigators, process servers, stenographers, and clerks. New York Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia assigned a picked squad of 63 police officers to Dewey's office.

Maybe Brody assisted Dewey?

~~

Margaret Kukoda - For Reference Only

Easton Express Newspaper
>>> Saturday, Aug. 5, 1967
>>> Page 22
>>>
>>> *Miss Kukoda, 50, Former Navy Nurse* Miss Margaret M. Kukoda, 50, a
>>> former area resident died in Laguan, Calif. Thursday. She resided in
>>> San Francisco.
>>> Miss Kukoda was born March 1, 1917, in Montana, N.J. She was a
>>> daughter of the late Anthony and Esther Orban Kukoda.
>>> She was graduated from Easton High School in 1934. She received
>>> degrees in nursing from Vassar Brothers Hospital, Poughkeepsie,
>>> N.Y., and Vassar College.
>>> Miss Kukoda entered the U.S. Navy in 1942 as a nurse. She was
>>> discharged in San Francisco in 1946 with the rank of lieutenant
>>> (j.g.) She continued nursing in San Francisco until the time of her death.
>>>
>>> The Snyder Funeral Home in Riegelsville is in
>>> charge of arrangements.

~~
George B quoted 'mediocity pays to genius' a few times, in Squibbs 28/29 and in this letter to Margie.
Fulton J. Sheen was the creator of this quote. He was an Archbishop.

He speaks alot (again) about politics, we thought once before he may have had involvement in US Politics..


Fulton Sheen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulton_J._Sheen

 

[Annasmom]

Thomas Dewey
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_E._Dewey

Dewey rocketed to fame in 1935, when he was appointed special prosecutor in New York County (Manhattan) by Governor Herbert H. Lehman.....

Maybe Brody assisted Dewey?

~~

Margaret Kukoda - For Reference Only

Easton Express Newspaper
>>> Saturday, Aug. 5, 1967
>>> Page 22
>>>
>>> *Miss Kukoda, 50, Former Navy Nurse* Miss Margaret M. Kukoda, 50, a
>>> former area resident died in Laguan, Calif. Thursday. She resided in
>>> San Francisco.
>>> Miss Kukoda was born March 1, 1917, in Montana, N.J. She was a
>>> daughter of the late Anthony and Esther Orban Kukoda.
>>> She was graduated from Easton High School in 1934. She received
>>> degrees in nursing from Vassar Brothers Hospital, Poughkeepsie,
>>> N.Y., and Vassar College.
>>> Miss Kukoda entered the U.S. Navy in 1942 as a nurse. She was
>>> discharged in San Francisco in 1946 with the rank of lieutenant
>>> (j.g.) She continued nursing in San Francisco until the time of her death.
>>>
>>> The Snyder Funeral Home in Riegelsville is in
>>> charge of arrangements.

~~
George B quoted 'mediocity pays to genius' a few times, in Squibbs 28/29 and in this letter to Margie.
Fulton J. Sheen was the creator of this quote. He was an Archbishop.

He speaks alot (again) about politics, we thought once before he may have had involvement in US Politics..


Fulton Sheen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulton_J._Sheen

I do not believe GB had any role in politics rather than expressing his point of view to anybody who would listen. GW's shrink dismissed Brody's remarks as "the thing you could hear at any bar in the city". Dewey: Didn't he run for president against Truman or somebody? And Margaret...interesting how Laguna Honda hospital became the town of Laguan, which is not a town as far as I know. What town was this newspaper clipping from? I wonder who gave out the information. Maybe the funeral home which did the cremation. But almost certainly their informant was Brody.

 

[Cubby]

Sidekick, can you add the link to the newspaper article?

It is also possible MK's family provided the information for an obituary. I don't think GB would have spent the money on one knowing his philosophy on money. It would also be understandable considering her family was likely unaware of her arrest and losing her nursing license. Could the spelling of Laguan be a typo? I've noticed a lot of typo's in the older archived news articles- from all over, not any geographical location or news paper in particular.

 

[SideKick]

Hi Cubby and All,

This information was sent to me by a searcher 2 years ago.

http://www.eastonpl.org/ObitPDF/1967.pdf
Margaret is listed here. I didn't realize her middle name began with an M.

I have attached a PDF file of the newspaper clipping the searcher sent to me. Not sure how to convert (at this time) to a Word Doc.


Margaret Kukoda - For Reference Only

Easton Express Newspaper
>>> Saturday, Aug. 5, 1967
>>> Page 22
>>>
>>> *Miss Kukoda, 50, Former Navy Nurse* Miss Margaret M. Kukoda, 50, a
>>> former area resident died in Laguan, Calif. Thursday. She resided in
>>> San Francisco.
>>> Miss Kukoda was born March 1, 1917, in Montana, N.J. She was a
>>> daughter of the late Anthony and Esther Orban Kukoda.
>>> She was graduated from Easton High School in 1934. She received
>>> degrees in nursing from Vassar Brothers Hospital, Poughkeepsie,
>>> N.Y., and Vassar College.
>>> Miss Kukoda entered the U.S. Navy in 1942 as a nurse. She was
>>> discharged in San Francisco in 1946 with the rank of lieutenant
>>> (j.g.) She continued nursing in San Francisco until the time of her death.
>>>
>>> The Snyder Funeral Home in Riegelsville is in
>>> charge of arrangements.

 

[SideKick]

Attached: Margaret's Death Certificate

 

[SideKick]

Re-reading some of my older emails from a distant Kukoda relative from 2008 she suggested we try to track down the car accident that Margaret was in, perhaps there is a newspaper article which also may contain pertinent information for us.

Her Aunt recalls Margaret and this 'fellow' visiting from New York to PA they travelled by train before M entered the Navy. The man M was with wasn't happy she went into the navy. This period of visiting was 1941-45 before she moved to Cali.

She also suggested the name Brodt to me, I m not sure why tho, but there is another possibility for searching Brody.

Russell popped into the older Aunt's mind as well... the name Russell which we have already known about and tried to search.... The older Aunt recalls this man must have been 5-6 years older than Margaret.

 

[SideKick]

Hi,

Not sure if this was discussed, if so please delete.

http://www.newspaperarchive.com/SearchResultsV3.aspx?fname=george&lname=brody


I do not have the subscription, perhaps another WS'er does....Names maybe abbreviated in glance article.. please note.

...machine driven by Richard C. Willis 2733 Woolsley Street, Berkeley at Van Ess Avenue and Union Street they were Mrs. Risi 2c25 Franklin Street Miss Ruth Clinpiuaii 2638 Franklin St. / mrs. w johnston run down by automobile driven by George Brody 25 Divisidaro SF/ Miss Ijcna Iciise 1457 Hyde Street, SF concussion of brain, fractured leg cuts and bruises...3 persons were hurt at First Avenue and Lakeshore Blvd by motorist who fled following triple clash, all were riding with....

Anyone have a subscription?

 

[Cubby]

I vaguelly recall this 'accident' with the above George Brody but I can't recall if this was determined to be our George Brody, or the other George Brody who lived in SF at the same time.

Anyone remember? I don't recall who is still currently here at WS who has the newspaper archive membership, anyone?