PVT, US Army, CAROLYN OCTAVIA MCDARGH BALDWIN

Born: August 9, 1922 

Died: March 3, 2013

Carolyn McDargh Baldwin enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps in 1944 and completed basic training at Des Moines, Iowa. She met Army Air Corps Captain Irl Edgar Baldwin, Jr. at a war bond rally. Baldwin was a B-17 bomber pilot who had returned from the European Theater. The couple married at the WAC training center in Des Moines, Iowa, on September 20, 1944. In 1945, she was honorably discharged after becoming pregnant. Her husband was reassigned to a B-29 unit and headed for the Pacific Theater.

Carolyn went to stay with her husband’s parents at their fruit farm in the Yakima Valley, Washington, where she had a son, Irl Edgar Baldwin. A daughter, Linda Lee Baldwin, was born in 1948. The Baldwin family moved to Pullman, Washington, where Carolyn learned to play bridge, which became a 50-year avocation. The Baldwins also lived in Kansas, Texas, Colorado, California, and Virginia.

In 1955, the Baldwins moved to Albuquerque and fell in love with the city. They bought a house in Hoffmantown, and they never sold it because they both always knew they would return to it. In 1959, Shannon Kay Baldwin was born, and the family was transferred to Alexandria, Virginia. The Baldwins returned to Albuquerque, where McDargh Baldwin became a Life Master, a rating of the American Contract Bridge League. In addition to bridge, McDargh Baldwin regularly volunteered with the Red Cross and at military hospitals.

Carolyn Octavia McDargh Baldwin was born in Springfield, Ohio to Charles and Inez McDargh on August 9, 1922. She was the oldest of eleven children, with five brothers and five sisters, and helped her mother take care of her siblings. As a teenager, she worked as a cashier at the Regent Theater in Springfield.

Images & Documents

Notes:

1. “Springfield WAC Weds Pilot of Famed B-17 Hell’s Angels,” The Springfield Daily News, September 17, 1944.
2. “Capt. Irl E. Baldwin and His Bride,” The Springfield Daily News, October 1, 1944.
3. “Top Players Listed by Local Bridge Unit,” Albuquerque Journal, November 20, 1964.
4. “Baldwin, Carolyn Octavia,” Albuquerque Journal, March 10, 2013.
5. French Funerals and Cremations. “Obituary for Carolyn Baldwin.” French Funerals and Cremations, Albuquerque, https://www.frenchfunerals.com/obituary/Carolyn-Baldwin.

Prepared by Sue Ruth, Central New Mexico Community College, sruth2@cnm.edu

Featured Image:

French Funerals and Cremations. “Obituary for Carolyn Baldwin.” French Funerals and Cremations, Albuquerque, https://www.frenchfunerals.com/obituary/Carolyn-Baldwin.