Los Angeles
County
Biographies
ERNEST WALTER LINEBACK
Ernest
Walter Lineback is the father of a hero, Commander John E. Lineback, a reserve
pilot who lost his life in 1961 on one of the routine training missions which are
vital to maintaining the strength of America.
The senior Mr. and Mrs. Lineback were Alhambra residents for thirty-four
years and are presently living in Arcadia at 525 South Fifth Avenue.
Bon
on May 14, 1898, in Watauga Falls, North Carolina, Ernest W. Lineback is the
son of John Edward, who was from Butler, Tennessee, and Cora (Shull) Lineback,
of Shullsmill, North Carolina. The Shull
family owned a large flour mill; years later a town sprang up in the vicinity
and was named Shullsmill. Mr. Lineback’s
mother’s people played an important part in the development of the area. Cora Shull’s grandfather came from Germany
and settled in the east.
After
attending Shullsmill Grammar School, Ernest Lineback received his high school
education in Boone, North Carolina, the county seat, at the Appalachian
Training School.
In
1916 Mr. Lineback went to Cleveland, Ohio, where he was married to the former
Miss Emma Mary Heins, of Nashville, Tennessee, on May
23, 1919, but on the death of his grandfather in 1921 he and his bride returned
to Shullsmill to take over the farm duties.
Mr.
and Mrs. Lineback and their two children, Cora Evelyn and John Edward, moved to
Alhambra in 1923; Mr. Lineback was employed as a salesman for the Willard
Battery Company in Los Angeles. A third
child, Robert Ernest, was born to the Lineback’s at Alhambra Hospital in
1925. Three years later, Mr. Lineback
purchased a battery and electric shop at 1717 West 6th Street in Los
Angeles which he maintained for twenty years.
In 1948 Mr. Lineback purchased land on the northeast corner of 4th
Street and Mission Road in Alhambra and managed and owned a gasoline service
station there until 1955. Obtaining a
real estate license in 1956, Mr. Lineback is still in that business presently
associated with the Blake Realty at 708 West Huntington Drive in Arcadia.
Mrs.
Lineback is a former member of the Christian Science Church of Alhambra and
presently is a member of the Christian Science Church of Arcadia. Their daughter, Mrs. Cora Evelyn Mueller, is
now living in La Puente and is the mother of two children, Patricia Ann and
Thomas Lee. Patricia Ann was married in
April of 1960 to Bill Hughes; Thomas Lee is four years of age. The Lineback’s younger son, Robert Ernest,
served in the United States Navy during World War II and received the Purple
Heart and other medals. He is married to
the former Miss Katherine Kirby; the Kirby’s lived next door to the Lineback’s
in Alhambra. Mr. and Mrs. Robert
Lineback are residents of Capistrano Beach, California, and are the parents of
five children: Robert E., Jr., John
Edward, Richard, Patrick Kirby, and Joseph Daniel.
Naval
Reserve Commander John Edward Lineback was the pilot of a twin-engine
anti-submarine plane, an S-2F patrol bomber, which was lost on a route
proficiency hop out of Los Alamitos Naval Air Station on February 11,
1961. Believed to have crashed at sea
near San Clemente Island, the plane and the three men aboard were never found. Commander Lineback had served with the United
States Navy during World War II and had been with the Naval Reserves for
seventeen years. An English teacher at
San Gabriel High School at the time of his death, John E. Lineback was also
coach of the school’s cross-country track team and assistant basketball coach.
Married
to the former Miss Shirley Leanord on July 10, 1944,
Commander Lineback was the father of five children ranging in age from sixteen
to three years: John Stephen, Paul, Sheril Lyn, Gary, and Mark.
The children attend Temple City schools.
Commander
Lineback had been active in the Boy Scouts and the Babe Ruth League; he was a
“gallon club” Red Cross donor and an elder in the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints.
In
a memorial service at the Los Alamitos Naval Air Station in Long Beach,
California, on September 9, 1961, a bronze plaque bearing the inscription: “To Shipmates Whose Wings Are Forever Folded”
the names of Commander Lineback and his two crewmen was
permanently mounted at the base of the station flagpole. Captain R. B. Buchan, commanding officer of
the Los Alamitos Naval Air Station, presented the traditional flag to Mrs. John
Lineback at the memorial service. As a
further tribute to Commander Lineback, a memorial fund was set up, according to
his commanding officer, “…as a result of contributions which came from not only
this squadron but also from many individuals in other squadrons who knew and
respected John.”
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Historical Volume & Reference Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park,
Rosemead, San Gabriel & Temple City, by Robert P. Studer,
Pages 646-647, Historical Publ., Los Angeles, California. 1962.
© 2013 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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