Robert Andrew Magee

When Robert was born in 1921 in Philadelphia, his mother, Laura, was Andrew’s second wife. During his first marriage, Andrew was a railroad brakeman in Rhode Island and served in the Army in World War I. Robert’s childhood years are undocumented, and it appears he was their only child.

The lack of census data from 1930 leaves a gap in the family’s story. Starting in 1933, however, city directories in Miami, Florida show that Andrew lived there but his family most likely did not. Laura and Robert were living on South 61st Street in the Elmwood Park section of Philadelphia when her heart failed due to cardiomyopathy on October 26, 1938. 

Her death certificate listed her as married, and the bill from the funeral home was sent to Andrew in Miami. Seven weeks later, he married a just-divorced Philadelphia native, Elsie Dillon, on December 17 in Palm Beach, Florida.

What kind of relationship Robert had with his father during those Depression years is unknown. He only spent one year in high school. After his mother died he lived with an uncle and aunt, John and Ada Magee, just around the corner at 6036 Elmwood Avenue. His choice of careers was working for J.B. Slevin Printing in suburban Lansdowne, possibly as a typesetter.

He completed his draft registration card on February 16, 1942, but what he really wanted to do was enlist in the Army, so he signed up on February 25. After basic training he spent time overseas from April, 1942 to November, 1944, mostly in the North African Campaign which put him in countries like Algeria and Tunisia.

While on foot patrol a land mine exploded, wounding Robert in the arm and face. A hospital admission card recorded the date as June, 1944 and also noted “dilatation of heart,” or dilated cardiomyopathy. He was brought home in November, but what the doctors may not have known is that his condition was similar to his mother’s. 

His heart stopped on March 6, 1945 while he was at Nicholas General Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. Robert was brought to Mount Moriah and buried in his mother’s plot. His father died in 1952, so Elsie brought him here for burial in Section B, where she would share his plot in 1961. John and Ada Magee’s plot is in Section 57.