Description
Correspondence, photographs, and other materials,
relating to Mary Alice Jaqua (1913-1987), daughter of Ernest J. Jaqua, first
president of Scripps College. The materials document in particular her career,
1941-1946, first as secretary to the director of the American Red Cross-Harvard
Field Hospital Unit in Salisbury, England, then as civilian secretary in the office
of the Commander in Chief, European Theater of Operations (successively Gen. Dwight
D. Eisenhower, Lt. Gen. Frank M. Andrews, and Lt. Gen. Jacob L. Devers) in London,
Algiers, and Caserta, Italy, and from 1945 as secretary to Jock Dunning, Executive
Vice President of Whitney Industries in New York City.
Background
Mary Alice Jaqua was born in Grinnell, Iowa, on July 24, 1913, the daughter of Ernest
J. Jaqua (1882-1972) and his wife Gwendolyn Evans (1885-1971). She moved with her
family to Claremont, California, in 1926, when her father accepted the position of
professor of education and dean of the faculty at Pomona College; he was appointed
first president of Scripps College ikn 1926. She received her BA from Scripps in
1934, and in 1935-1936 undertook graduate work in English Literature at the
University of California, Berkeley. In 1937-1938 she was a secretary in the office
of the President of George Washington University, Washington, DC, and from 1938 to
1941 secretary and research assistant in the Medical and Psychiatric Research
Project at Harvard University. In 1941 Jaqua went to England as secretary to Dr.
John E. Gordon, Director of the American Red Cross-Harvard Hospital Unit in
Salisbury. In 1942 she became a civilian employee of the US military, serving
successively as confidential secretary to Lt. Cdr. Harry C. Butcher, Naval Aide to
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Commanding General, European Theater of Operations (August
1942), and secretary to Maj. Gen. Russell P. Hartle, Deputy Commander, European
Theater of Operations (November 1942). When Eisenhower was given supreme command of
the Allied forces and moved to Africa, Jaqua remained in London as secretary to his
successors, Lt. Gen. Frank M. Andrews (February 1943) and Lt. Gen. Jacob L. Devers
(May 1943), while continuing to handle Eisenhower's London business. In January 1944
she followed Devers, who had been appointed Commanding General, North African Field
of Operations, and Deputy Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theater, to
Algiers and in July to Caserta, Italy. The following month she joined the staff of
the Historical Section, Mediterranean Allied Air Forces (Lt. Gen. Ira C. Eaker,
Commander), in Caserta, Italy. She returned to the United States in August 1945, and
after several months in Minneapolis, moved to New York City, where she served as
secretary to Jock Dunning, Executive Vice President, Whitney Industries, until March
1946.