Leona Jane Neer
Leona Jane Neer, daughter of Lee Neer and Charlotte George, was born on 5 Jun 1909 in Douglas, AZ, died on 3 Sep 1971 in Bakersfield at age 62, and was buried in Greenlawn Memorial Park.
Leona Jane Neer was commonly known as Jane. She is attested as Jane Neer in various newspaper clippings about her singing. She is attested as Jane L. in Floyd Manning’s 1920 census entry.
Her birth: Leona Jane’s birth certificate gives June 5, 1909, as her date of birth in Cochise County, Douglas, Arizona. It does not specify a given name. It gives her parents as "O.L. Neer, Jr.", and "C.R. George."
1915: We have a picture in our possession with a caption reading "Poor picture Jane, Lucille Bub and Bob Hardin [?] at Mammoth Ariz. 1915".
1920: She appears as "Jane L" under Floyd Manning’s 1920 federal census entry in Washington State. Her birth-state is given there as Arizona.
1923-1927: Jane is in high school in Douglas.
1925: Jane won a preliminary singing contest in March, 1925, which meant she advanced to Nogales on April 3rd and 4th. (Lee Neer’s diary, 3/17/1925) We have a newspaper clip of this preliminary competition. Her daughter Charlotte describes her as accomplished on the piano.
Jane's half-sister Peggy has a xerox of a newspaper clipping without newspaper name visible, dated 5 April 1925. Under the title "Douglas High Third in Music Contest" the front-page article reads "Jane Neer, 15 year old Douglas high school girl, and a member of the Sophomore class, who won the soprano solo had keen competition, but the judges graded her above any of the contestants." On the next page it states: "Girls’ soprano solo--Jane Neer, Douglas, first." Jane's daughter Lee Quinlan says she has her mother’s singing trophy.
She is listed as the lead in "Once in a Blue Moon" and appears in a picture of the cast on the front page of the Douglas Daily Dispatch, December 6, 1925.
A "Leona J Neer" appears in the 1932 Polk's Crocker-Langley San Francisco City Directory living at 1104 Taylor. She is living at 1120 Taylor as an "Operator" when she appears in the 1934 California voter registration rolls as a Republican. She is living at 1234 Jones Street on November 5, 1936, when the Oakland Tribune's Vital Statistics section reports her marriage application to Robert E. Quinlan.
1935: Leona went to Reno in May of this year; see the Nevada State Journal, May 16, 1935, page 8 and the Reno Evening Gazette, May 17, 1935, page 16.
c. 1936: The certificate of marriage between Robert Edward Quinlan and Leona Jane Neer is in our possession, but I have not yet entered its details. Her children from this marriage were Charlotte Ann Quinlan and Lee Quinlan.
1940: We have a letter to Jane from a friend of hers named Florence, in Santa Monica, mentioning Bob, Raymond and mama, and commenting on Jane’s child Charlotte.
1960: Leona married William H. Bradfield (Harry Bradfield) in Tulare on April 25, 1960.
A picture of her tombstone is online here.
