Until recently, all that I
have ever known is that Jack had three wives. Debbie Santos
Greer, Helen Varner Vanderbilt and, Emily Nevada Smith. Then, I came across a newspaper clipping
of another wife – Regine LaCoste as described below. To get to know a little bit more
about our pioneer aviator and his family life, I would like to share with you
what I know about each of Jacks beautiful wives in order to get a sense of his
history in this respect. Though I do not have all the facts as of this writing,
we hope you find this presentation insightful and interesting.
Generally, famous
personalities are the focal point of the reading and viewing public that often
overshadow their significant other. This especially holds true during the
industrial age of America when many industries were on the rise literally
changing the scope and features of our great land, and the world. These pioneering men including Jack Frye shaped this great land and are given all the
credit. Unfortunately, the women and children behind them were for the
most part ‘just there’ in the background, never receiving their due for
enduring and supporting their men out front. With that said, I will attempt to
bring these ladies in Jacks life into the forefront. And I hope this comes
across very respectful to you the reader who may be a relative or acquaintance.
DEBBIE SANTOS GREER FRYE Jack and Debbie were married September 4,
1924 in Tijuana Mexico. Their marriage lasted 8 years during Jacks youthful
years in Southern California with Aero Corporation and Standard Airlines,eventual subsidiaries of Western Air Express, the predecessor to TWA. These
were history making formative years for the young couple as Jack, Paul Richter
and Walter Hamilton trail blazed new paths into airline history. Jack and
Debbie never had children that I am aware of. Debbie was a great cheerleader
and co-worker with her husband during the formative years of his airline
operations at Burdett Field and others. She is known to have performed many
supportive tasks around the airport grounds planning and coordinating activities
for the flying school, parties for dignitaries and promoting Aero Corp and
Standard Airlines in Southern California. Debbie was an early aviation pioneer
in her own right that helped her husband immensely towards the advancement of
airline growth on the west coast. After Jack and Debbie parted ways, she moved
to Hawaii where she remained a sun and sea loving resident.
click images to enlarge
Jack and Debbie Frye, 1924
REGINE LaCOSTE' FRYE Jack and Regine (they called her Jean)
were married December 23, 1932 and divorced on September 9, 1939. It is said
they met at Sak’s Fifth Avenue, New York City. They also did not have any
children. Regine was born of French descent in Canada. I can only assume she
supported her husband during the incredible DC aircraft years and Jacks formative
years as TWA’s first president. These must have been exciting, whirlwind times
when the early airline industry was at full speed. I am positive many
groundbreaking ‘firsts’ in airline travel and development were talked over at
the Frye dinner table between Regine and Jack. I can imagine many dinner
parties for dignitaries and business associates in the Frye homes by this time.
Wouldn’t you liked to have been a fly on the wall!
After much searching I was
able to track down Jack and Regine’s marriage application no. 18271. It was
documented in the town of Ravena in Clay County Missouri. The spelling of
Jack’s new fiancé is recorded as ‘Regine Y. LaCoste’. The date on the
application is December 23, 1932. It also states that Jack took an oath that he
was 31 years old or older. Well, we know he was born in 1904 which in 1932
would actually make him only 28 years old. Why the difference of 3 years? My
initial thought is he wanted to appear older to Regine, his new wife to be who
was 29 by her oath. A kind of ‘manly’ thing in those days maybe? This is only
conjecture on my part.
Above is the only image I have
of Jack and Regine from a San Francisco Tribune newspaper clipping from 1938
showing Jack and Regine LaCoste Frye arriving at the airport on one of Jacks
west coast business trips.
HELEN VARNER VANDERBILT
FRYE Jack and Helen were married
January 1, 1941 in Scottsdale Arizona. Their marriage lasted 9 years ending in
divorce January 27, 1950. The couple had no children, something by this time in
Jacks life he greatly desired. From what I understand Helen was biologically
unable to have children. Jack and Helen's marriage and relationship is very well
documented on the ‘Sedona Legend’ website. Helen
was married to Cornelius Vanderbilt IV, his third wife of seven prior to marrying Jack. Helen and Jack were
deeply in love with each other and the southwest Arizona landscape where they
developed a few large revenue producing ranches. And they loved the arts and
architecture where they were able to build the now famous, House of Apache Fires home in Sedona Arizona. This became they’re retreat home from the east
coast where they resided. In fact, the Frye’s were the pioneers in opening up
Sedona to the public as a beautiful getaway oasis in the desert. Today it is
now known as the Red Rock State Park in the southwest of Sedona. The most
picturesque area of the park.
By this time the Frye’s were a
very well publicized corporate couple. This period of Jack Frye’s professional
life included many more firsts in the airline industry. Some of them included
development of the very first pressurized aircraft cabin to fly comfortably
above the clouds. The aircraft was called the Boeing Stratoliner. The
development of the first bonifide Trans-Oceanic passenger plane called the
Constellation which set the standard for long range air travel. By 1947, Jack
resigned from TWA after 13 history making years as its president. He then
became the president and CEO of the huge International firm, General Aniline and Film Corp, losing his many TWA offices and resources for travel which
enabled the Frye’s to easily relocate between their properties week by week.
These later years were a tumultuous time for the Frye’s for both Helen and
Jack. This fairytale relationship ended when Jack and Helen could not agree
where to live together. As an industrialist with General Aniline, Jack had to
be on the east coast for business. And Helen wouldn’t leave the beautiful
Sedona landscape where she felt free and committed to the southwest...
Jack and Helen Frye, 1941
EMILY NEVADA SMITH FRYE Jack and Emily were married on July 21,
1950 in Hollywood Florida just under one month after Jacks divorce from Helen
was final. How did they meet? Jack obviously had an eye for glamorous women
hence his prior three beautiful wives, and probably met Emily at one of her
shows. Emily Nevada was 24 years old, a successful and gorgeous showgirl at
Billy Rose’s Diamond Horseshoe in NY City and played roles in movies such as
‘The Harvey Girls’ & ‘Rhapsody In Blue’ during the 40’s. Ethel Merman was
one of her closest friends. Emily was stunningly beautiful, one of the best in
her field and at one point was written about in the newspaper columns on a
daily basis. Walter Winchell, the noted
NY Times columnist had been quoted as saying, “In 1944 Nevada was the most
photographed showgirl in the country”.
Emily Nevada Smith, 1947
Photo courtesy Michelle Gerardo
Cousin Emily and Jack were
married for 9 years until his tragic death in 1959. It has been reported that
in the beginning Emily was a gold-digger looking for her millionaire man. To
some degree this is true. What dreams did any showgirl have for their future in
front of men? Do you really think all of them wanted to perform near nude every
night for the rest of their lives? This assumption is false in the case of
Emily as at the young age of 32 after losing her husband, Emily never pursued
or had any other boyfriends or relationships with any man for the entirety of
her life. Emily deeply loved Jack and never got over her loss. One of the very
bright spots in Emily and Jacks life together occurred when they were blessed
with a bundle of joy, a daughter, an heir to the Jack Frye legacy. Lili Navajac
Frye was born May 9, 1953 into the open and joyous arms of her mother and
father. Jack was finally a new father at age 49, and boy did he love his new
role. When Nevajac and mother Emily lost Jack on that tragic day in Tucson
Arizona, their world literally fell apart. Nevajac was a toddler of 6 years,
but to this day she has vivid memories of her dad flying and driving her all
over the country in his airplanes and Cadillac's. Jack loved his daughter so very
much, he personally took care of her every need including having her present in
high powered board meetings bringing him his pen and paper looking sweet. After
the accident Emily began a world traveling jet-set lifestyle of extravagance.
This was all about running away from the grief for she never was able to
resolve losing Jack. Sadly in 1985, Emily succumbed to her life’s end the night
before she was to come live with her daughter and family. A complete shock to
the Frye, Smith and Johnson families, and more in his extended family I am not
aware of.
Jack and Emily Frye, 1950
This brief summary ends what I
know about Jack Frye’s wives for 35 years of married life. As more facts and
cleared stories emerge, I will update this and other posts.
An obvious question to the
married life aspect of Jack Frye’s personal life is, why did he wait until he
was 49 years old to have a child? Here are a few of my thought’s, none of them
are confirmed though with a little imagination and some real life circumstances
he encountered in life, they are probably not far off the trail.
During Jacks formative years
with Aero Corp and Standard Airlines, I get an impression he and Debbie (wife
no.1) were young lovers in their early 20’s experiencing what any new and first
time lover’s experience. A sense of new and exciting horizons were being
realized the very first time in their young married lives. Jacks love of flying
and airplanes I am sure was his priority without a doubt. After all, he came to
California from Texas flat broke wanting to learn to fly more than anything
else. He would not be deterred even at earning only $25 a week at the drugstore
prior to him receiving his first pilot’s license. Once he caught the vision, a
new dream of owning his own flying company, then I am quite positive this and
only this was his priority in life and that his new bride was somewhat
secondary. Now was she able to have children? Let’s assume she could. The new
airline company and his complete love of flying just didn’t have room for Jack
to be a consistent father and husband at home in my opinion. Heck Jack was out
on the plains of the southwest forging new airline routes and having new
airstrips carved into the landscape. He was head deep in building an empire and
an airline, one of the first in the country. Who has time for kids... If your
relationship is peppered with other priorities than your family, well it
becomes a live-in friendship, not a marriage, and you slowly drift apart before
you know what happened. I can easily understand the couple just didn’t have
room for children even how fulfilling the love of a new little one could have
made both Jack and Debbie complete.
So, onto Regine, Jacks second
wife for seven years. Obviously this is a beautiful couple with new corporate
attachment duties soon to be bestowed upon Jack. Just 2 years into their
marriage, Jack Frye is appointed as the first and youngest flying President of
TWA, a milestone in airline history. Could Regine biologically have children? Let’s
again assume she could. If she couldn’t then all of my work here is useless!
Ok, Jack just from a failed marriage where he didn’t have time to devote to a
newborn in the house is flying all over the country for hours and days on end,
and probably weeks on the road. How is it possible to raise a child? Now maybe
Regine being beautiful and of an independent mind just didn’t want children
herself. This is very plausible as she was of such a fine character and
beautiful, she could have taken care of herself in all manner of luxury whether
with Jack or another. On the other hand, Jack had already experienced
incredible time schedule issues with ‘the business’ in his prior marriage and
could have easily transferred those priorities over to marriage #2 without
realizing it. Or maybe he purposely did know what he was doing and began having
a vision to where later in life he could fully enjoy a tike running around the
house while retired. Jack is 35 years old now, in the prime of his fathering
years, but he has a company to run...
Third wife Helen and Jack
marry in 1941. I don’t know if Jack was aware of the following fact or not
prior to him marrying Helen. I would assume he did. Helen was unable to
biologically have children. They tried three times as reported from another
source. If he was aware of her biological birthing issues, then one can only assume
he loved Helen very much and realized she being of her stature, beauty and
notoriety was definitely a plus to be his mate and for his corporate purposes.
Jack and Helen both were by this time worldwide figures of public notoriety in
the corporate world. Did they speak about adopting? Probably but my mind as a
man tells me that Jack all along his timeline of life since becoming his own
man wanted a blood heir that he would be proud of and be able to finally feel
he did the right thing by becoming a real father as God intended. I am positive
Jack had many thoughts about being a dad while flying alone somewhere over the
country and glistening oceans by himself wondering, will I ever be a father?
There is speculation that when Helen and Jack were unable to work out their
differences on living locations as a couple – Jack in New York, Helen in Sedona
Arizona, Helen let her man slip away. Underneath that it is said she let him go
on purpose so he could remarry and finally have a child. That would have been very
honorable of her, but at the risk of losing her true love? Seems kind of odd to
me. I can only assume she had other interests also underneath her breakup with
Jack Frye.
Emily Nevada and Jack Frye
were married in under 30 days after Jack and Helen’s divorce was final in 1950.
Below is Jack and Emily’s application for their marriage license dated July 17,
1950.
By now you can tell
I have written more about Emily and Jack than the prior wives. Let’s just say
that I am in an interesting position here able to speak from the outside as an
aviation history hobbyist, and from the inside as a family member who loves my
family heritage. While developing the Jack Frye blog space acquiring all the
materials about Jack and Emily the last ten years, talking to dad about Emily
and aunt Lillian and Emily’s father George ‘Buck’ Smith, and having a
relationship with Jacks only child, his blood heir, cousin Nevajac Frye, I am
completely honored and feel very responsible too maintaining and promoting the
Jack Frye Legacy. This without effecting my family and God knows, they have
seen and experienced all the hours and miles traveled to come to this point of
the historical journey. Nevertheless, I can now proudly say – Jack Frye finally
became a father! So, the original question was, “Why did Jack Frye wait so long
to have a child?” You know it’s still a good question. In an attempt to put
some validity to this question, I hope you can follow along and understand my
caricatures.
While Helen and Jack drifted
further and further apart, Jack was probably dating other women to the point he
knew he wanted to marry again. Being on top of the world financially and
professionally having friends in high places throughout industry and
government, why did he have three failed marriages? He had all the property one
could ever dream of owning with tens if not hundreds of thousands of acres of
land all across the country and abroad. He had oil wells, offshore accounts,
insurance policies, stocks and bonds, a portfolio to die for. He was a pioneer
aviator of high esteem, he had great looks and all kinds of new ideas about new
aircraft designs and companies he was ready to start breaking ground on. What
else could a man want? ‘That’s right, A child’. The business mogul Jack Frye by
the time he was 42 years old had an empty spot in his incredible life that had
to be filled. You see, even with all of the accolades and success, sometimes a
man must have blood kin if he desires any sort of completeness in his life.
Even after all of his great inventions and business successes he was not
complete and he knew it.
One of the things we know
about Jack Frye is he was dearly loved by his thousands of employees. He was a
gentle soft spoken man tall in stature but humble in spirit with an infectious
personality and smile. Sounds like a complete and fulfilled man right? Emily
Nevada was in her own right equally successful as a beautiful and talented
showgirl who Jack met at a show somewhere, and he was smitten. The 29 year old
beauty 17 years his younger was just who he wanted to finally have his child. A
young and attractive lady succumbed to her loving husbands desires and bore him
a child at age 32. Here is another thought Jack might have had alone to himself
though I cannot prove, nor disprove. An aviator who flew as much as Jack did
professionally and leisurely for over 35 years accumulating tens of thousands
of flight hours, narrowly escaping so many flying mishaps, some even close to
death must have known his time clock was ticking. I am not an aviator but I am
getting older realizing my clock is ticking as well. Imagine being of sound
mind knowing something is going to happen out of your control that suddenly
ends your life. Jack was fully aware of the constant danger of equipment failure
in the sky. If I were in Jacks pilot seat I would most definitely wish to have
a child of my own as soon as possible. Three years after Emily and Jack married;
Lili Nevajac Frye came into Jacks world! – Finally, Jack Frye, the Aviators
aviator has an heir, a beautiful daughter.
Jack and
Emily Frye, 1952 Nevajac Frye, 1961
Today, Jack Frye’s only heir,
Nevajac Frye resides with her daughter Brieana Frye and her grandsons, ‘Jax
Frye’ and 'Jett Truman' (cool names), great grandsons of Jack Frye. Other living grandchildren of
Jacks are Morgan and JT Frye.
Jack Frye Aviation Pioneer
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