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In Memory of
Eugene Ferdinand Hoard was born January 2, 1927, in Sioux City, Iowa. Eugene attended school and grew up in Centerville, South Dakota. Eugene graduated from Centerville in 1943. Some of the things that he enjoyed doing in his free time were football, fighting, and protecting his sister. Eugene’s parents were Ross and Eva Hoard. He had two brothers Robert and Glen, and one sister Elaine. Eugene also had a fiancé named Katherine Hatton. Elaine was the closest to Gene in age. Gene was 21 months older than she was. Elaine remembers, “I was his only sister…. he liked to fight and was a very good football player. He was very protective of me and never allowed other kids to swear around me.” Elaine remembers Gene graduated after three and a half years of high school so that he could enlist in the Navy when he was 17 years old with his parent’s signature. Gene volunteered for the Navy in 1934. His training was at Great Lakes, Illinois. Gene was then stationed in Norfolk, Virginia where he ranked FIC. On the night of his death, Navy FIC Eugene Ferdinand Hoard was out with his fiancée Katherine Hatton for the evening. They were sitting on the eighth fairway of the Memorial Park Golf Course when two unidentified men approached them. They attacked them with a club resulting in a blow to the head that splintered his skull and finally resulted in FIC Hoard’s death. The assailants also attacked his fiancé and left her for dead. His fiancé did, however, survive the attack. FIC Hoard’s body was returned to Alcester, South Dakota, where the family was living. He was then buried in the Centerville Cemetery. This entry was respectfully submitted by Jeffery N. Benny and Jay D. Heeren, 11th Grade, Parker High School, Parker, South Dakota, April 30, 2002. Information for this entry was provided by Mrs. Elaine McCart, Yuma, Arizona, sister of Navy FIC Eugene Ferdinand Hoard, and Don Bendert, Bakersfield, California, friend of Navy FIC Eugene Ferdinand Hoard. |
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