William Tracy Ceruti USN (1903 - 1988)

Born 28 Feb 1903 in Warrington, Escambia, Florida, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Gladys Bertha (Redman) Ceruti — married before 1929 (to 1950) in United States

Husband of Lucille Bird (Dawson) Ceruti — married 10 Dec 1950 (to about 1964) in Westhampton Methodist Church, Westhampton, NY

Descendants

Died 10 May 1988 at age 85 in Eastport, Suffolk, New York, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Marion Ceruti [send private message]

Biography

William Ceruti USN has English ancestors.

William Ceruti USN has Scottish Ancestors.

William Ceruti USN is a part of US Black heritage.

William Ceruti USN is a Military Veteran.
Served in the United States Navy 1920-1924 (estimate)
Served as a radio operator at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center.

William Ceruti USN was a Freemason and a member of the Old Town Lodge, No. 908, F. & A.M, New York, USA.

William was an Aviator

William's birthplace is Warrington, near Pensacola, FL. However, his birth certificate was issued belatedly in South Carolina because William's birth was recorded only in the Ceruti family Bible immediately after he was born. Later, to provide proper legal documentation of births William's oldest sister, Evelyn E. Ceruti Kirkland, who was in possession of that Bible, after being duly sworn and deposed to provide an appropriate legal affidavit, swore and subscribed before a notary public in South Carolina, United States of America, that the birth date regarding her younger brother was true and correct. Williams birth date copied from the family Bible. This belated birth certificate is located in San Diego, California, USA. William T. Ceruti had at least 15 brother and sisters, not counting half siblings. He was the youngest son and the second to the youngest child. His sister, Dorothy, was the youngest. (Evelyn, who was born in Matthew Town, Inagua, Bahamas, also attested to other births in the family in addition to William's birth.)

William is pictured in the middle of the family group photo taken in Jan. 1906. He is the youngest one pictured in the front row between his parents, Edward Burton Ceruti, Sr., (seated in the wicker chair) and Lillian Constance Wark Ceruti.

Radio Notes

William was active in the early use of radio. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Radio School at the Great Lakes Illinois, USA training center, on 12 Aug. 1920. His certificate was No. 160. He attained the rating of E3c(R), with a special course in aviation radio.

After his Naval service he worked in harbor control in Costa Rica to help guide the banana boats into port. The 1940 census shows that he completed two years of college. After his return to the USA from Costa Rica, he worked for the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) as a radio operator and electronics technician. His job was tuning in signals at the RCA relay station in Riverhead, Long Island, New York State, USA. His skill level was such that he could fix almost any analog electronic device.

In the photo, William, or "CI" as he was called at RCA, presented to the photographer the relay equipment used to amplify signals. An appropriate caption could be, "Here it is!" He did not explain to his children how these devices worked, but form follows function and the manner of use can be estimated from circumstantial evidence. Communication signals lost amplitude when traveling over long distances. From the double construction of many of the control panels, one can surmise that a signal would arrive at one side of the device. The operator would tune in and amplify the signal so that the outgoing signal was a maximized version of the incoming signal. The trade magazine of the Radio Corporation of America was named "Relay" because that's what they did. In modern times, what previously was done manually is all automatic.

Foreign Travel

During the time when CI was working, most, if not all, of his foreign travel was done in connection with his work. After he retired from RCA, his trips were done for pleasure, much of which was on cruises to Bermuda, Europe, and the Bahamas to see his cousins.

1927 - After his discharge from the U.S. Navy, CI set up and used radio to guide the banana boats into the harbor at Port Limon, Costa Rica. In 1927, he arrived in the port of New York, New York, United States on board the "Toloa" from Port Limon, Costa Rica on 2 Jan 1927. At that time CI's age was 23 years an 10 months.

1946 - After World War II, CI, age 43, returned home from his radio-team assignment for the U.S. Navy on board the "SS Marine Devil" departing 15 Mar 1946 from Jinsen, Korea and arriving in the port of San Francisco, California, USA on 31 Mar 1946. During this trip, he traveled on U.S. passport no. 7435, At that time, his home was located at 30 Wall St., Southampton, Long Island, New York, USA. The immigration document affirms his birth date as 28 Feb. 1903.

1953 - CI and his wife, Lucille B. Dawson Ceruti (LB), traveled first class on 31 Oct. 1953 from the Port of New York City, New York, USA to Bermuda on board the cruise ship, "Queen of Bermuda." Ports of call included Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas, and Bermuda. The ship returned to New York on 7 Nov. 1953. The immigration form was completed by Mr. J.T. Piper of the Furness Bermuda Lines.

1955 - CI and LB traveled first class, presumably to the Bahamas on board the cruise ship "Nassau." They departed from the port of New York on 25 Feb. 1955 and returned on 7 March 1955. The form incorrectly lists LB's birthplace as "N.J." Actually, she was born in New York (N.Y.).

1956 - CI and LB, traveled "Tourist class" to Europe on board the British cruise ship, "RMS Queen Mary." They traveled on the same family passport, no. 833028, which had two names and two photos. At the end of the cruise, the Queen Mary departed from the port of Cherbourg, Normandy, France on 19 April 1956 and arrived in the port of New York City, New York, United States on 24 Apr 1956. The immigration document, Customs form I-416, was sighed by Harold Rand, Tourist Purser of the RMS Queen Mary.

1961 - CI and LB traveled aboard the "Ocean Monarch" to Bermuda, this time with their children, Marion age 10 and Ray age 7. It was their children's first cruise overseas.

1962 - CI, LB, and the children traveled to Europe on board the U.S. Ship, "Constitution" for a three-week cruise departing in August 1961. It took one week each way to travel to Europe and the ship spent one week cruising the Mediterranean Sea. Ports of call included, Gibraltar; Canne and Neice, France; Barcelona, Spain; Genoa and Naples, Italy. On the return trip in September, the ship encountered a hurricane, which damaged the ship on an upper deck and resulted in a day late arrival in the port of New York. As far as we know, no one was killed or seriously injured.

Other Interests

Aviation is a hobby that William enjoyed in the years during which he lived on Long Island, New York, USA. He flew solo in an airplane after passing his training exercises. The time-frame was estimated to be around 1938. According to an undated article by Wm. G. Lufborrow, Jr. in a newspaper, "The "New..." (title cut off, perhaps the New York Daily News), Wm. Tracy Ceruti flew the first solo flight in Hampton Air Services' new Aeronca trainer. His instructor's name was Bill Post. Whether or not it was Wily Post who flew the first solo flight around the world remains to be determined. The airfield was located on Long Island. It could have been Roosevelt Field in Nassau County, or East Hampton Airport in Suffolk County. It was clear that the airfield was surrounded by farmland at that time. More research is needed to clarify the details surrounding William T. Ceruti's historic solo flight. The year is likely after William started to work at RCA. An image of the newspaper article is attached to the profile. The article is annotated in the handwriting of his second wife, Lucille D. Ceruti. The year was estimated by when the Aeronca trainer was used.

He was a 7th degree Freemason and a member of the Old Town Lodge, No. 908, F. & A.M. in New York. He was initiated 16 April 1934, passed on 7 May 1934, and raised 18 June 1934. He acquired all three degrees at Old Town Lodge, No. 908, F. & A.M.

Here is a Masonic story: William was stopped by a policeman while driving. When he went to remove the driver's license from his wallet, the policeman noticed his Masonic membership card. The policeman asked my father, "Are you a Freemason?" My father said, "Yes." The policeman replied, "Travel on, brother" and proceeded not to write a ticket.

He was also a member of the Loyal Order of Moose, and attended many Moose-sponsored functions with his wife, Lucille.

William T. Ceruti married Gladys B. Redman and they had two daughters, Barbara and Elizabeth. William and Gladys (Reddy) divorced in 1950.

Subsequently, William T. Ceruti and Lucille Bird Dawson Ceruti were married in 1950 in what was called at that time the Methodist Church in Westhampton, New York State, USA. The name of the church now is the United Methodist Church. William enjoyed hobbies such as photography, gardening, and ballroom dancing with his wife, Lucille. He also played the guitar in a country-western group called the "Corn Cobbers." Continuing his interest in radio, he became a ham radio operator, a hobby he enjoyed for many years. His call sign was "W2WGR." At his funeral, both the Moose and the Freemasons each held a special memorial ceremony.

This profile was added to the Freemasonry Project on WikiTree [1]

Family Headstone Notes

On 10 May 1988, William T. Ceruti passed away at the age of 85 in Eastport, New York, United States, a town where he had lived for many years.

In honor of Memorial Day, 2021, the photo of William's headstone was uploaded to his profile. The establishment of his headstone in Eastport Cemetary, Long Island, New York State, USA, was a family affair. His daughter, Marion Ceruti researched headstone options, styles, and costs, and arranged the business transactions to facilitate the burial. After consultation with various family members, the current headstone was selected and ordered. The next step was to make arrangements with the cemetery management, pay fees, and pour a concrete foundation with slightly larger dimensions to accommodate the headstone. (The weight of headstones without foundations causes them to sink into the earth slowly, making them hard to view.)

The headstone was delivered to the home of her brother, Raymond Ceruti. Both Marion's husband, Bill Hoover, and Raymond are skilled in moving heavy objects. Therefore, they loaded the headstone onto Ray's truck, brought it to the cemetery, and installed it onto the hardened concrete foundation that was already prepared for the headstone's arrival. The installation process involved placing a thin layer of concrete adhesive that would both enable the exact placement of the headstone, and hold it in place after the adhesive had hardened. Ray and Bill moved the headstone off of the truck with the ease and precision of professionals, controlling the speed of descent with ropes as it slid down the ramp. They placed the headstone onto the concrete foundation where it remains today.

William Ceruti's granddaughter and great grandchildren live literally a stone's throw from the Eastport Cemetery. The great grandchildren placed their own personal memorials, consisting of rocks with music notes and treble clef signs, to signify that both William and Lucille were musicians. Most of these stones can be seen in the photo, arranged linearly in the lower left by the headstone's foundation. The smallest one with two eighth notes is featured on top of the left side of the headstone, also the contribution of the great grandchildren.

Sources

• Birth certificate and obituary.
• Certificate of Graduation, U.S. Naval Radio School, Great Lakes Illinois, USA. training center, 12 Aug. 1920, Certificate no. 160, endorsed as having passed a special course in aircraft radio.
• "New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1957," database with images, FamilySearch [2] entered 2 March 2021, William Ceruti, 1927; citing Immigration, New York, New York, United States, NARA microfilm publication T715 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
• 1940 United States Federal Census from Ancestry.com
• "United States, California, List of United States Citizens Arriving at San Francisco, 1930-1949", database, FamilySearch [3] Entered 29 August 2020, William Tracy Ceruti, 1946.
• The J.H. Turner Family Tree, Ancestry.com [4]
• Masonic Holy Bible, aka the Volume of the Sacred Law, of William T. Ceruti, published in New York, 1928.
• "New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1957," database with images, FamilySearch [5] entered 2 March 2021, William Ceruti, 1953; citing Immigration, New York City, New York, United States, NARA microfilm publication T715 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
• "New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1957," database with images, FamilySearch [6] 2 March 2021, William Ceruti, 1955; citing Immigration, New York City, New York, United States, NARA microfilm publication T715 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
• "New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1957," database with images, FamilySearch [7] entered 2 March 2021, William Ceruti, 1956; citing Immigration, New York City, New York, United States, NARA microfilm publication T715 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
• Family pictures - annotations
• First-hand information
• "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch [8] entered 7 January 2021, William T Ceruti, 10 May 1988; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
• "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch [9] accessed 8 March 2021, William Tracy Ceruti, ; Burial, Eastport, Suffolk, New York, United States of America, Eastport Cemetery; citing record ID 219368241, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.
• Family records from cousins, such as "Descendants of Theodore Ceruti" genealogical document distributed to cousins during and around 2004.
• Wiley Post, historical aviator, Wikipedia.org [10] Wiley Post may have been Wm. T. Ceruti's flight instructor mentioned in the newspaper article, the image of which is posted on this profile. The matter is under investigation.
• Aeronca trainer aircraft ca. 1937-1939, Plane and Pilot Magazine,[11]
• The Queen of Bermuda, steamship, listed on Ancestry.com under "Passenger Ships and Images" [12] Years in service: 1933-; Funnels: 3; Masts: 2; Shipping Line: Furness Bermuda; Ship description: Built by Vickers-Armstrongs, Ltd., Newcastle, England. Tonnage: 22,575. Dimensions: 553' x 76' (579' o.l.). Quadruple-screw, 21 knots. Two steam turbines connected to electric motors. Two masts and three funnels. Maximum beam: 83' 6". History: Passengers: 730. Her original three funnels were replaced by a single one in 1962.