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Seaman Apprentice Doris Jeanine “Jean” Abshire Logan

  • Unit: U.S. Naval Training Center, San Diego, California
  • Date of Birth: October 16, 1934
  • Entered the Military: July 14, 1953
  • Date of Death: February 4, 2012
  • Hometown: Norton, Virginia
  • Place of Death: Danville, Kentucky
  • Cemetery: Section S, Site 26. Camp Nelson National Cemetery, Nicholasville, Kentucky
Contributed by Kassius Chamblin, Jenna Cummins, Celie, Kelsey Morris, Jack Poczatek, Annelise Prodent, Madison Weber, and Mason Weber
Mentored by Mrs. Kathy Bess
St. Patrick School
2024/2025

Early Life

Doris Jeanine Abshire, who went by Jean, was born on October 16, 1934, in Norton, Virginia. Her parents were Palmer Lee and Mabel Helena Boggs Abshire. They divorced when Abshire was a child and both remarried. Abshire had four siblings: Mark, Tony, Patricia, and Palmer.

Abshire’s family moved several times during her youth. During her freshman year of high school she attended Hobart High School in Indiana. For a time she also attended Owensboro High School in Kentucky, where she participated in band, chorus, the Senior Play Ticket Committee, and a variety show. During her senior year she moved to Melvindale, Michigan, to live with her mother and stepfather, Joseph E. Brown, who was an electrician at an iron foundry.

From February to June 1953, Abshire worked as a stock clerk at Detroit Edison Company in Michigan. In this large department store, she maintained records of materials and merchandise sold, received, and on hand.

Abshire was an avid reader and enjoyed social dancing. As a child she suffered from polio, which would later affect her ability to serve in the military. She dreamed of going into the medical field and saw the United States Navy as an avenue to continue her education.

Jeanine Abshire in Mr. Deal’s class as a freshman at Hobart High School in Indiana. Abshire is in the second row, third from the right (in the striped top).
Jeanine Abshire, living with her mother, Marel, stepfather, Joseph Brown, and brother, Palmer in Wayne County, Michigan, 1950. National Archives and Records Administration.
Jeanine Abshire’s senior photograph in the Owensboro High School yearbook, 1953.

Homefront

For six months before joining the U.S. Navy, Jean Abshire lived with her mother and stepfather in Melvindale, Michigan. Melvindale was still a new town, having only been incorporated into a village in 1924. Originally designed as a residential area for workers at the Ford Rouge Complex, which produced the 1954 Thunderbird, Melvindale experienced rapid growth during the 1940s. During World War II Ford´s nearby Highland Park Plant produced tanks and aircraft engine parts instead of trucks and tractors. 

Melvindale was not far from Wayne, Michigan, which was home to Fort Wayne. According to the Detroit Historical Society, “During the 1950s and the 1960s, Fort Wayne was one of the largest induction centers in the Midwest during the Korean and Vietnam wars.” Fort Wayne was also located near the Detroit Edison Delray electric power plant, which connected to the Ontario Hydro J. C. Keith Generating Station in Windsor, Ontario.

Sketch of Fort Wayne by John Sygmund Gelsavage, 1950. Detroit Historical Society (1966.061.002).
Ford Motor Company’s Highland Park Plant, c.1950. Detroit Historical Society (2012.022.238)
Photograph of the American Legion Drill Team in the Memorial Day Parade in Wayne, Michigan, 1953. Wayne Historical Museum.

Military Experience

In addition to furthering her education in the United States Navy, Jean Abshire’s desire to serve in the military stemmed from her love of country and her parents’ example of military service. Her mother had been a bookkeeper for the Manhattan Project (although she did not know what she was working on at the time), and her father made a career in the U.S. Army. 

Abshire applied to enlist in the Navy on June 8, 1953, in Detroit, Michigan. She officially enlisted on July 14 the same year. As a woman, Abshire was not assigned to a unit or ship, but her most significant duty assignment was the United States Naval Training Center (USNTC) in San Diego, California.

Abshire volunteered for Communications Technician Duty at the USNTC in Bainbridge, Maryland. She was recommended for a “waiver of test score requirements due to strong motivation.” On October 19, 1953, after transferring  to the USNTC in San Diego, she enrolled in a 16-week course for Radiomen, Class “A.” However, she was disenrolled from it on October 28 due to medical reasons. She was hospitalized twice at the United States Naval Hospital (USNH) in San Diego due to residual effects of childhood polio.

Jean Abshire was honorably discharged from the Navy on February 11, 1954, at the USNH in San Diego for the “convenience of the government.” During her short time in the Navy, she was promoted from Seaman Recruit to Seaman Apprentice on September 21, 1953. She received an Honorable Discharge Certificate, Honorable Discharge Button, and a Certificate of Service, Armed Forces of the United States.

Naval Training Center, San Diego, California. Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command, U.S. Navy.
The first page of Jean Abshire’s application for enlistment in the U.S. Navy, June 8, 1953. Portions have been redacted for privacy reasons. Official Military Personnel File.
Jean Abshire’s DD-214, issued February 11, 1954. Portions have been redacted for privacy reasons. Official Military Personnel File.

Veteran Experience

After Abshire left the U.S. Navy, she lived with her mother. On New Year’s Eve in 1955 she and her mother were visiting Las Vegas when Abshire went on a blind date with Paul Logan. Born on the same date two years apart, Abshire and Logan connected over their shared challenging childhoods and vision for a hopeful future. After two more dates, they wed on January 31, 1956, in Las Vegas and were happily married for 45 years. 

Logan’s husband, Paul, was a plumber and pipefitter and moved often with his family to find work across the Southwestern United States. In total, they moved 31 times in the first five years of their marriage before settling down in Santa Barbara, California. While living there, Logan worked as an assistant special education teacher at the Garfield School for children with Down Syndrome. In this role, she found her passion in serving children with disabilities who were often ostracized from society. She inspired her youngest son, Bradley, to pursue a career working with people with disabilities.  

Logan loved to spend time with her family and spent many night square dancing with her husband. They set a loving example for their three sons, Steven, James, and Bradley, by never raising their voices in argument. Logan continued to read voraciously and adored her 1968 Volkswagen Beetle. Around 1970 she and her family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and remained active in it through the mid 1980s.

When Paul Logan retired he and his wife moved to Oregon, and following a second retirement in 1990 they moved to Danville, Kentucky.

Jean Logan with her youngest son, Bradley, when he was in junior high school. Courtesy of Bradley Logan.

Commemoration

On October 10, 1999, Paul Logan died after battling bone cancer. Jean Logan never remarried. She passed away on February 4, 2012, leaving behind five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren who have carried on her love of family, country, and service to others. Jean and Paul are buried together at Camp Nelson National Cemetery in Nicholasville, Kentucky.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

50th Year of Arche Club. Photograph. November 20, 1953. HUB. https://hub.catalogit.app/8850/folder/b0f43ba0-da23-11ed-aa5f-3ff21c7628ff/entry/fcc4d7f0-da24-11eD-aa5f-3ff21c7628ff.

“Abshire, Mark.” Danville Advocate-Messenger, January 1, 2008 [sic] through December 31, 2007. Rootsweb. https://sites.rootsweb.com/~kyboyle2/Documents/Advocate%20Obits%202007.pdf.  

“Complaints Air Undue Police Abusive Tactics.” The Detroit Tribune [Detroit, MI], August 25, 1951. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn92063852/1951-08-25/ed-1/.

Doris Jeanine Abshire, Official Military Personnel File, Department of the Navy. National Archives and Records Administration – St. Louis.

Ford Highland Park Plant. Photograph. c. 1950. Detroit Historical Society (2012.022.238). https://detroithistorical.pastperfectonline.com/photo/E7FC0C13-75AC-495E-9997-295043738750. 

Ford Plant, Dearborn, Michigan. Photograph. 1940. Detroit Historical Society (2007.004.249). https://detroithistorical.pastperfectonline.com/archive/247124AC-2D39-4828-B716-398975883275. 

Ford Rouge Plant Employee Cafeteria. Photograph. 1950. Detroit Historical Society (1982.146.264). https://detroithistorical.pastperfectonline.com/photo/90EECF91-0563-436C-8AC2-678031655061. 

Gelsavage, John Sygmund. Fort Wayne. Illustration. 1951. Detroit Historical Society (1966.061.002). https://detroithistorical.pastperfectonline.com/archive/635B94BD-775A-4E67-9250-948387755070. 

Hobart High School Yearbook. Hobart Public Schools, 1949. http://ancestryclassroom.com. 

Logan, Brad. Telephone interview with the author. January 13, 2025.

Logan, Brad. Zoom interview with the author. January 28, 2025.

Logan Family Records, 1953-2012. Courtesy of Brad Logan.

“Logan, Jeanine.” Danville Advocate-Messenger, February 8, 2012. Rootsweb. https://sites.rootsweb.com/~kyboyle2/Documents/Advocate%20Obits%202012.pdf. 

“Logan, Paul R.” Danville Advocate-Messenger, September 1 through October 31, 1999. Rootsweb. https://sites.rootsweb.com/~kyboyle2/Documents/Advocate%20Obits%201999%20(Sep-Oct).pdf.

Memorial Day Parade 1953. Wayne, Michigan. Photograph. May 30, 1953. Wayne Historical Museum. https://hub.catalogit.app/8850/folder/a21141f0-e450-11ed-9853-cb31114eff9b/entry/691a5d60-75e9-11ef-9adc-27adef470a4f.  

Michigan. Wayne County. 1950 U.S. Census. Digital images. http://ancestryclassroom.com. 

NTC San Diego. Photograph. U.S. Navy. https://www.bracpmo.navy.mil/Library/Photo-Gallery/igphoto/2003003610/. 

Owensboro High School Yearbook. Owensboro Public Schools, 1953. http://ancestryclassroom.com. 

Palmer L. Abshire and Mabel H. Boggs. Virginia, U.S., Marriage Registers, 1853-1935. http://ancestryclassroom.com. 

Palmer Lee Abshire. World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947. Digital Images. https://ancestryclassroom.com. 

Paul R Logan. Kentucky, U.S., Death Index, 1911-2000. https://ancestryclassroom.com.  

Virginia. Wise County. 1910 U.S. Census. Digital images. http://ancestryclassroom.com. 

Virginia. Wise County. 1920 U.S. Census. Digital images. http://ancestryclassroom.com. 

Virginia. Wise County. 1930 U.S. Census. Digital images. http://ancestryclassroom.com. 

Virginia. Wise County. 1940 U.S. Census. Digital images. http://ancestryclasroom.com. 

Wooden barge of Candler-Rusche, Inc., anchored on the Detroit River just offshore from the Detroit Edison Delray electric power plant. Photograph. 1953. Detroit Historical Society (2012.046.250). https://detroithistorical.pastperfectonline.com/photo/132E2484-40FC-497C-BBF2-324722094624.  

Secondary Sources

“About Melvindale.” City of Melvindale. Last modified 2024. Accessed November 15, 2024. https://melvindale.org/community/about/.

“D. Jean Logan.” National Cemetery Administration. Accessed November 25, 2024. https://gravelocator.cem.va.gov. 

“D. Jean Logan.” Veterans Legacy Memorial, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Accessed March 6, 2025. https://www.vlm.cem.va.gov/DORISJEANINELOGAN/69BF039. 

“Doris Jeanine Abshire Logan.” Find a Grave. Updated February 8, 2012. Accessed March 6, 2025. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/84659183/doris-jeanine-logan.

“Ford Highland Park Plant.” Detroit Historical Society. Last modified 2024. Accessed November 15, 2024. https://detroithistorical.org/learn/encyclopedia-of-detroit/highland-park-ford-plant.

“Ford Rouge Complex.” Encyclopedia of Detroit, Detroit Historical Society. Last modified 2024. Accessed November 15, 2024. https://detroithistorical.org/learn/encyclopedia-of-detroit/ford-rouge-complex.

The Ford Rotunda: Fifty Years Forward on the American Road. Ford Motor Company, 1953. Detroit Historical Society (2013.014.805). https://detroithistorical.pastperfectonline.com/archive/7020113C-BEE1-42A9-8DEC-885671919684. 

“Paul Robert Logan.” Find a Grave. Updated September 23, 2009. Accessed March 6, 2025. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/42306843/paul_robert-logan.

This profile was funded by a grant from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. The opinions, findings, and conclusions stated herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.