Named in 1923 for South Gate realtor Samuel Mallison Dudlext (1878-1967). Born and raised in Wamego, KS, Dudlext relocated to Kansas City in early adulthood and became a structural iron worker. In 1902, while building a bridge in Alexandria, LA, he suffered a nasty fall and permanently mangled his right arm. He and his first wife Blanche then spent some years in Chicago, where their son Donovan was born, but the marriage was apparently over when Dudlext moved to Los Angeles in 1913. Three years later, he wed Bertha “Betty” Bernet and settled in South Gate. They had two kids: daughter Susana and son James, who would perish at a Japanese POW camp in World War II. The Dudlexts ultimately divorced and Sam wound up selling real estate in Yucaipa, near Redlands. P.S. Although he was good friends with William Alexander, who hired him as sales agent for the Alexander Home Gardens tract, there’s no reason to believe that Dudlext was in the KKK like Alexander was. Another friend and colleague was Henry A. Vossler.
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