Levi Alphonso “Al” Dymond (1878-1944) spent most of his life in and around Wilkes-Barre, PA. There he entered law school, enlisted in the Spanish–American War, caught typhoid during basic training and went home, married Lazzaretta “Lazzie” Williams, established his legal practice, had five children, and became a widower – all before the age of 30. (Lazzie, six years Al’s senior, died of “convulsions” at 35.) He married another older woman, Nancy Edwards (1872-1958), in 1909. It was a childless union and in fact one of Al and Lazzie’s daughters died shortly after the wedding. In 1924, the Dymonds moved to Burbank to get into the real estate boom, cofounding a tract along Wyoming Avenue (named for the Pennsylvania valley from whence they came) and making their home there. Among the tract’s other owners were William H. Shonk and family, also from Wilkes-Barre. The Shonks named Dymond Street on their own tract here in February 1944, just a month before Al Dymond’s death. His final four years were eventful: he and Nancy split after 1940 and he married fellow divorcée Helen Knox in 1942 and moved into her NoHo house. Nancy Dymond remained in Burbank, so Dymond Street might actually be named for her. Despite the divorce, her tombstone reads “second wife of L.A. Dymond”.
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