VALLEE-HUBERT

Rudy Vallee was born Hubert Prior Vallee in Island Pond, Vermont, on July 28, 1901, the son of Charles Alphonse and Catherine Lynch Vallee.  Both parents were born and raised in Vermont, but his grandparents were immigrants. The Vallees were French Canadians from neighboring Quebec, while the Lynches were from Ireland.  Vallee grew up in Westbrook, Maine.

After high school, Vallee played in various bands as a teenager.  In 1917, he decided to enlist in the Navy for World War I, but was discharged when the authorities found he was only 15 years old.  He had enlisted in Portland, Maine on March 29, 1917, under the false birthdate of July 28, 1899.   He was discharged at the Naval Training Station, Newport, Rhode Island, on May 17, 1917 with 41 days of active service.  From 1924 through 1925, he played with a band.  He obtained a degree in philosophy from Yale and formed his own band.  During World War II, he enlisted in the Coast Guard to help direct the 11th district Coast Guard band as a Chief Petty Officer. Eventually he was promoted to Lieutenant.  In 1944 he was placed on the inactive list and he returned to radio.

Vallee was married to Leonie Cauchois (annulled) and to Jane Greer, divorced in 1944.  A marriage to Fay Webb ended in divorce.  He was married to Eleanor Norris in 1946, which marriage lasted until his death.  Vallee died of cancer at his home on July 3, 1986. He is interred in St. Hyacinth's Cemetery, in Westbrook, Maine.