Newsmakers

Over the past couple of years, a few Pennington researchers have contributed information, articles and website links to several famous, and not so famous, people with the Pennington surname.

I thought visitors would enjoy reading some of the stories that helped to make these people with the Pennington surname newsworthy.

If you have a information, a story or a website link for a "candidate" to be posted here, please send it to Gene Pennington , Research Director.

Newsmakers List

Edward J. Pennington

Read these two (2) articles and decide for yourself as to whether or not Edward J. Pennington, who lived in Indiana and other locations, in the mid 1800s, was indeed a "scoundrel".

James Jackson Pennington (1819-1884)

Chad Pennington

Chad Pennington played his college football at Marshall University located in Huntington, West Virginia. While there, he was selected as a team captain for the 1999 season, he won the Anson Mount Award as the top football-playing student-athlete in the country, was listed as one of 10 candidates for the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award in 1998 and was one of 12 players contacted by the Downtown Athletic Club requesting information as a "likely contender" for the Heisman Trophy.

Chad was drafted in 2000 in the 1st Round and was the 18th Pick by New York Jets. Since starting in 2002, he has had an outstanding career.

Major General James C. Pennington

Below is Major General James C. Pennington's obituary from the Washington Post, June 6, 1998, page B7.

By J.Y. SMITH - Washington Post Staff Writer

James C. Pennington, 72, a retired major general, decorated combat veteran and adjutant general of the Army who later became president of the National Association for Uniformed Services, died of a heart attack June 5 at Barksdale Air Force Base, La.

Gen. Pennington. a resident of Springfield, had gone to Barksdale to give a speech on health care for military personnel and their families. That and similar issues are the principal concerns of the National Association for Uniformed Services, a lobbying organization that has its headquarters in Springfield.

Gen. Pennington had headed NAUS since retiring from the Army in 1985.

Gen. Pennington, a native of Rocky Ford, Ga., began his military career as a private in the infantry in World War IL He served in the Battle of the Bulge in 1944 and was wounded in action during the fighting on the River Elbe in 1945. He took part in the occupation of Germany when the war was over.

In 1947, the future general left active duty and attended Georgia Southern College, where he graduated. In 1950, he was recalled to active duty from the reserves after the outbreak of the Korean War.

Among his early assignments was the Adjutant General School at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Ind. The adjutant general is the Army’s chief personnel officer, and personnel work accounted for much of Gen. Pennington’s career.

He was assigned to Washington for a total of 17 years. But he also was trained as an armored officer and he had numerous tours of duty with combat units. In addition, he found time to obtain a master’s degree in education at Indiana University and to do further graduate work at the University of Maryland and the Harvard Business School.

During the war in Southeast Asia, he had two tours of duty in Vietnam. He was adjutant general of the Army in the mid-1970s and commanding general of the Army Physical Disability Agency when he retired from the service in 1985.

Gen. Pennington’s military decorations included the Distinguished Service Medal, two awards of the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, six awards of the Bronze Star with combat “v” de- vice, the Purple Heart, the Air Medal, six awards of the Army Commendation Medal and the Combat Infantryman’s Badge.

As president of NAUS, Gen. Pennington was a well-known figure on Capitol Hill. Among his recent projects was a military employees health benefits program, which is now being considered by Congress.

Survivors include his wife, Harriet Donaldson Pennington of Springfield; two children, Jay Pennington of Lafayette, Colo., and Kim Sylvester of Raleigh, N.C.; and three granddaughters.

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Ann Pennington

For those Ziegfeld's Follies fans, check out the picture for Ann Pennington. She made her Follies debut in 1913 and became one of the era's most popular dancers. She was only 4 feet 11 1/2 inches tall (in heels), weighed 100 pounds, and wore a size 1 1/2 shoe. Her nickname was Tiny. She appeared in many Follies: 1913-16, 1918, 1923, 1924 and Spring 1925. She also danced in Ziegfeld's Miss 1917 and several editions of the Midnight Frolic.

Ty Pennington

Ty Pennington started with a TV show titled Trading Spaces but was snatched up by ABC in 2003 and is now a star on its' very popular TV show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

Well, there are several pages for Ty when you perform a Google search!! So, you get the idea of his popularity. I wonder if his first name could be Tyler? Interesting to see if anyone can come up with a family connection.

Thanks to Julie Getter of Family Group 16 for much of this the information. The rest came from Gene Pennington, Research Director.

Here are a few links to other websites with information about Ty Pennington.

http://tlc.discovery.com/fansites/tradingspaces/bio/bio_08.html
http://www.tythehandyguy.com/ (goofy picture but shows the furniture he builds)
http://www.manpagents.com/ty.html
http://bb.bbboy.net/tvworld-print?forum=9&thread=6
http://www.trading-spaces.net/ty.html
Ty Pennington Club, fan club with over 500 members. Message board, photo gallery, links, member profiles is located at http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/typennington (note that you have to be a Yahoo Groups member to access this website).

'Peek-a-Boo' Pennington

His true name was William V. Pennington, a San Francisco private investigator who worked in the 1940s.

An article published in an Antioch, California (San Francisco Bay Area) newspaper on May 22, 1946 reads "Peek-a-Boo Pennington Awaits Sentence". It says, "William V. "Peek-a-Boo" Pennington, San Francisco private investigator famed for his photograph studies of extra-marital capers, today awaited sentencing on charges of disturbing the peace and forcible entry".

It goes on to say that the charges resulted from a complaint by E. J. Silvey who accused "Peek-a-Boo Pennington" of breaking a door to a cabin on April 15 while he was seeking evidence against a woman's husband, cowboy singer Ray Wade who was reportedly "sharing" the cabin with a 23 year-old San Pablo blonde.

Pennington Research Association

Newsmakers with the Pennington Surname