During World War II, Don Wallis and his wife, Gwendolyn, both in their 30s, lived in Riverside while Don, who was in the Army, was assigned to duties at the Mira Loma Quartermaster Depot. The facility helped supply troops in the Pacific theater of the war. Ruby Clark was also employed at the Quartermaster Depot. She was a young woman in her 20s, married to Henry Clark, a military man a few years her junior. The Clarks also lived in Riverside. There is no evidence the Wallis marriage was a particularly unhappy one. They had two children, a boy and a girl, who were 11 and 5, respectively, at the end of 1945. However, the Clark marriage was not a happy one and when the Clarks were separated by Henry’s deployment overseas, Ruby Clark and Don Wallis began an affair. Gwendolyn Wallis got wind of the affair and was understandably upset. She went to Henry Clark, who by that time had returned stateside, and tried to get him to break up the couple. At first, he refused. Later he acquiesced to Gwendolyn Wallis’s persistence. In the end, he decided not to talk to Don Wallis. Henry Clark later testified that by then he no longer cared for his wife and wanted nothing more to do with her. Sometime in 1945, Ruby Clark got a job at a girls school in Glendale, but she and Don Wallis continued the affair. Don later said  he tried to break off the relationship, but Ruby informed him she was pregnant. On Dec. 26, 1945, Gwendolyn Wallis suspected her husband was meeting up with Ruby Clark that day. She called the girls school where Ruby worked and found out she wasn’t there. That evening, Gwendolyn put her children to bed, grabbed her husband’s gun, and went looking for the couple. Her first stop was at a house of a “friend,” but whose friend wasn’t reported. There a child told her Don Wallis and Ruby Clark had been there but had left. Gwendolyn Wallis then went to another house where she suspected they might be, this one in Fontana. There, in the early morning hours of Dec. 27,  she found the couple in a passionate embrace in a car. She grabbed the gun, although she later testified that she didn’t remember doing so, and went to the car. She opened the door and gestured for Ruby to get out. When Ruby did get out, Gwendolyn grabbed her hair and the two women began to struggle. The gun went off twice. Gwendolyn later testified she didn’t remember pulling the trigger and didn’t even notice when it went off the first time. The second shot hit Ruby in the chest and killed her instantly. Gwendolyn Wallis was put on trial at the San Bernardino County courthouse in San Bernardino in February 1946. The courthouse was packed most days, primarily by women, whose sympathies seemed to lie far more with Gwendolyn than with the woman she shot dead. Related Articles Local News | Perris Library, named for Cesar Chavez, closes for $1.2M renovation Local News | These 2 San Bernardino County pioneers have a monument in their honor Local News | How San Bernardino County pioneers Sheldon Stoddard and Sydney Waite arrived in the area Local News | Repairs to Riverside’s De Anza statue to be explored Local News | Bowling’s 1950s boom in suburbs gets fresh spin in new book All the major players in the case testified at the trial, including Gwendolyn Wallis, her husband, Don, and Ruby’s estranged husband, Henry Clark. The jury of seven women and five men couldn’t come to a unanimous decision, and after a day of deliberation, the jury was hung 10-2 in favor of acquittal. The judge in the case dismissed the charges and didn’t require the case be retried. Gwendolyn Wallis walked out of the San Bernardino courthouse a free woman. If you have an idea for a future Back in the Day column about a local historic person, place or event, contact Steve Lech and Kim Jarrell Johnson at [email protected].