Author: Chris Rasmussen

1918 1919 Royle Raymond Stafford

Royle Raymond Stafford

By Chris Rasmussen | by Chris Rasmussen

Biography Royle Raymond Stafford was born on January 14, 1897 in Altoona, Kansas.  His father C.A. Stafford was a successful businessman owning a fruit ranch in Washington, and Stafford’s Dry Goods & Grocery Store in Altoona, which he had established in 1888. In 1915, he and his friend Merill Gerkin would travel to San Francisco to as members of the Student’s Military Encampment. From San Francisco they would travel to Portland, Oregon by ship.  In…

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1918 Camp Wadsworth Robert Presley Thornton

Robert Presley Thornton

By Chris Rasmussen | by Chris Rasmussen

Robert Presley Thornton was born July 26, 1893 in Nelson County, Virginia, the son of Robert H. Thornton and Sarah B. Thornton. A chemist, he attended the agriculture college at Clemson University where he was the president of the tennis club and a member of the Calhoun Literary Society, graduating in 1915. After the war he founded Thornton Laboratories, Inc. in Tampa, Florida. He died January 14, 1979 at the age of 85 and was…

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