James Elbridge STAFFORD

1922 - 2018  (95 years)

• Name	James Elbridge STAFFORD
  Born	25 May 1922	Rancagua, Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins, Chile
  Gender	Male
  _UID	1B1274F79CDC45B2BAE8938ACB99E75A6BC4
  Died	31 Mar 2018	Kansas City, Wyandotte Co., Kansas
  Person ID	I125989	Branch 190 Phillip B Stafford b. 1797 SC
  Last Modified	28 Jul 2018

  
  

  Father	James Erza STAFFORD,   b. 21 May 1890, Menoken, Shawnee Co., Kansas ,   d. 17 May 1929, Valparaiso, O'Higgins, Chili, South America  (Age 38 years)
  Mother	Margaret Aurelia YOUNG,   b. 19 Jan 1892, Pauline, Shawnee Co., Kansas ,   d. 18 Jun 1969, Kettering, Montgomery Co., Ohio  (Age 77 years)
  Married	11 Mar 1916	Topeka, Shawnee Co., Kansas
  Notes	Married: James Erza STAFFORD married Margaret Aurelia YOUNG 11 March 1916 in Topeka, Kansas. According to James Elbridge STAFFORD, they met in college, got married right after that, and then moved to Rancagua, Chile, where James Ezra had a job wirh the Braden Copper Company as Comptroller. In a film shot in 1927-1929, James Ezra appeared very stern, devastatingly handsome, and not quite able to resist the happy and ebullient Margaret Aurelia. In 1929, James Ezra was promoted to a Vice President position and was supposed to return to New York. Margaret went back first, to visit friends who had already returned to the States and then get the children settled in New York. James Elbridge related that Margaret got word of James Ezra’s death while they were on the train going out West to visit friends. They stayed with the friends out West for a few months, until the 1929 stock market crash. James Elbridge said that family members had advised her oninvesting and, because of their poor advice, she was suddenly destitute withtwo young children. She returned to Topeka, where she had YOUNG and STAFFORD family members and worked to support herself and her children
  Family ID	F40839	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	Jean PLACE,   b. 3 Oct 1921, Des Moines Co., Iowa ,   d. 8 Mar 2004, Topeka, Shawnee Co., Kansas  (Age 82 years)
  Married	12 Dec 1945	Lawrence Co., Kanasa
  Divorced	16 May 1957
  Children	1. Lucinda Jean STAFFORD,   b. Topeka, Shawnee Co., Kansas   2. Mary Michele STAFFORD   3. Susan Curtis STAFFORD
  Last Modified	3 Dec 2019
  Family ID	F40841	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 2	Patricia Louise HIGGINS
  Married	1957
  Last Modified	3 Dec 2019
  Family ID	F49352	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  James Elbridge served in the 101st Airborne Division as a parachutist and parachuted into France durng the Normandie Invasion. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge and earned two Purple Hearts and, later, the French Legion of Honor for his participation in freeing France from the Germans. After he left the Army. he re-enlisted in the newly-formed Air Force, then returned to Kansas and attended Washburn College in Topeka. He worked for the Air Force as a civilian, later obtaining a master’s degree in logistics management. His civilian service began in Mobile, Alabama, but most of his career was spent at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, He retired and moved to Laurel, Mississippi. He began another career as a substance abuse counselor, which he continued after he and Patricia Louise moved to Grand Junction, Colorado. In 2018, he movedf back to Topeka, Kansas, and died less than two weeks later of cancer.