Clifford John Stauffer a Pharmacist's Tale

By Don Emerson Gardner

Clifford John Stauffer (1909-1994) was the town pharmacist and proprietor of the Hyrum Rexall Drug in Hyrum, Utah, for almost forty years. He was respected, loved and admired by almost everyone who knew him. This biography explores his background and life and focuses on the challenges he faced and overcame to achieve his success. With his second wife, Claris, he raised seven wonderful children and set an example through dedicated personal and public service

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Feb 21, 2018
• ISBN: 9781387613014

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Clifford John Stauffer a Pharmacist's Tale

Clifford John Stauffer - A Pharmacist’s Tale

By Don Emerson Gardner

February 23, 2018

Ogden, Utah

Copyright

Copyright 2018 by Don Emerson Gardner

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

First Printing 2018

ISBN:  978-1-387-61301-4

Don Emerson Gardner

1314 E. 1990 S.

Ogden, UT 84401-0865

[e-mail]

Dedication

It has been a privilege to be a small part of the Stauffer family as an in-law associated by marriage.  I dedicate this work to Stauffers past, present and future, members of an  honorable and exemplary family.

Preface

It was a pleasure to sift through the binders and albums in possession of my wife, Kathryn Stauffer Gardner, relating to the life and legacy of her father, Clifford John (Cliff) Stauffer.  I had the pleasure of knowing him for 28 years, from 1966, when I began courting his daughter, until near his death in 1994.

I particularly came to appreciate his dry sense of humor.  When I met with him in his office in the Hyrum Drug Store in 1966, to ask for the hand of his daughter in marriage, he only had one question for me.  With a twinkle in his eye, he asked, Are you a Republican?  I actually wasn’t at the time, but experienced a miraculous instant conversion and passed my first important test!

Among the resources available for researching and writing this biography, just a few deserve special mention.  First, Clifford left four written personal histories of various lengths.  These are identified by date as Personal History (PH) 1-4, 1953, 1959, 1963, and 1980.  He also recorded an interview in 1980, where he answered questions from some of his grandchildren about his life (Personal History 5, 1980).  In addition to these, his brother Henry’s (Ree) personal history was graciously provided by a grandson (Ron) at a most favorable time, providing important details that otherwise might have been lost.

I have tried to be as accurate as possible, but as always, any errors or omissions of fact are the author’s sole responsibility.  I hope you enjoy this effort!

Main Street (Washington Boulevard)

Ogden City, Utah

1909

Chapter 1

Beginnings in Riverdale

In 1909, most persons still traveled by horse-drawn vehicles, streetcars (many still pulled by horses) or the railroads.  But the United States of America was beginning a transportation revolution that would irrevocably change the way millions would live in the future.  Although the automobile was first perfected in Germany and France in the late eighteen hundreds, the introduction of the Ford Model T in October 1908, marked the beginning of mass personal automobility in the US.[1]  At the same time, the powered flight revolution was getting started in a big way.  On June 16, 1909, the first US airplane was sold commercially by Glenn Curtiss for $5,000.  On June 30, 1909, the Wright Brothers delivered the 1st military plane to the US Army.  And on August 29, 1909, the World’s 1st air race (held in Rheims, France) was won by Glenn Curtiss.[2]

In this exciting period in history, on November 4, 1909, Clifford John (Cliff or CJ) Stauffer, the third child of Henry Alfred Stauffer and Claudia Elizabeth Hughes Stauffer, was born in Mendon, Cache County, Utah, in a little house just north of the store his father would buy a few years later.  The photo below is probably of Ree and Cliff about 1910, since little boys were commonly photographed in dresses at that time.  (Unfortunately, the picture was not labeled, so we cannot know for sure, but we believe the original of this photo came from Ree’s house after his death.)

At the time of his birth, Cliff’s father and mother were living on a small farm in Riverdale (just south of Ogden City), Utah, bought by Henry after working in the mines in Butte, Montana, for a time after they were married.  The photo below is Henry and Claudia’s wedding portrait in Butte, Montana, in August 1904.

The photo below is of Henry as an LDS Missionary in 1901.

Claudia is shown below (also in 1901) with her younger sister, Anna Amelia; Anna on left, Claudia on right),[3]

Both of Cliff’s parents were born and raised in Northern Utah; Henry was born in 1879, in Willard, Utah, to Mormon Swiss immigrants, and Claudia was born in 1882, to a Mormon family in Mendon, Utah.  Claudia had the distinction of being a granddaughter of James Gray Willie, the captain of the ill-fated Willie Handcart Company that suffered dramatically in the early winter of 1856.  After spending time recovering in Salt Lake City, Captain Willie became one of the earliest settlers of Mendon, in Northern Cache Valley.[4]  In 1909, both of Claudia’s parents (John Hughes and Elizabeth Willie Hughes) were still living in Mendon.  In Cliff’s own words,

"It was customary in those days for the expectant mother to return to her own mother's home to have her children since there were no doctors or hospitals as we have now.  My mother [Claudia] went to Mendon [to be with her mother, Elizabeth], and I was born in a little home just north of the store