First Birth | Cle Elum, WA

The first birth of a boy in Cle Elum was that of Charles Stafford on July 6, 1887. Tradition has it that a child was born sometime before he was, but that the child was a girl (and evidently didn't count). Charles' parents were Theron and Jennie (Fuller) Stafford.

Stafford attended the elementary schools in Cle Elum, but in 1891 at age 4, and before he ever began his education, he had distinguished himself in his community by unwittingly playing with matches in the attic of his home and starting a fire that almost wiped out the town.

The business district was completely destroyed and had to be entirely rebuilt as a result. Charles became a pharmacist and medical doctor, who served as Cle Elum's first home-grown and college trained physician.

Contributing in a very significant way to the whole life of the community, Charles Stafford served for 15 years as Deputy Health Officer of Kittitas County and as City Health Officer in Cle Elum for a number of years, and as a surgeon for the Northern Pacific Beneficial Association and for the Milwaukee Hospital Association.

Stafford took part in many organizations and societies and was:
  • a Master Mason
  • a member of a number of bodies of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rites
  • a member of the Alpha Tau Omega at the University of Washington
  • a member of the Phi Beta Pi at the University (Northwest) of Medicine.
  • active for a number of years in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.


In the medical ranks he belonged to the King County Society and Washington State Medical Society. (SWIFTWATER, History of Cle Elum 1848-1955, published by Northern Kittitas County Historical Society, 2014, Page 31)






           

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