The Stafford Files

Georgia, Lute and Esther Stafford
1914

Lute Stafford Moved Here in a Covered Wagon

Lewis (Lute) Minot Stafford was born June 17, 1890, near Huntsville, Arkansas, to Jobe Stafford and Sarah (Lewis) Stafford, and departed this life on December 11, 1983, at St. Anthony North Hospital in Northglenn, Colorado, at the age of 93.

Lute was the youngest of five children. He had three older brothers and one sister. At the age of about nine, the family moved by covered wagon from Arkansas to near Haigler, Nebraska, and here he attended school.

About 1910, Jobe and Sarah took claim on a homestead south of Parks and Lute took claim on a homestead across the Kansas &Nebraska state line two miles west of his parents.
Thereafter he met and married Georgiana Bartlett in 1913. On this homestead, they raised their four children.

Later, the farm was sold and Lute and Georgia moved to Parks where he ran the grain elevator. They then bought and ran the store in Parks. For a few years, they spent the winters in California.
Georgiana passed away December 16, 1965, and after this Lute sold the home in Parks and moved to a home in Haigler. He married a schoolmate of 65 years before, Clara Jenkins, and they lived together only ten months before her death.

Preceding him in death were his parents, his two wives, one granddaughter, one grandson, brothers, Bill, Joe and Lock; his only sister, Eva, and one son-in-law.

He leaves to mourn his passing two daughters, Esther Roberts and husband, Howard, of Placervllle, California, and Margaret Hightower of Commerce City, Colorado; two sons, Larry and wife, Clara, of Northglenn, Colorado, and R.K. “Bud” of El Dorado Springs, Missouri; a sister- in-law, Pearl Caldwell of Goodland, Kansas; 11 grandchildren; 21 great-grandchildren; three great-great-grandchildren and a host of relatives and friends.

Funeral services were held Friday, December 16, 1983, at 1:30 p.m. at Jones Funeral Chapel in Benkelman with the Rev. Robert Sander officiating. Organist Elaine Blank accompanied Kelly Hayward with the selections “The Old Rugged Cross” and “Nearer My God To Thee.”
Bearers were Robert Hardwick, John Ham, Tom Roundtree, Max Cline, Dudley Blank and Hal Tecker. Interment was in the St. Francis Cemetery at St. Francis, Kansas. Arrangements were by Jones Funeral Home of Benkelman.

~The Benkelman Post, December 21, 1983

Family Tidbits
Children of Lute and Georgia Stafford 1. Sarah Esther June Stafford [Esther], b. 06-14-1914, m. 11-25-1935, Howard Raymond Roberts 2. Margaret Elizabeth May Stafford [Margaret], b. 05-23-1915, m. 1932, Frank Hightower 3. Laurence Bartlett Pierce Stafford [Larry], b. 01-12-1923, m. Clara Bell Miller 4. Randall Kieth Stafford [Bud], b. 12-23-1927, m. Melva Bowman	THE HAIGLER NEWS, HAIGLER, NEBRASKA, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1931 Mrs. Frank Crabtree and children spent Sunday at the L. M. Stafford home.
Georgia, Esther and Lute, 1963	Lute & Georgia beside their 1950 Green Kaiser

LEWIS M. STAFFORD Born: June 17, 1890 Huntsville, Arkansas Died: December 11, 1983 St. Anthony North Hospital Northglenn, Colorado Services: Friday, December 16, 1983 1:30 P.M. Jones Funeral Chapel Benkelman, Nebraska Clergy: Rev. Robert Sander Organist: Elaine Blank Soloist: Kelly Hayward Selections: “The Old Rugged Cross” “Nearer My God To Thee” Bearers: Robert Hardwick, John Ham Tom Roundtree, Max Clime Dudley Bank, Hal Tecker Interment: St. Francis Cemetery St. Francis, Kansas Funeral Conducted by JONES FUNERAL HOME, INC. Benkelman, Nebraska	Georgia Ann Bartlett Born: July 23, 1889 Concordia, Cloud, Kansas Died: December 16, 1966 Interment:
Parks, Nebraska School building, October 2005	A Letter by Margaret (Stafford) Hightower about Parks school (1984) I was down with Esther to the class reunion I think the sixtieth. They had our dinner in the basement of the clubhouse and then one with Benkelman classes. Esther graduated in 1934. Tom Ballard celebrated his 75^th then too. The old school building in Parks was still standing there the last time I was down, but the roof was leaking very badly so the walls weren’t too sturdy. Someone had bought the land and had turned the west end of the gym and the stage and made garage out of it. He was going to use the rest of the building for truck drivers to sleep over there. But then he walked away and left the whole thing go to pieces. The clubhouse walls in the basement were all cracked but they were still holding church in the top part. I don’t know if they still do or not. Our church burned down about 25 years after it was built and from what I hear, Rex Roundtree’s son, Tom, owns most of the land north of the creek and he and his family live there. He has two sons and two daughters. He has the old farm that Foy and Aunt Emma owned where he raises cattle and farms all the land on top of this divide that was owned by my folks and the Ash Roundtree family. I don’t know how much more he owns or at least he has a big ranch north and east of Haigler.

Links to Stafford's Land grant files:
Job Hurd Stafford in Dundy County, Nebraska
Joseph P. Stafford in Dundy County, Nebraska
Lewis Minot Stafford in Cheyenne County, Kansas

Dundy County Land Grants - 1908

Name	County	Year	Page	Notes	Reel
STAFFORD, J H	Dundy	1908	74	Patrons' Directory	6
STAFFORD, J H	Dundy	1908	19	T1N, R39W	6
STAFFORD, L M	Dundy	1908	21	T1N, R40W	6
STAFFORD, L M	Dundy	1908	23	T1N, R41W	6
STAFFORD, L M	Dundy	1908	59	T4N, R42W	6

Laurence B. Stafford

Parks, Nebraska
Class of 1941
Parks 1941

Walter Miller, Darlene Ellis, Eugene Blank, Laurence Stafford, Irene Hanshaw, Hazel Loveland,.
Mr. Frank Kolb, Supt. and Mr. Kenneth Jones, Sponsor

Lawrence B. Stafford was a son of Mr. and Mrs. Lute Stafford and graduated from Parks High School in 1941. He entered the service on Feb. 24, 1943, and was a member of 275th Chemical Service Platoon. He went overseas on Oct. 27, 1943, to the Pacific Theatre and was engaged in campaigns of Bismark, Archipelago, New Guinea and Luzon. He was awarded the Philippine Liberation Ribbon with one Bronze Service Star, Meritorious Service Unit Plaque, American Service Medal, and Asiatic-Pacific Service Medal. He returned to the States on Oct. 4, 1945, and received his discharge at Fort Logan, Colo., on Nov. 29, 1945. Larry and his family moved from Benkelman to Colorado in 1950. He drove a gas transport for many years, and then worked with his son at the Mile Hi Shooting park three miles east of Lafayette. He passed away on June 16, 1987. His wife Clara (Miller) lives in Northglenn, Colo.

--The War Years, A 50th Anniversary Album, Dundy County Nebraska. 1992, p. 109

The son of a former Dundy County couple has earned high honors in the trap shooting field.

Ray Stafford, son of the late Larry Stafford and Clara (Miller) Stafford of Northglenn, Colorado, was honored by being admitted to the Trap Shooting Hall of Fame in Vandalia, Ohio.

The Induction ceremony took place on August 16 in Vandalia. Ray's mother, Clara Stafford, and his aunt, Irene Kisela of Stratton, flew to Vandalia for a banquet ceremony honoring Ray and the other Hall of Fame inductees.

Rays father, Larry, graduated from Parks High School in the early 40's and his mother, Clara and aunt, Irene, grew up in Benkelman.

Since be began shooting in 1965, Ray Stafford has earned 59 Grand American trophies, 35 state and four ATA zone titles, six golden West Grand crowns. and four championships each at the Spring Grand and Midwestern Grand. He has led ATA singles averages five times, the handicap four years, and the doubles once, and has collected 8 Trap & Field All-Around Awards.

Stafford's record .9801 all-around average in 1987 broke his former high of .9766, achieved both in 1985 and 1986. He surpassed his own record handicap of .9554 in 1984 with .9572 in 1986 and with .9648 in 1987 to maintain the four-year strangle-hold on the top spot in the ATA. (His '85 mark was .9515.) All were 27-yard targets, and his totals ranged from 3,600 to 6,800 yearly.

Ray has been a member of two perfect 500 squads, both at the Grand American, the first during the 1982 Dayton Homecoming followed by another in the 1983 Champion of Champions race.

During a preliminary doubles race at the 1983 Grand American, Stafford won an overtime session from Drew Waller, and their eight rounds set a record for the longest twin-bird tie-breaker to history. Stafford won with 160 straight. That same year he set an amateur doubles long run of 461. Stafford has 31 100s in doubles to his credit.

Among his Grand American wins, his first Clay Target Championship came in 1976 when he smashed 200 in the program and 175 in shoot-off. He repeated as Champ in 1984, again with 200 in the race but needing 225 extras in the shoot-off. His first All-Around crown was for 390 in 1973, and second was for a record-tying 396 to 1981 after a perfect 40 shoot-off. Stafford won the H-O-A by two birds with 979x1000 in 1981, by one with 978 to 1982 and by seven with 980 in ‘85. Ray downed 99 from 27 yards and smashed an additional 50 straight in shoot-off to capture high-gun honors in the '85 President's Handicap. He earned the zone Champion of Champions crown during the ‘75 Clay Target race with 200 (ending third in the Clay Target championship) and he won the '81 Dayton Homecoming with 200 plus 125 in carryover. In '72 he was AA victor in the Singles Class with 200 in the program and 200 more in overtime.

Stafford attended his first Grand in 1968 and won his first trophies two years later. Thirty-two of his 59 Grand awards have been earned during championship days. He has captured a total of 19 singles, 16 handicap, seven doubles, three state Champion of Champions, one zone CofC, three All-Around, seven H-O-A and three international prizes at Vandalia.

His Golden West Grand titles from Reno, Nevada, include 1975 and 1986 Handicaps with scores of 97 and 99; 1977 and 1986 doubles with 98 and 99; 1985 and 1987 all-around with scores of 396 to tie and 397 to break the record;1980 Preliminary handicap with 99 from 27 yards, and high-over-all in 1986.

In the Spring Grand In Phoenix, Ray has won the handicap with 98 and 99 in 1981 and '86; 16-yard to 1982 with 200 straight, and the all-around in 1981 with 395x 400.

Stafford's Midwestern Grand victories in El Reno, Oklahoma, began in 1981 with the doubles (97x 100) which he repeated in 1982 with a 98. The same two years he won the all-around with 385 and 395, the latter after 40 straight in shoot-off with Hall of Fame Britt Robinson beating the former record by three targets. The mark still stands.

His first Colorado state championship win was the doubles in 1971 with a 98. Since then he has earned eight more twin-bird titles, including five for 99s and one for 100; seven singles crowns, five with 200 straight, between 1973 and 1987; six handicap wins since 1973, twice each with 100, 99 and 98; and 13 all-around titles since 1972.

In 1978 Ray matched the ATA state competitor all-around record of 397 x 400 while winning in Colorado, and his 398 x 400 in 1982 established a new record. Three years later he again totaled 398 while winning the doubles title with 99 and the handicap with 100 from 27 yards.

He is one of six who have scored 390 x 400 in the all-around at any ATA tournament, having accomplished it twice. The first was during the July 1986 Mile-High tournament in Colorado and the second the following year at the Utah State Shoot.

His zone wins include the 1975 Western Zone singles title and three championships from the southwestern Zone (doubles with 99 and all-around with 396 in 1981 and the all-around with 394 in 1983 (Colorado moved from one zone to another; Stafford's residence did not change.)

In 1972 Ray earned a spot on the All-American second team and he has had a berth on the first team for the 16 years since. He was co-captain in 1977 and captain in 1982,1986 and 1987. He was named to the International All-America team in 1970 through 1972, captaining the squad in ‘71.

Stafford shot with the Army Marksmanship Training Unit in the late ‘60s and the early ‘70s. He earned the U.S. International Championships in 1968 with 293 x 300 and again in 1970 with the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City; was a member of the silver medal team at the 1969 World Championships in Spain, and shot on the winning team which set a record of 579 x 600 at the 1970 World Championships in Phoenix. Individually, Ray nailed down the bronze medal in the 1970 World Championships after a record-tying 197, and that same year he was champion of the Grand Prix of Europe with a 196.

A resident of Denver, Colorado, Ray has served on the ATA Board of Directors since 1983. He was inducted into his state's Hall of Fame in 1982.

Memories of Margaret (Stafford) Hightower