Charles Frederick Stafford Jr. (June 24, 1918 – July 3, 1984), was an American lawyer who was a justice of the Washington Supreme Court from 1970 to 1984.

Biography

Charles Stafford, Jr. was born in

Burlington, Washington Burlington is a city in Skagit County, Washington, United States. Its population was recorded as 9,152 in the 2020 census. Burlington is located approximately halfway between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. The city is included in the Mount Vernon&n ...

to Charles Frederick Stafford, Sr. and Madge Marie Davis. He attended high school in Bellingham, graduating in 1936. Stafford enrolled in Whitman College, and in 1940 was awarded a B.A. and elected to '' Phi Beta Kappa''. In 1940, he began his studies at Yale Law School, but left in August 1943 to serve as lieutenant in the

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during World War II. In 1946, Stafford returned to Yale and completed his LL.B. degree. Back in his home town, he campaigned for the election of the Skagit County Prosecutor and was appointed the deputy prosecutor. In 1952, at the age of 34, Stafford, became judge of the Skagit County Superior Court. In 1968, Governor

Daniel J. Evans Daniel Jackson Evans (born October 16, 1925) is an American politician who served as the List of governors of Washington, 16th governor of Washington from 1965 to 1977, and as United States Senator, United States senator representing Washington S ...

appointed Stafford to the Division I of the Court of Appeals. A few months later, Evans elevated Stafford to the Washington State Supreme Court to replace Justice Matthew W. Hill, who retired. Stafford served as chief justice from January 13, 1975, to January 10, 1977.

Personal life

He married Katherine "Kay" Grimm, whom he had met at Yale, and they had two children. She died in 1980, and Charles Stafford remarried Elizabeth Greenwell Banks in 1981. Though in ill health his final year, he continued to serve on the Court until he died on July 3, 1984.

References

External links

Court opinions authored by Charles Stafford
Courtlistener.com. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
Charles F. Stafford, Jr.'s collection of certificates of election, 1956-1982
Worldcat.org. Retrieved May 17, 2017. 1918 births 1984 deaths Whitman College alumni Yale Law School alumni 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American judges Lawyers from Seattle United States Army officers United States Army personnel of World War II Justices of the Washington Supreme Court Chief justices of the Washington Supreme Court Washington (state) Republicans People from Burlington, Washington {{Washington-state-judge-stub