Teller Ammons (December 3, 1895 – January 16, 1972) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 28th

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

from 1937 to 1939. He was the first Colorado governor to be born in the state.

Early life

On December 3, 1895, Ammons was born in Colorado. Ammons' father was

Elias M. Ammons Elias Milton Ammons (July 28, 1860 – May 20, 1925) served as the 19th Governor of Colorado from 1913 to 1915. Born in 1860 in Macon County, North Carolina, he is perhaps best remembered for ordering National Guard troops into Ludlow, Colorado ...

, a former

Governor of Colorado The governor of Colorado is the head of government of the U.S. state of Colorado. The governor is the head of the executive branch of Colorado's state government and is charged with enforcing state laws. The governor has the power to either app ...

. Ammons' mother was Elizabeth (nee Fleming) Ammons.Marquis Who's Who, Inc. ''Who Was Who in American History, the Military''. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1975. P. 10 Ammons was named for his father's friend, U.S. Senator Henry Moore Teller.

Career

He served with the

154th Infantry Regiment The 154th Regiment (Regional Training Institute) ("Third Arkansas") is a training regiment/institute of the Army National Guard. Most of its history before the 1990s can be traced to the 154th Infantry Regiment which was created from the 1st and ...

in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. After the war, he returned to Colorado to work on a ranch and in a newspaper office. He earned a law degree from the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univ ...

's Westminster Law School in 1929. Ammons was elected to the

Colorado Senate The Colorado Senate is the upper house of the Colorado General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Colorado. It is composed of 35 members elected from single-member districts, with each district having a population of about 123, ...

in 1930 and served until 1935, when Denver Mayor

Benjamin F. Stapleton Benjamin Franklin Stapleton (November 12, 1869 – May 23, 1950) was the mayor of Denver, Colorado, for two periods (comprising five terms), the first from 1923 to 1931 and the second from 1935 to 1947. He also served as a member of the Ku Klux ...

appointed him as Denver city attorney. In 1936, Ammons was elected

. On January 12, 1937, Ammons began his term as the

, until January 10, 1939.archived
As Governor, he was responsible for the execution of

Joe Arridy Joseph Arridy (; April 29, 1915 – January 6, 1939) was an American man who was falsely convicted and wrongfully executed for the 1936 rape and murder of Dorothy Drain, a 15-year-old girl in Pueblo, Colorado. He was manipulated by the police to ...

, who was innocent of the crime he was accused of; he had refused to pardon Arridy or commute his sentence. After one two-year term, he was defeated for reelection in 1938 by Ralph L. Carr. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, he served as a

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colon ...

on the selection and assignment board for military officers until 1944. In 1944, he was part of the military government of Guam. He separated from the service in 1945. Afterward, he practiced law in Denver until his retirement.

Personal life

Ammons' wife was Esther Daves Ammons. They had one child, whose name is Davis Ammons. Ammons died on January 16, 1972, and was buried in Fairmount Cemetery in Denver, Colorado.

References

External links

State of Colorado biographyNational Governors Association biography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ammons, Teller 1895 births 1972 deaths Democratic Party Colorado state senators Democratic Party governors of Colorado United States Army personnel of World War I Politicians from Denver 20th-century American politicians United States Army officers Military personnel from Colorado Burials at Fairmount Cemetery (Denver, Colorado)