Tag: 1910s

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Martin, Robert Leander  (B.S., Electrical Engineering, 1942)

Headshot of Robert Leander Martin

Robert Leander Martin was born the sixth of six children in Dubuque, IA, 9 February 1919, to chiropodist (podiatrist) Dr. Henry Ambrose Martin and his wife, Mattie A. Martin.

Robert Martin flew 64 missions with the Tuskegee Airmen in WWII, was shot down in enemy territory, and received multiple awards for valor, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Purple Heart, seven awards of the Air Medal, and as a surviving member of the Tuskegee Airmen, a Congressional Gold Medal in 2007 that acknowledged the unit for their “unique military record that inspired revolutionary reform in the Armed Forces.” ( https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/congressional-gold-medal-tuskegee-airmen/nasm_I20071282001 ).

Martin married Odette C. Ewell 21 August 1950, and they had four children, Gabrielle, Noelle, Dominique, and Robert Martin Jr. After finding it difficult to get employment in electrical engineering because of his race and moving from one low-wage, service job to another, Martin finally secured a job as a draftsman with the Chicago Park District (https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/robert-leander-martin-1919-2018/) Robert Martin died in Olympia Fields, Cook County, Illinois, 26 July 2018, of pneumonia. In 2019, an Act of Congress renamed the US Post Office in Olympia Fields as the Capt. Robert Martin Post Office, and in Jul 2020, the Dubuque Regional Airport Commission voted to support renaming the airport terminal after Martin. Fundraising is now underway to complete that project.

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Hutchison, Claron B. (B.S., Electrical Engineering, 1913)

Headshot of Claron B Hutchinson

Claron B. Hutchison was born in DeSoto, Iowa, in December 1888 to Elza Elsworth Hutchison, from Virginia, and Miriam E. Dillon Hutchison, from Iowa. In the 1900s he lived in Van Meter, Dallas County, Iowa, with his parents and five siblings. The first ISC graduate in Electrical Engineering, Hutchison earned his bachelor’s degree in 1913. In 1938, he was listed as an Electricity Instructor in St. Louis, Missouri, public schools. By 1957, Hutchison was a teacher at the Manual School there. His sister, Doris Aline Hutchison, married another Iowa State graduate, William T. Wells (ISC 1925).

Iowa State College Dissertation Title: Design of hydro-electric plant at Preston, Minnesota, 1913

Iowa State University Catalog Record:https://quicksearch.lib.iastate.edu/permalink/01IASU_INST/174tg9m/alma990019993590102756 

Sources

Photo Credit” The Bomb

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Walker, Vesta V.  (Attended ISC in 1918)

Headshot of Vesta V Walker

Vesta V. Walker was born in Kansas in 1898, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Shores. She graduated from Sioux City Central High School in 1916. A member of the Friendship Club, she was quoted as being one who “had a strong character,” “very entertaining,” and could “always be relied upon.” Upon enrolling at Iowa State College she made it through Freshman year despite suffering from “nervous prostration” as the Bystander reported on 22 March 1918. The ISC General Catalog lists her as a Home Economics student from Sioux City in 1917-1918.

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Shoales, Johnston “John” William (aka Johnson W. Shoals) (Attended ISC in 1909)

Headshot of Johnston William Shoales

Johnston “John” William Shoales was born on 2 January 1872 on the Choctaw Reservation, in Doaksville, Indian Territory, Oklahoma (Territory), one of nine children of John Ross Shoals and Hattie Crittenden Shoales.

Shoales lived in Valliant, McCurtain County, Oklahoma, while studying at ISC, working on the home farm during the summers and teaching during the winter, reportedly one of the largest stock farms in the Territory. In total, he spent four years at Iowa State, residing in the Experiment Station Barn (1904/05; 1906/1907, Fall 1907) the Horticulture Barn (1905/1906), and the Horticulture Laboratory (Spring 1908). Although he did not graduate with a degree, he did earn a degree from the Tuskegee Institute. During his time at ISC, he was a member of the ISC Welch Eclectic Literacy Society in 1907 and 1908.

In 1905, Shoales was the President of the Choctaw Freedman’s Farmer’s Institute, and later worked as an assistant teacher for the Oak Hill Industrial Academy for Choctaw Freedmen from 1912 to 1913. He died in July 1977 in Idabel, McCurtain County, Oklahoma.

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Jackson, Rufus Benjamin  (Left ISC in 1917)

Headshot of Rufus Benjamin Jackson

Rufus Benjamin Jackson was born in Buffalo, Wyoming on 12 July 1896. His parents were John Jackson, a member of the Buffalo Soldiers of the U.S. Army, and Mary Jane Wilson Jackson. After moving with his family a number of times in childhood to accommodate his father’s Army service, Rufus graduated from East High School in 1914, the only Black student in his class (“Rufus Benjamin Jackson,” 2021).

He started his education at Iowa State College before he enrolled in the Army to fight in WWI. During WWI, he became a war hero and served with distinction, receiving the Distinguished Service Cross. His act of heroism was on 28 September 1918 near Farm La Foile, France. He acted bravely and made a personal reconnaissance as he crawled into enemy lines to find machine gun nests that were blocking his unit’s advancements. He used Stokes mortars to clear these nests, allowing for his unit to advance. (“Rufus Benjamin Jackson,” 2021).

Following his service in WWI, he married Leona Miller on 5 March 1918, in Houston Texas, but the couple later divorced. He died on 31 March 1992 in Detroit, Michigan, and is buried at the Ft. Custer National Cemetery in Augusta, Michigan. (“Rufus Benjamin Jackson,” 2021).

Sources

Photo Credit The Cardinal Tales

Rufus Benjamin Jackson. (2021). George S. Robb Centre for the Study of the Great War. Park University. Retrieved from  https://gsr.park.edu/service_members/rufus-benjamin-jackson/

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