Central High School - Red and Black Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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Among the hundreds of Central alumni who have entered the medical profession, one of the most distinguished was Dr. Malvern Bryan Clopton, who was born in St. Louis, in 1876, and graduated from Central in January, 1894. He received his medical de- gree from the University of Virginia, but returned to St. Louis and became professor of clinical surgery at Washington University, and also chief of staff at St. Luke's Hospital. He twice served as president of the State Board of Health, and in 1932 was elected president of the Washington University Cor- poration, a position which he held for ten years. Dr. Clopton served in World War 1 from 1917 to 1919 as a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Medical Corps. He went overseas with a hospital unit from Barnes Hospital. He was first attached to a base hospital and later to a mobile hospital unit. His first wife was Mrs. Lily Lambert Vvfalker, who died in 1911. In 1934 he married Mrs. Rachel Lowe Lambert, who sur- vives him. Also surviving are a brother, William H. Clopton, a retired army Colonel of Chevy Chase, Md., and a sister, Mrs. Elkin L. Franklin, of St. Louis. After retiring in 1942, Dr. Clopton spent most of his time at his home at Wianno, Cape Cod, Mass., where he died on April 21, 1947. He was buried in the family lot in Bellefon- taine Cemetery, St. Louis, after funeral serv- ices at Christ Church Cathedral. In 1930, Dr. Clopton donated S250,000 for completion of the Rand-Johnson Memo- rial wing of Barnes Hospital, and the follow- ing year gave a collection of wood cuts and etchings valued at S100,000 to Washington University. Another gift to the university, made in 1945, was his 850-acre Brookhill DR. MALVERN B. CLOPTON Dr. Malvern B. Clopton 1876-1947 farm near Clarksville, Mo., given to be used for research. Dr. Clopton was great not only as a physi- cian and surgeon, but also as a citizen. Dur- ing the seventy-one years of his life he served his city, state, and country, in many capaci- ties, and many honors were bestowed upon him. His name was among those listed in Who's Who in America, and Central High School has long ago enrolled him upon her Super Honor Roll.

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JULIA VALLETTE COFFEY Julia Vallette Coffey 1847-1946 Julia Vallette was a member of the class of June, 1868, and the subject of her very interesting graduation address was Trifles . Life, she said, like the vast ocean, is composed of little drops: little drops of grief and pain, mingled with those of joy, adding color to the whole. What is a trifle? If we mean small events, then our lives are composed of them. All that surrounds us is but a combination of minute particles. ,The largest mountain is but atoms of dust. Young people go forth into the world expecting at once to find some great glorious mission. They are apt to neglect the lesser duties and responsibilities which make, for some, the whole, and for all, the greater part of life. If they waste their time in idleness and discontent, they find themselves not ready when great opportunities occur. After all, what is it but the noblest of trifles that have enabled our greatest men to rise from the low- est stations? Such was Julia Vallette's philosophy, and how nobly did she take care of the millions of trifling duties that were hers throughout the ninety-nine years of her life! She was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Au- gust 23, l847, and died at Pana, Illinois, on August 24, 1946. Her mother was Marcy Ann Field, who came from Rhode Island to Cincinnati and married a hatter named Fred- erick A. Vallette, who later moved to St. Louis and bought a sawmill near Cairo, Illi- nois. He made cracker boxes for General C1rant's Army, ran the blockade between St. Louis and Cairo, and had his sawmill burnt by the Southern soldiers. Shortly after Julia Vallette graduated from Central High School, she met T. C. Coffey, who was a student at Shurtleff College, Alton, Illinois. Soon after he finished col- lege and was ordained as a Baptist minister, they were married. After serving many years as pastor of various Baptist Churches in Illi- nois, Rev. Coffey died in Arizona, in 1930. They had one son, Mr. Roy V. Coffey, who has been a commercial teacher at Central since l9l5, and four daughters, one of Whom died in infancy. The other three daughters are Mrs. C. T. Ward, of Tonica, Illinois: Mrs. Frank Allan Cutler, of Pana, Illinois: and Mrs. A. C. Stanfleld, also of Pana, Illinois. Frank Allen Cutler, Jr., a grandson of Julia Vallette Coffey, was the highest rank- ing student and valedictorian of the graduat- ing class at the University of Illinois in 1942. He had a straight A record for four years in chemical engineering. After doing research work in synthetic rubber for the Goodrich Rubber Company during World War II, he was given a fellowship at the University of Minnesota, where he is now Working for his Ph.D. degree. The two granddaughters were both accom- plished musicians and high school teachers of music. Miss Margaret R. Cutler graduated from Eastern Illinois State Teachers College and Miss Marjorie Ward, now Mrs. Joseph Sibigtroth, from Illinois University. Yes, Julia Vallette Coffey spent ninety- nine years dealing with the trifles of life, and what a great mountain of achievement did she build up, one small pebble at a time, as an example of noble living for her children, and grandchildren, and all the world! In fond appreciation Central High School offers a wreath of honor to her memory.

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Our C ity Administrators PHILIP J. HICKEY. Superintendent of Instruction J. S. NANTS. flssistunt Superintendent of Instruction in Charge of Secondary Schools Board oi Education TERM EXPIRES EI.xIoRI2 M. PUTNEY. President., 835 S. Eighth Street C. OSCAR JOHNSON, Vi'ce-President 620 N. Grand Boulevard JAAIES J. FITZGERALD .. ,. . 6322 S. Grand Boulevard FRANK P. NAGEL ... . .. 5 700 Lansdowne Avenue J. HARRY POHLMAN .... ,.,. . . 818 Olive Street FRANCIS C. SULLIVAN .,...... 1889 Railway Exchange Building ..,..1949 1949 1951 .-.1951 ...1951 ...,.1951 TERM EXPiRES FRED BECK... ......... .............. . 4200 Sacramento Avenue HERBERT O. WINTERER ....,,... 4247 S. Grand Boulevard CHARLES J. DYER ..,............. 2006 Salisbury Street WILLIAM L. SCHWER ........ 8627 Oxford Lane RUDOLPH HOFMEISTER ......,...,. ., 3958 S. Grand Boulevard WILLIAM SCHUMACHER ....... 3013 Meramec Street Principals oi Central High School Jeremiah D. Low ........ James E. Kaime ...... Calvin S. Pennell ..,.... Richard Edwards ,..... Thomas Metcalf .,..,... Ebenezer Knowlton .,.. Charles E. Childs .... Horace H. Morgan .... Brandt V. B. Dixon ..,. E. Louis Soldan .... W. J. S. Bryan .... Chester B. Curtis ..... Stephen A. Douglass D. H. Weir .... .,., . .. Ben H. Barr . . , E. W. Alexander ..,..,,Eebruary, 1853-June, 1855 .....,.June, 1855-June, 1856 I......September, 1856-January, 1862 ...,...January, 1862-March, 1862 .,.....1V1arch, 1862-August, 1862 ., .... August, 1862-June, 1863 .......June, 1863-February, 1866 February, 1866-February, 1886 A March, 1886-September, 1887 September, 1887-September, 1895 1895-September, 1908 1908-March, 1920 1920-April, 1936 September, 1936-June, 1944 . November, ...September, September, June, 1944-June, 1946 ,. June, 1946- 24 1949 1949 1953 1953 1953 1953