booth gardner - Washington Secretary of State

early Legislature from State of Washington Members of the Legislature, 1889-2005, with
appendix on Territorial Assembly, 1854-1887. Samuel L. Crawford and Charles T. Conover’s
claim to originating “The Evergreen State” slogan is documented in A Volume of Memoirs
and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of the City of Seattle and County of King,
Washington, and in Washington the Evergreen state, and Seattle: its metropolis.
Chapter Two: The curve ball
Interviews in 2009 with Booth Gardner, Stephen Merrill, Jim Griffin, Joan Blethen,
Nick Handy and Mari Clack. “Brick was the life of the party at ‘uninhibited’ dances,” from
“Summers at Burton were fun,” TNT, April 7, 1985. Details of Booth’s parents’ wedding
from Booth-Gardner Nuptials, June 2 and June 4, 1933, Times. King County Marriage
Certificate No. 112, Bryson R. Gardner and Evelyn Booth, June 1, 1933. William Booth
Gardner Birth Certificate, August 21, 1936, No. 146-1936-014241, Washington State
Department of Health, together with microfilm of the original, document where his first
name is changed to William. Gardner tells his “How I Got Here” and “Helicopter” stories
during a Washington State Senate Civics Education program in Olympia on Feb. 21, 2007.
It was recorded by TVW: http://www.tvw.org/media/mediaplayer.cfm?evid=20070201
85&TYPE=V&CFID=3245411&CFTOKEN=27106557&bhcp=1 Norton Clapp is profiled in
Washingtonians, a Biographical portrait of the state, and in HistoryLink.org Essay 7295,
2005. Details of the Gardner and Clapp divorces are from “Tacomans Divorced,” TNT, Jan.
15, 1941, “Clapp Wed in Montana,” TNT, Jan. 16, 1941, and “Picturesque Colonial Mansion
for sale,” TNT, Nov. 2, 1941. Mary Clapp’s demise is told in “Calif. Crash Kills Seattle
Woman, Boy; 3 Sons Hurt,” Times, July 20, 1945; the subsequent lawsuit is “Norton Clapp,
individually and as executor of the estate of Evelyn Clapp, deceased vs. The United States,”
No. 463-60, United States Court of Claims, July 15, 1966. The quotes from Lou Booth,
(“That boy cried and cried on the train…”) from “The Governor Who Loves to be Loved,”
Seattle Times Magazine, July 26, 1987. The Bryson Ross Gardner and Mildred McMahon
Blethen marriage certificate is No. 84527, Pierce County, WA, May 26, 1944.
Chapter Three: Alone in the world
Interviews in 2009 with Booth Gardner, Stephen Merrill and Joan Blethen. Details
on the crash that claimed Evelyn and Gail Gardner are from the Civil Aeronautics Board
report on the crash of Southwest Airways Flight 7, April 6, 1951. Also see Times, P-I
and TNT stories, April 7, 8, 9, 1951. “All 22 on Coast Air Liner Killed,” and “Mrs. Clapp of
Prominent Seattle Family,” Times, April 7, 1951. “Mrs. Norton Clapp Killed in Air Crash,”
TNT, April 9, 1951. Also “Tragedy in Clapp Family Third in Seven Years,” ibid. “Seattle
Woman One of 22 on Lost Plane,” P-I, April 7, 1951, and “Good News, Then Tragedy, Mrs.
Clapp Flew South to Accept Show Prize,” P-I, April 8, 1951. “Final Mass for Gail Gardner,
Mrs. Norton Clapp,” Bellevue American, April 12, 1951. The divorce of Bryson R. and
Mildred M. Gardner is documented in Pierce County Superior Court document No. 113265,
Nov. 6, 1951.
Chapter Four: Running away
Interviews in 2009 with Booth Gardner, Laird Harris, Joan Blethen, Norman
Branchflower Jr., Jim Griffin, Reese and Cecile Evans Lindquist, Joe Staton and Emory
Bundy. Roberta O’Donnell, director of Alumni & Parent Relations for Vermont Academy,
confirmed that Booth attended Vermont Academy during his sophomore year, 1951-52.
The account of Booth moving in with his aunt after his fraternity brothers stole his non-
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