CHESTER F. GANNON

Sacramento County

Biographies

CHESTER F. GANNON

CHESTER F. GANNON.--Sacramento County is justly proud of her rising attorneys, as well she may be, considering the careers of such prospective bench timber as Chester F. Gannon, whose suite of offices, in the Capital National Bank Building, are among the busiest centers in Sacramento. He was born at Truckee, which may account for his natural attitude toward all things Californian, seeing the light for the first time there on April 19, 1887, the son of George and Mary (Best) Gannon. The former came to the Golden State in 1880, while the mother was a native daughter. Both are still living, enjoying the fruits of their former years of honest labor, and able to see the great strides marking California’s movement along the path of progress.

Chester F. Gannon attended the public schools of Sacramento, to which city the family had removed when he was young, enjoying also the high school courses. Having secured a post in the county recorder’s office, he studied law and was admitted to practice in the courts of California in 1915. He was ready to do the best of service in the walks of peace and prosperity, but when the Great War broke out, he enlisted in the United States Army, to spend fifteen months in the Infantry. He was in the officers’ training camp when the armistice was signed. He then returned to Sacramento to resume the practice of his profession. Mr. Gannon is the attorney for the California state board of pharmacy, in prosecuting all narcotic drug cases tried in Sacramento County. He is also assistant city prosecutor. He belongs to the Native Sons of the Golden West and to the American Legion, of which he is a past commander, the Elks and K of P’s; and in national political affairs, he seeks to improve good citizenship under the banners of the Republican party.

In 1921, and at Sacramento, Mr. Gannon was married to Miss Ruth Oakley, of Sacramento, the daughter of Paul Oakley, the well-known hardware merchant of that city, and both Mr. and Mrs. Gannon are among the popular frequenters of the circles of the Elks, in which he is a member, and both are alive to every opportunity to show their devotion to Sacramento.

Mr. Gannon was at one time rather famous as an amateur athlete, and now boasts of many medals showing his prowess in track and field events. One of these is for a national championship, won at Chicago in 1913; while another trophy such as anyone might prize was won at the National Track and Field Championships held in conjunction with the Panama-Pacific Exposition at San Francisco in 1915. He won medals, in fact, whenever he contested in either state or national contests, and he is very naturally interested in promoting athletics.

Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.

Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With Biographical Sketches, Page 938. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.