Tehama County
Biographies
LESTER EARL LAFFERTY
In current phraseology, Lester E.
Lafferty may be termed a live wire in the highest sense of that term. Not only is he known as a successful
newspaperman, but as a civic worker and as one interested in all community
affairs he commands the admiration and respect of all who know him personally,
and many others who know him through the columns of his newspapers, the Gerber
Star and the Biggs Weekly News. He is
one of the men who, in a space of a few years, have been directly responsible
for the development and growth of Gerber and Tehama County. He possesses that progressive, energetic and
modern attitude which makes for rapid changes leading to better things.
Lester E. Lafferty was born at Sioux
City, Iowa, October 31, 1896, a son of John and Flora (Hines) Lafferty. John Lafferty was born November 6, 1864, at
Scranton, Pennsylvania, and his wife was born March 22, 1865, at St. Joseph,
Missouri, and died January 20, 1918. The
father was of Irish parentage, and the mother’s father was a veteran of the
Civil War, having been distinguished as an aide to General Johnston of the
Confederate Army.
Lester E. Lafferty was brought to
Los Angeles, California, when he was only six months of age. Here he later attended school, graduating
from the Herman grammar school, and from the Lincoln high school in 1916. He then took up the study of mining
engineering at the University of Arizona, Tucson, but his course here was
interrupted by his enlistment in the United States Army in June, 1918. Prior to his enlistment he had been in the
Reserve Officers Training Corps. Mr.
Lafferty was a private, first class, with the One Hundred and Forty-third Field
Artillery, Battery C, during his service.
He trained as a liaison scout and so acted during the time he was in
France. In 1919, he was honorably
discharged from the army, and returned to the west, locating at Superior,
Arizona, where he was connected with mining work until 1921. He then went to San Francisco, California,
there to be associated with the San Francisco Examiner. In October, 1922, he came to Red Bluff,
Tehama County, for the purpose of publishing the Red Bluff Sentinel. In 1923 he established the Gerber Star, the
town of Gerber then having less than five hundred inhabitants. He has since been active in building up the
town. In 1924 he established the Biggs Weekly News, and has since been very successful
in the operation of both the Star and the News.
He owns both papers, and in 1927 invested in property at Gerber, upon
which he erected a building to be used as a public library.
Mr. Lafferty was the leader in the
movement for the establishment of a chamber of commerce at Gerber, and was
elected the first secretary. He has now
been secretary for four terms, beginning in March, 1925. His political affiliation is with the
progressive wing of the Republic Party.
He was elected a member of the Republican county central committee in
1926, 1928, and 1930, and was appointed by Governor C. C. Young to the state
Republican central committee. He was
appointed a member from Tehama County on the Sacramento Region Citizens
Council, was named chairman of Cork Oak committee for the council and caused to
be published a book in the state printing office, which volume is distributed
in all public libraries and agricultural colleges and farm bureaus. Mr. Lafferty is a director of the Tehama
County Chamber of Commerce, and is chairman of the publicity committee of the
Red Bluff Kiwanis Club; he is active news correspondent for the San Francisco
Examiner, the United Press, and the Sacramento Bee. His religious faith is that of the Methodist
Church, and he is a member of Red Bluff Lodge, No. 1250, Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks, in which lodge he was elected esteemed lecturing knight
in April, 1930. He belongs to the California
Publishers Association the California Secretarial Association, and the Red
Bluff Golf Club.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 3 Pages 407-408. Pioneer Historical Publishing
Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden
Nugget Library's Tehama County Biographies