Résumé

Captain, US Army Ambulance Service, World War I, 04/27/1917 and 07/07/1919. He joined the US Army in Philadelphia, PA, and was discharged at Camp Dix, NJ. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Historical Register of National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938; Series: M1749, accessed 03/31/2026.) According to a US passport application of 10/28/1924, he had seen foreign service in Europe during World War I. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passport Applications: Chicago, New York City, New Orleans, San Francisco and Seattle, 1914-1925; NAIr: Arc Identifier 1246000 / Mlr Number A1 535; Record Group: General Records of the Department of State, 1763-2002; Record Group Number: 59; Series Title: Passport Applications: Chicago, New York City, New Orleans, San Francisco and Seattle, 1914-1925, accessed 03/31/2026.)

School teacher, Los Angeles, CA, 1932. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Historical Register of National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938; Series: M1749, accessed 03/31/2026.)

High School and College

Graduate, Polytechnic High School, Los Angeles, CA, summer 1912.

B.A., Architecture, University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, CA, c. 1919.

College Awards

Honor Roll, University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, CA, 1918-1919.

Relocation

Clifford Ambrose Truesdell. Jr., was born on 12/07/1894 in Astoria, OR, to Clifford A.Truesdell, Sr., and Emily Estelle Galinger.

In 06/1900 at about age 5 and 1/2, the US Census found Clifford living with his parents and two siblings at 426 Exchange Street in Astoria, OR.

Between 04/27/1917 and 07/07/1919, Truesdell served in the US Army Ambulance Service. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Historical Register of National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938; Series: M1749, accessed 03/31/2026.)

Working as an architect, he lived with his parents and brother at 463 East 46th Street in Los Angeles, CA, according to 1924 Los Angeles County voter records. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation California State Library; Sacramento, California; Great Register of Voters, 1924, accessed 03/31/2026.)

He died of acute appendicitis in the US Army Veteran Hospital in the Sawtelle neighborhood of Los Angeles at the age of 37. He entered this facility on 07/01/1932 and passed away on 07/05/1932. At the time of his death, he and his wife resided at 6224 South Verdun Avenue (corner of West 63rd Street) in Los Angeles. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Historical Register of National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938; Series: M1749, accessed 03/31/2026.)

Parents

His father was Clifford Ambrose Truesdell, Sr.,(born 08/23/1863 in Placerville, CA-d. 12/04/1937 in Los Angeles, CA). In 1925, he worked as a salesman in Los Angeles, and resided at 20 7th Street in Hermosa Beach, CA. (See Hermosa Beach, CA, City Directory, 1925, p. 209.)

His mother Emily Esther Galinger (born 03/12/1869 in Oroville, CA-d. 10/31/1957 in Los Angeles, CA) graduated from the San Jose Normal College (later renamed "San Jose State College,") and had four children with Clifford, Sr. They included: Clearman Lewis Truesdell (born 02/02/1892 in South Bend, WA-d. 08/16/1935 in Los Angeles, CA), Emily Alice Truesdell (born 09/29/1893 in Astoria, OR-d 07/07/1905 in Los Angeles, CA) , and Lucius Angelus Truesdell (born 01/04/1905-d. 09/18/1993 in Buena Park, CA) .

Spouse

Truesdell appears to have married twice.

He married the teacher and scholar Yetta Helen Walker (born 06/18/1897 in Tucson, AZ-d. 08/08/1987 in Los Angeles, CA) on 12/28/1917 in CA. They met while both attended the University of Southern Calfiornia (USC) during the mid-1910s. This marriage did not last long, as Clifford served in the US Army between 1917 and 1919, and, by 01/1920, Yetta had returned to live with her parents Mark Walker, Jr., (born 04/24/1870 in Glasgow, Scotland-d. 09/30/1931 in Los Angeles, CA) and Alice Viola Feldman Walker (born 08/07/1876 in CA-d. 12/23/1961) at 2200 3rd Street in Los Angeles. It was probably over by that time, but, by 1924, Clifford was living with his parents and family in Los Angeles, and preparing to take an extended world tour on his own by that time.

Yetta's father was a Scottish-born chemist who entered the US with his parents in about 1878 and relocated to Tucson, AZ, by about 1889. (See Arizona Historical Society.org, "Mark Walker Family photograph collection," accessed 03/31/2026.) In 1920, Mark Walker, Jr., worked as the head chemist for the Roessler-Hasslacher Chemical Company, which would be purchased by E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1920; Census Place: Los Angeles Assembly District 72, Los Angeles, California; Roll: T625_112; Page: 13A; Enumeration District: 318, accessed 03/31/2026.) Yetta obtained three degrees from USC and did substantial research on the English writer and politician Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) .The Online Archive of California.org said of Yetta Walker: "She received a B.A. from USC in 1918, followed by a teaching credential and a master's degree, also at USC .This ultimately helped her land a job as an English teacher for a public school from the mid 1930s to early 1940s. Following her career as an educator, she edited a collection of Samuel Pepys's family letters, which was published as The Letters of Samuel Pepys and His Family Circle in 1955. She did other work with the Pepys archive (reflected in this collection at the Clark Library), but this work does not appear to have been published." (See Online Archive of California.org, "Heath (Helen Truesdell) Collection on Samuel Pepys, about 1950-1970," accessed 03/31/2026.) In 1931, she taught at the Jacob Riis High School in Los Angeles. This city directory listed her as the "widow" of Clifford Truesdell, even though wouldn't die until the following year. She likely was seeking to avoid being demeaned as a "divorcée." (See South Pasadena, California, City Directory, 1931, p. 151.)

At his death in 1932, he was wed to Margery C. Truesdell.

Children

With Yetta Walker, he had a son, Clifford Ambrose Truesdell III (born 11/18/1919 in Los Angeles, CA-d. 01/014/2000 in Baltimore, MD), who became a well-known Professor of Mathematics at Indiana University and Johns Hopkins University, focusing on the sub-field of rational mechanics.

With Margery, he had at least one daughter,

Biographical Notes

In 1924, Truesdell obtained a US passport to enable him to make a world tour. On his passport application, he indicated an interest in visiting Japan, China, Hongkong, India, Egypt, Italy, France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, England, Spain, Norway and Sweden. He expected to leave the US aboard the Dollar Lines' SS President Monroe on 11/18/1924.

According to 1932 medical records of the US Army Veteran's Administration Hospital in Sawtelle, Los Angeles, CA, Truesdell stood 5-feet, 6-and-1/2-inches tall. He was Caucasian, with a ruddy complexion, brown eyes and brown hair. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Historical Register of National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938; Series: M1749, accessed 03/31/2026.)