Individual Details
Walter Scott Clayson Jr.
(25 Jan 1887 - 1 Mar 1972)
On the 1910 U. S. Census Walter Clayson Jr. is living with his parents at Temescal, Riverside Co., California. Walter Jr. is an attorney.
On the World War I Draft Registration at Corona, California on June 5, 1917, Walter S. Clayson was born at Redwood Falls, Minnesota and is a lawyer and justice of the peace. He is married and has one child. He is living at 117 E. Kendall, Corona, California.
In his sister Daisy Terpenings' obituary Walter is listed as a judge.
Corona Daily Independent, Corona, California, Thursday, March 2, 1972, Front Page, Cols. 1-8: Founder of Corona's Largest Law Firm Dies. Funeral services for Walter S. Clayson, 85, the dean of Corona attorneys will be conducted at the Thomas Miller mortuary at 10 a.m. Saturday. He died yesterday in a Pasadena hospital. Interment will follow at Sunnyslope Cemetery for the founder of Corona's largest law firm, Clayson, Stark, Rothbuck and Mann. Clayson was born in 1887 in Redwood Falls, Minn., and came to Corona with his parents to visit a brother, Marshall E. Clayson in 1900. The Claysons did not return to Minnesota. Walter's father having decided to open a furniture store here.
Clayson graduated from Corona High School in 1905 and three years later had completed his undergraduate work and received his law degree from USC. He started practicing law at that time. Clayson started law practice above what was then the First National Bank on the northwest corner of Sixth and Main. He worked under the late George Freeman, Corona's first attorney and first city attorney and Riverside County's first judge of the Supreme Court. Clayson became Corona's second city attorney working in those days for the munificent salary of $50 per month.
Clayson had a vivid memory. Until the time his health started to fail, he could quote verbatim long passages from high school plays he had participated in. He was also a member of the Debating Society and played cornet in the band. He used to like to recall the temperamental German band leader who was in charge. When he would rehearse, Clayson used to say, "and somebody would toot a sour note, our leader would slam down his baton and tell us to think what would happen if such a mistake were made before an audience. "Visualize what would happen," he would say, "Visualize the whole audience standing in unison and saying ----" In place of the blanks, Clayson would use a well-known Anglo Saxon four letter word. Clayson was an organizer and charter member of Corona Rotary and a former president. He was active in chamber of commerce and the masonic lodge.
Mrs. Letrice Porter, his last secretary who had worked for him for 29 years, speaks of his perfectionism and his kindness, as does Mrs. Bertha Miller, who was his secretary before World War II.
During his lengthy career as an attorney, Clayson always escaped scandal. He had one near miss, however. As the attorney for the Temescal Water Co., he would buy up pieces of land for the company and transfer them into the company's name. He bought a piece of land up in Temescal Canyon during the bootleg days and forgot to transfer the title to the water company. One day he remembered it, made out the deed and had it recorded. Two days later the newspapers reported that the Sheriff had raided the largest still ever found in Riverside County and noted it was on land owned by the Temescal Water Co. Clayson was not mentioned.
Things were rough some times in Corona's early days. Clayson's only son, Stuart, remembers that his father twice had to disarm men in his office. Stuart witnessed one of those. He said that his father didn't use force. "He just talked them out of their guns." Stuart remember that his father had a table in one of the rooms of his office that was huge. Clayson also had a close friend who practiced law in Los Angeles who was equally huge. " He used to come to my father's office occasionally, " Stuart says, "and go to sleep on that table. He said it was the only place he ever found where he could get a decent sleep. In addition to his son, Clayson is survived by a daughter, Barbra Clasyon and three grandchildren. Clayson's wife, Nell, died June 10, 1969.
A photo of Mr. Clayson is with the obit.
On the World War I Draft Registration at Corona, California on June 5, 1917, Walter S. Clayson was born at Redwood Falls, Minnesota and is a lawyer and justice of the peace. He is married and has one child. He is living at 117 E. Kendall, Corona, California.
In his sister Daisy Terpenings' obituary Walter is listed as a judge.
Corona Daily Independent, Corona, California, Thursday, March 2, 1972, Front Page, Cols. 1-8: Founder of Corona's Largest Law Firm Dies. Funeral services for Walter S. Clayson, 85, the dean of Corona attorneys will be conducted at the Thomas Miller mortuary at 10 a.m. Saturday. He died yesterday in a Pasadena hospital. Interment will follow at Sunnyslope Cemetery for the founder of Corona's largest law firm, Clayson, Stark, Rothbuck and Mann. Clayson was born in 1887 in Redwood Falls, Minn., and came to Corona with his parents to visit a brother, Marshall E. Clayson in 1900. The Claysons did not return to Minnesota. Walter's father having decided to open a furniture store here.
Clayson graduated from Corona High School in 1905 and three years later had completed his undergraduate work and received his law degree from USC. He started practicing law at that time. Clayson started law practice above what was then the First National Bank on the northwest corner of Sixth and Main. He worked under the late George Freeman, Corona's first attorney and first city attorney and Riverside County's first judge of the Supreme Court. Clayson became Corona's second city attorney working in those days for the munificent salary of $50 per month.
Clayson had a vivid memory. Until the time his health started to fail, he could quote verbatim long passages from high school plays he had participated in. He was also a member of the Debating Society and played cornet in the band. He used to like to recall the temperamental German band leader who was in charge. When he would rehearse, Clayson used to say, "and somebody would toot a sour note, our leader would slam down his baton and tell us to think what would happen if such a mistake were made before an audience. "Visualize what would happen," he would say, "Visualize the whole audience standing in unison and saying ----" In place of the blanks, Clayson would use a well-known Anglo Saxon four letter word. Clayson was an organizer and charter member of Corona Rotary and a former president. He was active in chamber of commerce and the masonic lodge.
Mrs. Letrice Porter, his last secretary who had worked for him for 29 years, speaks of his perfectionism and his kindness, as does Mrs. Bertha Miller, who was his secretary before World War II.
During his lengthy career as an attorney, Clayson always escaped scandal. He had one near miss, however. As the attorney for the Temescal Water Co., he would buy up pieces of land for the company and transfer them into the company's name. He bought a piece of land up in Temescal Canyon during the bootleg days and forgot to transfer the title to the water company. One day he remembered it, made out the deed and had it recorded. Two days later the newspapers reported that the Sheriff had raided the largest still ever found in Riverside County and noted it was on land owned by the Temescal Water Co. Clayson was not mentioned.
Things were rough some times in Corona's early days. Clayson's only son, Stuart, remembers that his father twice had to disarm men in his office. Stuart witnessed one of those. He said that his father didn't use force. "He just talked them out of their guns." Stuart remember that his father had a table in one of the rooms of his office that was huge. Clayson also had a close friend who practiced law in Los Angeles who was equally huge. " He used to come to my father's office occasionally, " Stuart says, "and go to sleep on that table. He said it was the only place he ever found where he could get a decent sleep. In addition to his son, Clayson is survived by a daughter, Barbra Clasyon and three grandchildren. Clayson's wife, Nell, died June 10, 1969.
A photo of Mr. Clayson is with the obit.
Events
| Birth | 25 Jan 1887 | Redwood Falls, Redwood Co., Minnesota |  | ||
| Marriage | 9 Jun 1914 | Colton, San Bernardino Co., California - Nell B. Ratliff | | ||
| Death | 1 Mar 1972 | Pasadena, Los Angeles Co., California | | ||
| Burial | Corona Sunnyslope Cemetery, Corona, Riverside Co., California | |
Families
| Spouse | Nell B. Ratliff (1887 - 1969) |
| Child | Stuart Edwin Clayson (1917 - 2008) |
| Child | Barbara Jean Clayson (1921 - 1992) |
| Father | Walter Scott Clayson (1842 - 1918) |
| Mother | Charlotte Philetta Horton (1852 - 1927) |
| Sibling | Marshall Emery Clayson (1869 - 1945) |
| Sibling | Francis "Frank" H. Clayson (1871 - 1963) |
| Sibling | Florence Maybelle Clayson (1874 - 1963) |
| Sibling | Daisy Madalin Clayson (1877 - 1921) |
| Sibling | Dorothy "Dollie" Clayson (1881 - 1957) |
Endnotes
1. California Death Index.
2. World War I Draft Registration.
3. Obituary of Walter Scott Clayson, Corona Daily Independent, Corona, California, Thursday, March 2, 1972, Front Page, Cols. 1-8.
4. Ancestry.com.
5. California Death Index.
6. Obituary of Walter Scott Clayson, Corona Daily Independent, Corona, California, Thursday, March 2, 1972, Front Page, Cols. 1-8.
7. U. S. Gen Web Archives.
8. Obituary of Walter Scott Clayson, Corona Daily Independent, Corona, California, Thursday, March 2, 1972, Front Page, Cols. 1-8.