Sunday, November 9, 2014

Garrone Stardi Northcutt (1888-1969)

From "Mineola and its Mayors", published 1976.

    The city of Mineola, Texas has elected two oddly named men as mayor during its century-plus history, and the first of those men, Garrone Stardi Northcutt, is profiled today. Northcutt served one term as mayor of Mineola in the early 1910s and later removed to Sacramento County, California, dying there in 1969, shortly before his 81st birthday. Born in Longview, Texas on March 5, 1888, Garrone Stardi Northcutt was the son of Jeremiah Elijah (1860-1896) and Minnie Madeline Lindsay Northcutt(1867-1930). Northcutt's primary education occurred in the public school system of Longview and was also a student at the University of Texas at Austin
   Following the completion of his schooling, Northcutt dabbled in advertising and in 1912 opened a movie house in Mineola. He would be affiliated with its operation until 1914 when it was sold to the Hooks family, who later renamed it the "Star Theater". 1914 proved to be an important year for Northcutt, as he married in January of that year to Clara Lee Graham (1892-1932). The couple would become parents to five children: Evelyn Northcutt Hustmyre (1914-2011), Jerre Everett (1923-1942), Ermanie (birthdate unknown), Robert Graham (birth-date unknown) and Ann Northcutt Ferguson (1926-1998).
  In April 1914 the twenty-six-year-old Northcutt took office as Mayor of Mineola. Having had no previous experience in elected office, Northcutt's one term saw a number of civic improvements made to the city, including that of new water mains being purchased from the Mineola Ice, Light and Water Company. The city also purchased a pump and engine from the same company, with Mayor Northcutt having "personally supervised the construction of a building to enclose the equipment."
   Late in Northcutt's administration, the city of Mineola began work on a new sewer system (with work being completed during his successor's administration), and after leaving office in 1916 removed with his family to Dallas. Northcutt would later relocate to Sacramento County, California in the early 1930s where he was employed as a salesman. Widowed in 1932, Northcutt survived his wife by nearly 40 years, dying in Carmichael, California on February 18, 1969. He was later buried at the Sacramento Lawn Memorial Cemetery.

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