Clarence Oliver "Slim" Masterson

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C.O. Masterson was generally known around Wilmore, Kansas, as "Slim" Masterson. His wife was known as "Auntie" Masterson. He was Postmaster at Wilmore for many years and was City Clerk of Wilmore in 1924. He operated a dairy on the south edge of town, just east of the Wilmore High School. He and his wife were highly respected members of the community for many years.

According to the Social Security Death Index, Clarence Masterson (born 21 March 1889, which his WWI draft registration gives as the birth date of Clarence Oliver Masterson) died in May of 1976. His last known residence was Hutchinson, Reno County, Kansas.

My clearest personal memory of Slim Masterson is of having attended a "Father and Son" dinner at the Wilmore Masonic Lodge building as his "honorary son". The local custom was that if a man did not have a son of his own, he would "borrow" a son from a man who had more than one to have that "honorary son" as his guest at the dinner. My dad took my oldest brother, Darrell, to the dinner; I went as Slim Masterson's "honorary son" and my younger brother, Brent, went as an "honorary son" of some other local man who didn't have a son of his own.

I am fairly certain that Slim and Auntie Masterson didn't have any children of their own.

C.O. Masterson was a member of the Wilmore Christian Church. In the following photograph, he is the fourth man from the left. (My father, Wendel, is the tall man wearing a hat in the center of the back row. My mother, Alice, stands directly in front of him. I was born soon after this photograph was taken.)

"Slim" Masterson is someone from Wilmore who I recall with respect and affection. I would be very pleased to hear from anyone who has anecdotes about him or photos of him or his wife, "Auntie", which they would care to contribute for publication on this web site.

-- Jerry Ferrin, 4 Sept 2007.

United States, Selective Service System. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. M1509, 4,582 rolls.

World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, Comanche County, Kansas - List of the 1,321 men who registered in Comanche County for the draft.

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Also see:

World War I - news articles from Comanche County, Kansas

Wilmore, Kansas, Reunion in Tucson, Arizona

Registration Day in Wilmore, Comanche County, Kansas, 17 June 1917

Red Cross Fund Oversubscribed, The Wilmore News, 28 June 1917.

"Complete list of Comanche-co. boys who are subject to draft", 13 July 1917, Comanche County, Kansas

The 1924 Pocket Directory of Wilmore, Kansas - C.O. Masterson was the City Clerk.

Wilmore News, 18 Dec 1936, Comanche County, Kansas

The Wilmore News, May 27, 1949: "Twister Wrecks Wilmore Business District" - "C.O. Masterson had been watching the threatening clouds from his home on the hill and was able to warn others of the approach of the storm."

Wilmore Christian Church, Comanche County, Kansas (C.O. Masterson is the 4th man from the left in the photo of the church congregation.)

John Guyer: Memories of the Wilmore Community, Comanche County, Kansas - "C.O. Masterson was postmaster during the time we lived in Wilmore and he had a dairy at the south edge of town, east of the high school, and milk was delivered to houses by his dairy employees."