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Military Service: Army

War(s) Served:  World War I

MORTIMER R. PROCTOR was born in Proctor, Vermont. After graduating from Yale University in 1912, he went to work in the Vermont Marble Company (the family business), rising to the position of vice president. He was also director of the Vermont Mutual Insurance Company and vice president of the Proctor Trust Company. He enlisted in the Army in 1917 and after graduating from Officers' Training Corps went on to become a Lieutenant in the 71^st Regiment, serving in France during World War I. After the war, he returned to his business affairs and then served as a member of the Vermont Educational Commission from 1933 to 1935. He was a member of the state House of Representatives from 1933 to 1939-serving as Speaker in 1937 and 1939, and was a state senator from 1939 to 1941. He then served for four years as Lieutenant Governor before being elected chief state executive. His efforts as governor to reorganize state government led to the creation of a Commission of State Government and Finance. Also during his administration, a State Veterans' Board was established, state aid to education and minimum teachers' salaries were increased, old age assistance payments rose, and the state debt was significantly reduced. Proctor lost his bid for renomination by the Republican Party in 1946.

Sources:

Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 4. Westport, CT: Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols.

The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. G. New York: James T. White & Company.

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