Jack Stafford (1921-1998)

Jack Stafford was born in Casper, Wyoming. He attended the University of Wyoming for three years before joining the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. As a pilot, Stafford flew numerous missions in the South Pacific and earned a Silver Star medal and seven separate oak leaf clusters for his outstanding service. After leaving the Air Corps in 1944, he moved to California with his wife, Bonnie. Stafford soon enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley, graduating with a B.S. in Landscape Architecture in 1950. He began working with Thomas Church and took on management of Church’s projects on the San Mateo penninsula south of San Francisco. He later established his own “Peninsula” practice focusing on residential designs for homes in Palo Alto, Woodside and Hillsborough, among other cities. Stafford eventually became a member of the Architectural and Site Review Board in Woodside. He earned numerous awards for his work, including several design awards from landscaping contractors.

The Collection is divided into Professional Papers and Project Records; it consists primarily of project records with just a few professional papers. The professional papers include clippings, awards and the transcript of an oral history done for the Thomas Church Oral History Project. The project records contain drawings and some documentation for both built and unbuilt commissions. There are photographs for some projects.