Lieutenant Lee Earl Emerson Political party Republican Party Republican Party Preceded by William H. Wills Education Yale University | Governor William H. Wills Role American Politician Preceded by William H. Wills Name Mortimer Proctor | |
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Born May 30, 1889
Proctor, Vermont ( 1889-05-30 ) Spouse(s) Margaret Chisholm Proctor (1897 - 1964), Dorothy Chisholm, Lillian Washburn Bryan Proctor (1905 - 1961), Geraldine Gates Proctor Died April 28, 1968, Proctor, Vermont, United States | ||
Succeeded by Ernest W. Gibson, Jr. | ||
Mortimer Robinson Proctor (May 30, 1889 – April 28, 1968), known as Mortimer R. Proctor, was an American politician from Vermont. He served as the 61st Lieutenant Governor of Vermont from 1941 to 1945, and as the 66th Governor of Vermont from 1945 to 1947.
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Biography
Proctor was born in Proctor, Vermont, to Fletcher Dutton Proctor, the fifty-first Governor of Vermont, and Minnie Euretta Robinson Proctor. He studied at The Hill School.He graduated from Yale University in 1912. He married first Margaret Cynthia Chisholm on May 30, 1916 in Proctor. He married second Dorothy on March 8, 1924. They divorced. He married third Lillian Washburn Bryan on November 14, 1942 in Proctor. Lillian died in 1961. At the time of his death he was married to Geraldine Gates Proctor.
Career
Proctor was President of the Village of Proctor in 1930, and Chairman of the Town of Proctor Republican Committee in 1932. He spent his entire career in the private sector as an executive of the Vermont Marble Company, the family-owned business. He was President from 1952 to 1958 and Chairman from 1958 to 1967.
Proctor enlisted in the US Army for World War I in 1917, completed officer training and was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the 71st Regiment, serving in France throughout the war.
Proctor represented the town of Proctor, Vermont in the Vermont House of Representatives from 1933 to 1939 and was Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives from 1937 to 1939. He served in the Vermont State Senate from 1939 to 1941, and was Senate President for his entire term.
Proctor was Lieutenant Governor of Vermont from 1941 to 1945. He was elected Governor of Vermont in 1944 and served from 1945 to 1947. During his tenure, the state debt was reduced, state aid to education, old age assistance payments, and teacher's minimum salaries were increased.
Proctor ran for reelection in 1946 but lost the Republican Primary to Ernest W. Gibson, Jr., the first Governor of Vermont to be denied renomination. He returned to private business and established the Mortimer R. Proctor Trust which supported non profit activities in arts, culture, education, and religion in Proctor, Vermont.
Death and legacy
Proctor died on April 28, 1968, and is interred at South Street Cemetery, Proctor, Rutland County, Vermont.
Proctor was the grandson of Redfield Proctor, the son of Fletcher D. Proctor, and the nephew of Redfield Proctor, Jr.. He had one son, Mortimer Robinson Proctor Jr. He was the only two-time president of the Green Mountain Club which built and maintains the Long Trail, America's first long-distance hiking trail.
He provided funds for the state of Vermont to build a steel Aermotor LS-40 fire tower on the summit of Pico Peak. The tower still stands, having been moved to nearby Killington Peak in the 1960's.