I don’t know Carl Preston. He’s just a name in a cemetery. But I learned a little bit about him.
He was born Walter Carl Preston on December 10th, 1897, in Oklahoma. His mother was named Rose and his father, George, was a farmer. He had one sister, Grace, and five brothers: Ray, Earl, Ralph, Lyle and Robert. He grew up in Oklahoma but dropped out of high school after his sophomore year. When he was 19 he moved to Stockton, where he worked for a cousin as a dairyman. His draft registration says he had blue eyes and brown hair. He drove a truck during World War I.
After the war he settled in Los Angeles. In 1920 he married Catherine Klages and had two children: Kathleen and Richard. He owned a modest home and made his living driving a truck for a street construction company. During the Depression he worked for the WPA for a couple of years, and after that continued driving a truck for the rest of his life. He died on June 5th, 1964. He was a veteran.
