Nationally acclaimed American poet, noted pacifist, and English professor, William Stafford was born January 17, 1914, in Hutchinson, Kansas. His family called many Kansas towns home, including El Dorado, as his father followed employment opportunities.

 

Stafford served as a conscientious objector in Civilian Public Service camps during World War II. He earned his BA and MA degrees at the University of Kansas, and his PhD at the University of Iowa.

 

Best known for poetry, he was author of fifty-seven volumes of poetry, as well as many books of prose. He also taught for many years at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon while guest teaching in schools across the nation.

 

Among many honors, Stafford was the recipient of the National Book Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and he served as Poetry Consultant for the Library of Congress in 1970. He won the 1992 Western States Lifetime Achievement Award in Poetry.

 

William Stafford died in Oregon on August 28, 1993.