Jerry was born in 1963 in Mullens, West Virginia,
the son of Jacob N. "Jake" Stafford and JoAnn Blankenship Stafford.
He is a 1982 graduate of:
Oceana High School.
While in high school he participated as:
Member of the Football Team all four years
Member of the Chess Team and Chess Club
and various other clubs and awards.
He is a 2001 Summa Cum Laude graduate of:
Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science
Awards won:
The Dr. A. J. Nunnamaker Award
for Highest Scholastic Standing and Exemplary Student Citizenship,
The Charles O. Donau Memorial Award
for highest excellence in Embalming,
The Ohio Funeral Directors Association Leadership Award,
for Outstanding Leadership Ability and Funeral Directing Skills.
The Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science Honor Society,
bestowed upon only the Top 5 percent of Students in each class.
An 1978 winner of:
The West Virginia Golden Horseshoe
representing Oceana Middle School.
Former coal miner, Community Developement Vice President of Oceana
Jaycees, Midget League Football Game Announcer, T-Ball Coach.
Member of the Oceana Freewill Baptist Church.
He also attended college at:
Southern WV Community, WV Institute of Technology,
Bluefield State and Marshall University School of Medicine
His mother JoAnn Blankenship Stafford is a 1959 graduate of OHS and a
member and Sunday School Sec. of the Oceana Freewill Baptist Church.
His grandparents were:
McGarvey and Nell Kennedy Blankenship of Clear Fork, WV
&
Ottoway and Margaret Lockhart Stafford of Fanrock, WV.
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