Mitchell-Frampton-Black
St. Louis, Missouri
Reynolds Craig Frampton
Clara Mitchell Doty Frampton
Marjorie Doty Frampton Dobbs
Helen Mitchell Frampton Black
Clara Frampton Crary
Van-Lear Black III
Helen Mitchell Frampton Black, 1990 ~ left click on photo for color
Marjorie, Helen and Clara Frampton were born and reared in St. Louis, Missouri. They were the debutante daughters of Clara Mitchell Doty Frampton and Reynolds Craig Frampton, founder of the Hudson-Frampton Motor Car Co.
Marjorie Frampton (1904-1969) studied voice and dramatic arts at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City during the 1920s. Helen Frampton and Clara Frampton attended National Park Seminary, Forest Glen, Maryland, as did their cousin Clara Olive Snyder (Class of 1926).
Marjorie married Samuel Candler Dobbs Jr., co-owner (with his dad) of the New York City, Atlanta & Key West based Samuel Candler Dobbs Brokerage House (Dobbs & Company) and cousin of Coca Cola entrepreneur Asa Candler. Sameul Candler Dobbs Sr. , who was also president and chairman of Coca Cola, left a $1 million gift to Emory University of Atlanta.
Marjorie and Samuel Candler Dobbs Jr. sired three children: S. Candler Dobbs III (sportsman), Warren Dobbs (Multiple Sclerosis Foundation executive) and Marjorie Frampton Dobbs Eve (1932-2010), a Louisville homemaker, musician and human services counselor). Grandson Paul Eve is a Louisville theatrical producer, showman, celebrity impersonator and singer-guitarist. . . The Paul Eve Show
Helen married Van-Lear Black Jr. of Baltimore, by whom she sired a son, Van Lear Black III, a retired corporate vice president of Enterprise Car Rental and spouse of Marion Bischoff Black. Van Lear Black IV is an Atlanta-based management consultant.
The legendary Van-Lear Black Sr., once considered the richest man in Maryland, was CEO of Baltimore Sun Newspaper Enterprises and of Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland. He was a director of Consolidated Coal Co., Van Lear, Kentucky, the town that was named after him and the birthplace of country western singer Loretta Lynn.
Van-Lear Black employed Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the NYC branch of Fidelity & Deposit Company. It was while vacationing on Black's yacht The Sabalo that FDR became stricken with polio, prior to becoming President of the United States. Van-Lear Black himself later drowned after apparently falling overboard from The Sabalo while at sea. Read Mystery Plunge.
Mrs. Van Lear Black Sr. Bio Van Lear Historical Society
Following a divorce from Van-Lear Jr., Helen married Alec Richardson, a Methodist minister, whom she soon after divorced. She then married Edward F. Stegen, former Luthern minister, jazz aficionado and New York City public relations consultant affiliated with the Salk Foundation. Following his death in 1965, while the two were in the throes of a divorce, Helen married and became the widow of Brig. General James O'Connell.
Clara (also known as Clare Frampton) was married to West Point graduate Col. Francis Warren Crary, who served as Vice President of the Transportation Division of The Pentagon for many years. She survived him after some 40 years of marriage at their retirement home in Boca Raton, Florida. No children. While residing in Washington, D. C., the two had close ties with Senator Barry Goldwater and his wife Peggy Johnson Goldwater, Clara Crary and Peggy Goldwater were mutual second cousins of Clara Olive Snyder
Oct. 26, 1936 - Divorced: Van-Lear Black, 35, Chicago insurance salesman, son of the late board chairman-publisher of Baltimore's Sun-papers; by Mrs. Helen Frampton Black, 28; in Chicago. Grounds: cruelty, punching and slapping her when she contradicted his assertions that he worked overtime at his office . . . Van-Lear and Helen Frampton Black, incidentally, were the owners of a Chicago bar, which they opened following the end of the Prohibition era. Original story online
Oct. 19,1936 - Separated: Marjorie Frampton Dobbs and Samuel Candler Dobbs Jr. by an agreement executed by both parties in New York State, while Mrs. Dobbs was a patient at New York Hospital in White Plains, N. Y. Dobbs Jr. has agreed to provide monthly support payments of $600, plus additional fiduciary obligations. The couple married in the State of Georgia on April 15, 1925. Mr. Dobbs, Jr. and his father are the owners of Dobbs & Company, a stock brokerage firm in New York City. From 1919 to 1922, Mr. Dobbs Sr. served as president and chairman of The Coca Cola Company, founded by his cousin Asa Candler. He is considered a very wealthy man.
Nov. 13, 1936 - Divorced: Marjorie Frampton Dobbs and Samuel Candler Dobbs Jr., via the Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia. Of 11,000 shares of Coca Cola stock held by King County Lafayette Trust Company pursuant to a trust agreement of both parties, 8,000 shares were awared to Mrs. Dobbs; 1000 shares to her attorney and 2,000 shares to Dobbs, Jr.
Mrs. Van Lear Black Sr. Dies 1949 Edward F. Stegen Dies, 1965
Charles Maynard Shepherd Body Found in NYC East River - 1955
Former Empire District Electric Co. Treasurer/Director
Photo of Charles Shepherd, Wife Clara, Stepsons
Shepherd Home - Joplin, Missouri
by Thomas Mitchell Blaise Shepherd
Palm Beach Garden Society ~Borg-Warner Corporation
Palm Beach ~ Muncie ~ Chicago ~ Grosse Pointe ~ Northport Point
Born in Columbia, Missouri ~ Michigan State University School of Law
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Oklahoma Territory
Chief Counsel ~ Frederal Trade Commission
~ Professor of Medical Jurisprudence ~
St. Louis College of Physicians & Surgeons
Brother of Congressman Eugene Hainer
Thomas Mitchell Shepherd, Chancellor