STANTON-JAMES

Excerpts from obituary published in San Diego Union-Tribune on 4/22/1028:

James Michael Stanton was born in Chicago, Illinois, on July 10, 1932, a first generation American.  His heritage was Ukrainian and Polish.  Jim was raised in Chicago in the depths of the Great Depression.  In order to heat the family’s small flat, his father walked along the railroad to gather coal that fell from open railroad cars.  From the 4^th grade through high school, Jim was never without a part-time job to help the family.  In elementary school he delivered and sold papers or sold milk to factory workers before going to school.  In high school he was either a busboy or a stock boy.  After graduating from high school in 1950 he worked at a distribution warehouse but seeing no future in unskilled employment, he enrolled at the University of Illinois as in-state semester tuition was only $28.  He graduated in 1955.

Jim led a full professional life with three careers: 21 years as a U.S. Navy officer, 30 years as a college professor, and 16 concurrent years as the elective City Treasurer of Carlsbad, California.  Upon graduating from college in 1955, Jim enlisted in the Navy as an officer candidate.  That led to a career as a Navy officer living overseas and experiencing the people and cultures of Japan, Guam, Thailand, and the Philippines.  During the course of his Navy career, Jim drove or flew across the U.S., coast to coast 14 times and crossed the International Date Line in the Pacific 18 times.  Jim was a Vietnam veteran and served there at the height of the war.  He often said his greatest professional privilege was wearing the uniform of the U.S. Navy.  Jim retired from the Navy as a Commander in 1976 to accept a full-time faculty position at Mira Costa College in Oceanside, California, teaching financial accounting.  Jim retired from Mira Costa College as Professor Accounting Emeritus in 2006.  His third career started in 1990 when he was elected to the position of Carlsbad City Treasurer a position he held until he retired in 2006.

James Michael Stanton died on April 4, 2018, survived by his wife of 60-years, three children and six grandchildren.  Interment was at Miramar National Cemetery in San Diego on April 16, 2018.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)