Jack Poulton

“My grandmother, Jane Poulton, was the daughter of the court reporter for Congress. He used to play poker with congressmen at the time and during one of the games, won an unset diamond from one of them. That diamond was given to my grandmother, who owned it for many years.

In the spring of 1945, she pawned the diamond to get cash for a nice dinner and night on the town with my grandfather, Jack Poulton, who was on leave from the Navy at the time. They had a very lovely night before he went back to his post; so lovely that about nine months later, my grandmother gave birth to a little boy, my father.

My grandmother recovered the diamond and had it set in a gold band which was given to my mother as her engagement ring in late 1967 or early 1968. My parents will celebrate their golden anniversary this June 11 with a huge party thrown by me and my sister including at least six people at their wedding 50 years ago.”

– Sarah Poulton ’09

Jack Poulton, remembered by his granddaughter, Sarah Poulton

Jack Poulton served in the South Pacific with the Seabees, whose experience was captured decades later in a published book.

My grandfather, Jack Poulton, was an engineer with the Seabees (Naval Construction Battalion) and served in the South Pacific. My grandmother published a book of their letters to each other in 1993 called A Better Legend, published by the University of Virginia Press. It tells the story far better than I could!