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Born to George and Maybell Folsom, née Beroud in Tallahassee on September 11, 1923, John Kent Folsom was a veteran of the Second World War and a Tallahassee-based lawyer. Registering for the Army in 1942, he trained at Camp Crowder in Missouri, Camp Murphy in Florida and Camp Davis in North Carolina. Service men at the Signal Corps Replacement Training Center at Camp Crowder specialized in communication trades, such as: wiremen, radio operators, message center men, clerks, cooks and aircraft warning technicians. Folsom trained in radio before switching to telephone. Folsom graduated from Florida State University's College of Law and gained admission to the Florida Bar in 1949. According to the Florida Bar directory, he specialized in real estate, probate and civil practice.
Folsom had four older siblings (Maurice, Edna, George and Maybelle) and one younger sibling (Myrtice). Folsom married Marilyn Lucille Wolfe on June 8, 1947. They divorced on March 31, 1968. He married Betty Roberts Weiford on March 19, 1976. They divorced on March 31, 1986. He married Margaret Ruth Armistead on December 4, 1990. They divorced on November 4, 1996. Folsom died on December 16, 2001.
Summary:
This collection documents the life of John Kent Folsom, a Tallahassee-born serviceman in the 1940s. The collection consists of correspondence sent to Folsom while training stateside in the army, photographs and other personal records. The papers provide valuable documentation of a segment of North Floridian culture in war times. It represents different family dynamics, specifically the way parents and siblings interact through writing. Though the majority of the correspondence is from immediate family, there are letters from Folsom's friend, Fred Lee Mitchell. Mitchell served in the army, writing letters of his experiences at Camp Beale in California. Folsom's oldest sister, Edna Strickland, penned the majority of letters. Though the correspondence is one-sided, the collection documents the path of an army recruit specializing in trades instrumental to the success of the war effort.
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Folsom, John Kent 1923-2001
World War, 1939-1945. Family Florida Education Florida Farms Florida
Letters. aat Photographs. aat
Tallahassee (Fla.) Alabama North Carolina. Mississippi. California. Missouri.
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