Milton Lory Grout

20 july 1914 – 31 december 1984

Biography

Written by Robert Grout

Milton grew up in Massachusetts and received his MBA from Harvard Business School at the age of 24. He was a Naval Communications officer, stationed in London during WWII and often delivered messages to Winston Churchill.
After the war, Milton and Louise moved to the Seattle area where he spent his professional life working for the fishing industry, rising to the position of Vice President of Financial Affairs for the New England Fish Company, which, in the 1970s, was the largest privately held fishing company in the world.

Milton paid his way through Harvard playing Banjo in the Dixieland Band; Arthur Pruneaus Banjoliers. After graduation, he became an Assistant Controller at Mount Holyoke School where he met his future wife, Louise Line. After WWII, they moved to Seattle where he was an avid outdoorsman. He enjoyed camping, fly fishing and mushroom hunting. He became such an expert at mushroom identification that he served 3 terms as the President of the Puget Sound Mycological Society in the 70s and 80s and was one of the societys primary mushroom identification class teachers. He was also a past President of the Financial Executives Institute.

Timeline

Ilion, Herkimer County, New York

July 20, 1914 – Birth

New England

1922 – April 13 Biddeford, Maine

Date unknown – Central High School, Springfield

Worcester, Massachusetts

Date unknown – Classical High School & High School of Commerce, Worchester

1935 – June 10 – Graduated BA Clark University, Worchester, Massachusetts

Dates unknown – plays banjo in a Dixieland Band to earn money for college

1938 – June – Graduated MBA With Distinction, Harvard University, Worchester, Massachusetts

South Hadley, Massachusetts

1938 – June 7 – Accountant at Mount Holyoke College, Hadley, Massachusetts

1939 – June – Assistant Comptroller, Mount Holyoke College, Hadley, Massachusetts

1939 – October – Purchasing Agent, Mount Holyoke College, Hadley, Massachusetts

1940 – September 22 – Married Louise Line, at her home, the Fellfoot, Missoula, Montana

1941 – Lived in South Hadley, Mass

1941 – December 7 – Pearl Harbor

1942 – March – Enlisted in Navy, applied for commission, 28 years old

1942 – April 28 – Ensign with desk duties

1942 – May 31 – Leave job at Mt Holyoke

1942 – June 1 – Naval training School in Communications – Connecticut

London, England

1942 – July 1 – Leave for US Navel Forces in Europe

1942 – Louise returns to Montana to attend U of M and live at the Fellfoot

1944 – June 6 – D-Day Normandy Invasion

San Francisco, California

1944 – August 19 – returns to US – Stationed in San Francisco

1945 – May 8 – VE Day – “Victory in Europe” Day

1945 – August 6 & 9 – Hiroshima & Nagasaki bombings

1945 – September 2 – cessation of hostilities between the US & Japan formalized

1945 – October 3 – “detached” from Navy

1945 – November 30 – “official separation” from Navy

Seattle, Washington

1945 – November – He and Louise move to Seattle, 1246 16th Street, Seattle, Washington

unknown date – member of the Washington Fly Fishing Club

1946 – May 18 – Judith Grout born

1946 – October 1 – Elected to Membership in the National Association of Cost Accountants

1949? – begin construction of beach house on Biz Point near Annacortes, San Juan Island

1952 – December 13 – Elizabeth Grout born

Bellevue, Washington

1953? – moved to 2518 123rd SE, Bellevue, King County, Washington

1953 – June 16 – Elected to the Board of Directors of the National Association of Cost Accountants

1956 – May 25 – Robert Milton Grout born

1957 – February – Elected to Membership in the Controllers Institute of America

1959 – April 10 – William Campbell Grout born

1960 – January 25 – United States Power Squadron – enrolled in Bellevue Power Squadron – pilot

1962 – San Juan Fishing & Packing Company aquired by Whiz Fish 1962 – Products Company

1965 – New England Fish Company (NEFCO) purchases Whiz Fish & SJF&PCo

1968 – Joined Puget Sound Mycological Society

1969 – April 1 – NEFCO 100th year anniversary

1974 – Elected President of the Puget Sound Mycological Society

1980 – April 23 – NEFCO declares Chapter 11 bankruptcy

1980 – May 1 – Submits his resignation as vice president and assistant secretary of New England Fish Company; as vice president of Viking Seafood Company and as an officer and/or director of various other Nefco subsidiaries and affiliated companies effective immediately

1980 – May 2 – NEFCO declares Chapter 7 bankruptcy and begins liquidation – finalized in 1989

1980 – learns classical guitar

1980 – consultant to Seward & Icicle Fish Company

1980 – Cougar Mountain Bankruptcy

1984 – December 31 – Death – Bellevue, Washington

1985 – January 03- Cremated with ashes scattered at family beach house on Puget Sound

Photo Gallery

Stories

Alvan Grout and Robert Goddard

Lieutenant Grout and Winston Churchill

The Name MILTON

Documents