Clarence G. Stoll graduated from Mount Joy High School in 1899 when the high school was housed in two rooms of the Marietta Street School. He was born in 1883, the son of Mr. and Mrs. John H. Stoll. He graduated from Penn State in 1903, after which he went to work as a $10.00 a week student apprentice in the Chicago plant of the Western Electric Company. His first job was soldering jacks in the factory cabling department.
By 1908 he became engineer of the manufacturing branch of Western Electric in New York. Summoned abroad in 1912, he was shop superintendent in the company’s Antwerp, Belgium, plant until World War I forced the factory to close.
When he returned to the United States, he continued to rise through supervisory positions in both manufacturing and technical operations in Chicago. In 1928, he was directing all Western Electric operations in the manufacturing of equipment and apparatus for Bell Systems companies at four plants – Chicago, Illinois; Kearny, New Jersey; Baltimore, Maryland; and New York City, New York. In 1940, he was named president of the Western Electric Company. He held this position until 1947 when he retired after a 44-year career with the Western Electric Company.
He and his wife, the former Winifred Broughton, lived in Richmond, Virginia. His successful philosophy is summed up in a statement he made during an interview in the 1960s: “I made it a practice just to look at the job ahead and work toward that job. Sometimes I had to revise my sights somewhat, but I always concentrated on the next job, putting every ounce of effort into every job I held.” Mr. Stoll died at the age of 83 in 1967.