1927 births

Wayne_D._Bennett

Wayne Dresden Bennett (November 7, 1927 – September 3, 2015) was an American politician in the state of Iowa.
Bennett was born in Schaller, Iowa. He attended Iowa State University and was a farmer. Bennett served in the Iowa House from 1973 to 1993 for district 48 from 1973 to 1983 and district 4 from 1983 to 1993. Bennett was also a state senator from the 6th district from 1993 to 1997. He died on September 3, 2015.

Richard_F._Drake

Richard Francis Drake (September 28, 1927 – January 26, 2008) was an American politician in the state of Iowa.
Drake was born in Muscatine, Iowa. A farmer, he attended the United States Naval Academy and Iowa State University. A Republican, he also served in the Iowa State Senate from 1977 to 2005. Previously, he served in the Iowa House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977. He died in 2008 in Muscatine, Iowa.

Maybelle_Blair

Maybelle Blair (born January 16, 1927) is a former All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player. Listed at 5 feet 6 inches (168 cm) and 150 pounds (68 kg), she batted and threw right-handed.Born in Inglewood, California, Blair was an efficient pitcher when she joined the league with the Peoria Redwings in its 1948 season, even though she appeared in only one game for the team, and then moved the next year to a professional softball league in Chicago to play for the Chicago Cardinals. Later, she played for the Jax Girls softball club of New Orleans.Afterwards, Blair attended Compton Junior College in California and then Los Angeles School of Physiotherapy. Following her graduation, she worked at a treatment center in Los Angeles before began a long 37-year career at Northrop Corporation, where she started as a chauffeur and ended up as the manager of highway transportation, being one of the three female managers the company employed in that period.Following her retirement, Blair became vice president of Center for Extended Learning for Seniors (CELS); an educational travel tours program provider for Elderhostel.Blair also became an active collaborator in different projects of the AAGPBL Players Association since its foundation in 1982, serving on the Board of Directors and the Chair of the Fundraising Committee. The association helped to bring the league story to the public eye and was largely responsible for the opening of Women in Baseball, a permanent display based at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, which was unveiled in 1988 to honor the entire All-American Girls Professional Baseball League rather than any individual personality.In 2022, Blair publicly came out as a lesbian while promoting the TV series A League of Their Own, saying that prior to her time in the AAGPBL, “I thought I was the only one in the world… I hid for 75, 85 years and this is actually, basically, the first time I’ve ever come out.”

Helen_Kleberg_Groves

Helen Kleberg Groves (October 20, 1927 – May 6, 2022) was a horsewoman and cattle rancher dubbed the "First Lady of Cutting" by the San Antonio Express-News and inducted in 1988 into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame. She was born in San Antonio, Texas, and raised in Kingsville, Texas, on the King Ranch, founded by her great-grandfather, Richard King. In 1946, she led the King Ranch's Thoroughbred racehorse, Assault, into the winner's circle after his Triple Crown victory in the Preakness. Groves attended all three of his Triple Crown races. Assault was, and still is, the only Texas-bred winner of the Triple Crown.Helen Kleberg was the only child of Robert Justus Kleberg Jr. and Helen Campbell Kleberg. Robert Kleberg Jr. was the son of Robert Kleberg and Alice King-Kleberg, who was the daughter of Henrietta and Richard King, founder of the King Ranch. Her father developed the Santa Gertrudis breed of cattle. The role played by Elizabeth Taylor in the movie Giant was modeled after her mother. In 1950, the Klebergs established a private foundation under the name "Robert J. Kleberg, Jr. and Helen Campbell Kleberg Foundation", which has awarded grants to scientific research, as well as to wildlife and habitat stewardship projects.Helen was raised on the King Ranch which was headquartered in Kingsville, Texas. She attended Vassar College.Helen's first husband was John Deaver Alexander MD, with whom she had six children. After her first husband's death, she remarried. Her second husband was Lloyd J. Groves.

Nick_Gabaldón

Nicolás Rolando Gabaldón (February 23, 1927 – June 6, 1951) was an early surfer who is credited by surfing experts with being California's first documented surfer of African-American and Latino descent at a time when many beaches were segregated and opportunities for minorities more limited than today. Despite being an amateur recreational surfer rather than a professional competitive surfer, he is widely considered a role model for his part in the history of surfing and African American history in the areas of Santa Monica and California.Gabaldón was born February 23, 1927, in Los Angeles, California. His mother was Black and his father was Latino. Very little is known of his childhood. He lived most of his life in Santa Monica, California and was one of 50 black students at Santa Monica High School during the 1940s. Gabaldón taught himself how to surf at a 200-foot roped off stretch of demarcated beach which was part of Santa Monica State Beach. This area of beachfront was informally referred to by names such as "Ink Well Beach", "Negro Beach", and other more derogatory names. In 1924, after the forced closure of black owned and operated Bruce's Beach and due to de facto segregation, that portion of beachfront near Bay Street and Ocean Boulevard became the only place in Southern California that racial minorities were freely allowed to use without harassment or violence. The area remains popular with African American Angelenos up through present day.

Roy_W._Gould

Roy Walter Gould (April 25, 1927 – February 19, 2022) was an American electrical engineer and physicist who specialized in plasma physics. In 1959, he (together with Alvin Trivelpiece) was the first to describe electrostatic waves that were propagating at the boundary of a magnetized plasma column, now commonly known as Trivelpiece–Gould modes.Gould was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1971 for pioneering contributions to microwave electronics and plasma physics and distinguished service in higher education.

Henry_Tippie

Henry Bokholt Tippie (January 5, 1927 – February 20, 2022) was an American businessman. As part of the Rollins Corporation he was a key member of the team that purchased Orkin via one of the first large leveraged buyouts in American corporate history. In 2018, Tippie became the 17th member of the NYSE Wall of Innovators.