Rufus Stokes
Rufus Stokes (September 3, 1924 – June 22, 1986), an African American inventor, was born in Phenix City, Alabama. Early life Rufus Stokes grew up in the rural American South and attended public school in Alabama until he was 18 years old. On November 5, 1940, just before receiving his high school diploma, Rufus Stokes enlisted in the US Army at Fort Benning, Georgia in the Quartermaster Corps. In the Army, he attended a technical school where he received auto mechanic training. He was deployed in western Europe and served predominantly in the Rhineland campaign. Upon his discharge, he was decorated with an American Defense Service Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, and Good Conduct Medal. While leaving the military, Stokes met Bessie Lee Knight, his future wife, of Camp Hill, Alabama when she was attending Tuskegee Institute. Army records indicate that he was married at the time of his discharge in 1945. Soon after, they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where Stokes was employed as a part-time auto mechanic. In 1947, they moved once again, to Waukegan, Illinois where he found temporary employment as a pipe and sheet metal worker. Between late 1947 and 1949, Stokes was employed as an