Slaymaker, Samuel R. Scrapbook Class of 1943, 1937 - 1942

Samuel R. Slaymaker II was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in 1923. He entered The Lawrenceville School in September of 1937. Though he did not receive a diploma, he is a member of the class of 1943. Slaymaker joined the Air Force in 1942. He served in World War II flying combat missions over Europe with the 8th Air Force. He received an honorable discharge in December, 1945. Slaymaker went on to study at Corpus Christi College. While there, he was afforded the opportunity to study history at Cambridge University in England. Upon graduating from college, Slaymaker went to work for his family business, Slaymaker Lock Company. Slaymaker remained with the company until he retired in 1973 when Slaymaker Lock Company merged with American Home Products. While Slaymaker was employed full-time by Slaymaker Lock Company, he also freelanced as a writer, specializing on the subject of fly fishing in articles for national magazines. His first book, "Simplified Fly Fishing", was published by Harper & Row in 1969. Slaymaker went on to published several more including, "Five Miles Away: The Story of The Lawrenceville School", in 1985. Though Slaymaker appeared at the time to be an unlikely candidate to write a new school history, he was chosen by Head Master Bruce McClellan specifically because he was not embedded in the school. McClellan believed a new school history would benefit from an outsiders' perspective.