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EARLY LIFE Herbert Clark Hoover was born on August 10, 1874, in West Branch, Iowa. His Quaker father, Jessie Clark Hoover, a blacksmith and farm equipment salesman, died from a heart attack when Herbert was only six years old. Three years later his mother, Huldah Minthorn Hoover, contracted pneumonia and also passed away. Orphaned at age nine, Herbert, his older brother Theodore and younger sister Mary were passed around among relatives for a few years. Finally, Herbert ended up with his uncle Dr. John Minthorn who lived in Salem, Oregon. Hoover attended the Friends Pacific Academy in Newberg, Oregon, earning average to failing grades in all subjects except math. Determined to go to newly established Stanford University, Hoover studied hard and barely passed the entrance exam. He became very involved once at Stanford. He majored in Geology, served as class treasurer of the junior and senior classes, managed the school baseball and football teams, worked to pay his tuition as a clerk in the registration office and showed entrepreneurial skill by starting a student laundry service. {4} During his senior year at Stanford, Hoover met his future wife, Lou Henry. She was also a geology student whose love of fishing made he