Albert Edward Bogdon, my maternal grandfather, was born on February 19, 1891 in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania. He was shot to death on June 9, 1927 by the husband of a woman to whom he was giving divorce advice. Because he died in 1927, fourteen years before I was born, I never knew him.

Bogdon led a truly colorful life. He was a professional magician at the age of fourteen. In 1910, he married my grandmother, Edithe Lane. Edithe gave birth in 1911 to my mother, Nellie Bernice Bogdon. Nellie later became the actress, who was given the name “Sally Phipps” by Fox Film Studio.

After Bogdon and Edithe divorced in 1917, he ended his magic career, joined the navy and became an officer. He married again, got a law degree, and moved permanently to Denver, Colorado. While in Denver, he practiced law. He also entered politics and was elected a state senator, a position he held when he was shot.

I had been planning a book about Bogdon for several years, after I made a trip to visit Bogdon’s grave in Denver in 2008. By chance, during that visit, I was able to meet with Bogdon’s daughter from his second marriage, Violet. She still lived in Denver and was able to supply me with much interesting and useful family memorabilia about her father. Violet also put me in touch with her son, Ray, who inherited the memorabilia after she died in 2002.