Family Photo Album
Ferdinand (Fred) Warren Mountford (1904-1994)
Pottery Liner
Born in Sebring, Ohio, Fred grew up in East Liverpool, Ohio. Leaving school after eighth grade, he began working as a liner or gilder, adding the gold or platinum line to the edge of plates and the handles of cups. He had learned his trade from his father. They had a wheel at home, and once Fred had enough skill, his father "worked him into the line" at Smith and Philips in Klondyke. Later Fred worked at the Edwin M. Knowles China Company in Newell, West Virginia, across the river from East Liverpool.
He enjoyed sandlot football and spent his free time on the river boating and fishing.
In 1931 he and Ethel Arlene Thompson were married and spent the next 63 years together in West Virginia and later in California.
In the early fifties, work was slow in the WV potteries and Fred accepted a position in California. He and Ethel and the seven children relocated to Glendale, where he lived for the rest of his life.
After more than 30 years at the liner's wheel, Fred felt the need for more physical activity on the job. He spent nine years as the plant manager at a public school in Burbank.
When he finally retired he raised bumper crops of vegetables in the garden behind the little yellow house at 1366 Western Avenue in Glendale and enjoyed sharing the lives and activities of his children and grandchildren.