Rochester, Mary Ellen

Al Rochester, a lifelong Seattle resident, was a New Deal Democrat who served twelve years on the Seattle City Council and became an influential booster of the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. Rochester was born in Seattle, Washington, on March 28, 1895, one of four children from a pioneer Seattle family. His parents, Judge George Alfred Caldwell (G.A.C.) Rochester and Julia Gwynn Smith Rochester, came to Seattle from Kansas City in the late 1880s. G.A.C. followed his brothers, Junius and Percy, to what was considered the bountiful Pacific Northwest. Despite the fact that the three brothers found themselves caught in the 1893 depression, they prospered in business (Percy) and the Law (Junius and G.A.C.).

Al Rochester graduated from Broadway High School and served in World War I (1917-1918), seeing action in the second battle of the Marne and at Meuse Argonne. Following the Great War, Rochester served a short stint as a Wall Street bond salesman. However, he soon returned to Seattle and at age 36 married Marguerite Reynolds; they had two children, Junius and Mary Ellen.

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