Stanton WHO?

My grandmother was pregnant with my mom when her husband, Stan, was accidentally hit in the head with a shovel at a grain mill and died. Stan left behind three daughters who would later be etched into local legend as, “The West Girls”. The youngest of those daughters was my mom, Star Ann West. My grandmother decided to name her unborn child after her deceased husband. When the baby turned out to be a girl they changed the name Stan into Star Ann. A Star was born.

Soon after my grandmother remarried to another fine gentlemen also named Stan. He worked at the same factory his entire adult life, ate at the same diner across the street every day, and ordered the same thing every time. The diner even featured it on their menu, “The Stanley Burger”. A plain hamburger with just ketchup. He Loved to watch Cubs games. His favorite thing to say was, “how bout that”! He would talk with a lit cigarette bouncing in his lips while the ash would start to bend and curve, getting longer and longer. It seemed like it hung there impossibly and defied gravity.

Stan raised Star and the other West girls like they were his own. He treated his wife with admiration and respect. Stan enjoyed his life, people, and work. He was a good man and I am grateful for the opportunity to honor his name. Stanton West, A Star is born.

Stanton is actually my middle name. Star Ann didn't like the name Stan or Stanley so she went with something close (like her parents did with her name).

Stanton has its origins in the Anglo Saxon tribes, which settled in England around 5th-century. The word Stanton is derived from Old English term stan ‘stone’ and tun ‘enclosure’ or ‘settlement’, alluding to the stony grounds, where many of these tribes settled.

As for the surname West, this star rises in the West.