Archives West Finding Aid

Robert N. Cheetham was born in 1896. He enlisted in the Navy in 1915 and served until 1946 when he retired with the rank of Lieutenant Commander. Following his naval career he was Chief of Medical Procurement for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration until the termination of that organization in 1947. Subsequently, Cheetham joined the Rhode Island Department of Employment Security and married Lois Leigh Sanborn (1912-1967) of Newport, Rhode Island. Having developed a recreational interest in gems, Cheetham moved in 1952 to Sandpoint, Idaho, to pursue gem-stones in the field. Until his retirement in 1961 Cheetham was employed by the Idaho Employment Security Agency working with individuals with disabilities. During this period and probably under the influence of his wife, a high-school English teacher, Cheetham began to develop his writing skills. He wrote news releases and reports for the ESA and began freelance work for the Sandpoint and Spokane newspapers, primarily local news stories. After his retirement from ESA he devoted more and more time to this. His friendship and correspondence with James Michener, another formal naval officer turned author, was also influential. In the late fifties he became active in the Bonner County Museum, helped organize the David Thompson Sesquicentennial Symposium and edited the proceedings of that symposium. This led him into historical research in Pacific Northwest history which he continued until his death in Moscow, Idaho, in 1968.