Harold D. "Hal" Stoltz (1943-2023) was born in Wendell, Idaho, and grew up in Jerome, Idaho. He earned a degree in sociology from the University of Puget Sound in 1965. Soon after, he was drafted into the U.S. Army; he mainly served in Würzburg, Germany. After his two-year tour, he worked for the Boy Scouts of America in Portland, Oregon. He later earned a master's degree in counseling from Lewis & Clark College, and worked as a high school counselor in Newberg, Oregon, and then at Bothell High School and Woodinville High School north of Seattle, Washington. Stoltz was passionate about the history of the fur trade in the Pacific Northwest, and participated in living history activities for the Champoeg Historical Pageant and at Fort Clatsop.

Source: Information provided by Greg Stoltz, Hal Stoltz's son, in 2023.

In the summer of 1970, anti-war demonstrators were expected to protest the American Legion convention in Portland, Oregon. Two Portland residents, Craig Berkman and Mike Ragsdale, sought to prevent the outbreak of violence during the convention through citizen involvement. They founded a volunteer organization, People for Portland, which conducted training sessions for between 1,500 and 2,000 people. During the convention, about 700 members were present in downtown Portland to help prevent escalation between demonstrators and the Legion and its supporters. In September 1970, the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners awarded Berkman, Ragsdale, and Phil Hitchcock (the who had served as the organization's senior counsel) a citation for their work, and the organization was credited at the time for having helped to prevent violence during the convention.

Sources: Articles in the Oregonian, September-November 1970.