Mr Lawrence Cowles Stoudenmire was born in Chicago, Illinois, USA on 4 September 1890. He was second child and eldest son of clergyman William C. Stoudenmire, a native of South Carolina, and the former Jodie Ella Cowles of Maryland. He had four siblings: Anna, Jay, Carlotta and Beatrice.

The Stoudenmire family moved from Illinois to Baltimore, Maryland around 1895 where his father took up the pastorate of the Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church and in 1897 was elected general agent of the Maryland Prisoners’ Aid Society. Reverend Stoudenmire died from typhoid in 1908. Lawrence’s mother Jodie later worked as teacher and truant officer to support her family. 

In 1902 Lawrence survived a brush with death whilst on a family vacation; he and his younger brother Jay were playing around a lake in a small boat when Lawrence fell into the water and came into difficulty. Jay—just eight-years-old at the time—had the presence of mind to tie a cob of corn to a length of string and throw it into the water and pull his brother to safety. Jay Stoudenmire, an accomplished athlete and recent graduate of Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, succumbed to typhoid on 30 April 1911 aged 17. His elder sister Anna died in December 1908 aged 20 whilst his sister Carlotta died in March 1914 aged 16, also from typhoid.

In April 1912 Stoudenmire was a second cabin passenger aboard the Carpathia; he was travelling to Europe, employed as the driver of the Miss Fowlers and Kate Steele, wealthy spinsters who travelled in first cabin. Following the rescue of the survivors of the Titanic disaster and their transport to New York, Stoudenmire and his employers continued with their journey. 

Stoudenmire later worked as an electrician in a shipyard but also established his own electrical business; he was married in 1917 to Anna Marie Brack (1895-1991) and they had one son and one daughter, Jay H. and Doris (Dorice B.?). 

A resident of Baltimore for the rest of his life, Lawrence Stoudenmire died on 23 January 1975 at the age of 84.