Lawrence Waldemar Tonner

Lawrence Waldemar Tonner (October 15, 1861 – May 25, 1947) was an 1870 immigrant from Denmark who became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1875. Tonner met Jesse Shepard/Francis Grierson in 1885 and became his companion and personal secretary for more than 40 years, while they traveled and lived together in Europe and the United States. Tonner began his career as a translator in 1892 for the U.S. government in London, and was an aide and translator for Herbert Hoover after World War I. Tonner died in Los Angeles, California.

Early life Tonner was born in Thisted, Denmark, with one source including that he was "born into Danish nobility". At age 28, Tonner's description on a U.S. passport application included a height of 5 feet 7 inches, light blue eyes, and light brown hair.

Among his many performances, Shepard entertained at the Imperial Palace of Gatchina for the Czar of Russia and before a reunion of three royal houses at Cumberland Palace in Gmunden, Austria. The two shared the home, named for the ship that first brought Shepard to the U.S., from July 1887 to the third quarter of 1888, before taking a mortgage out on the house to fund an initial trip to Paris for the publishing of Shepard's first book. They returned to San Diego in August 1889, and on finding the city's economic boom had ended, sold the home and its furnishings by mid-December before returning to Paris, where they lived until 1896.

Tonner had credentials for the National Press Club of Washington, the Chevy Chase Club and The University Club, Washington D.C.

Final years After years of traveling the world together, Shepard lost his popularity and Tonner supported him. He taught French and was a partner in a small dry cleaning shop.

Tonner died 20 years after Shepard on May 25, 1947, in Los Angeles, California, and is buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.