Ward Isaac Church was born on March 7, 1897. Information regarding his birth location, parents or early life has not been located. In the 1914 Trident yearbook his class-mates commented, "We knew him but slightly, but to his friends the greatness of a man lies within the crust of silence wherein he draws." Comments later shared at the 1924 memorial service indicated that Ward Church was "Not with us very long, but respected and admired for his quiet manliness as a student."

In early 1918, while living in the community of Loyalton in Sierra County, California, he enlisted in the US Army at Sacramento. After his basic training at an unidentified facility, he sailed for France about July 1918. Ward is listed as having served in the army as a "wagoner" during the war. That would suggest that he was probably a truck driver with a quartermaster company dispensing supplies to front line troops.

The Santa Cruz High School 1919 Trident yearbook reported that Ward Church died in September of pneumonia and was "buried with all military honors in the American cemetery at Valdahon Doubs, France."

Following the war his remains were returned and reburied in the Loyalton Cemetery.

(CAG; Santa Cruz High School Trident, 1914; SCEN May 10, 1924; USDVA, Soldiers of the Great War, Page 142, Haulsee, Howe & Doyle, Google Books 2009; Sierra County Pioneer Cemetery Historic Survey, Compiled by Lee Adams, 1997 http://files.usgwarchives. net/ca/sierra/cemeteries/sier-a-c.txt, [ July 2009])