True Otis Houghton was the paternal grandfather of Kris Jenner. He was born in 1904 and died in 1991. His name became famous again in 2018 when Khloé Kardashian called her daughter True. Jenner later said the name honoured her father and her grandfather.
Public records about him are limited, because he lived an ordinary American life. This article uses published profiles of Kris Jenner and family records that list his birth, marriage and jobs. It says clearly where the record stops. It also leaves out the many content pages that invent his fame, wealth and career.
True Otis Houghton Bio at a Glance
True Otis Houghton left a small public record. The table below lists what the sources support. Genealogy pages give most of these details, so readers should treat them as family records and not as official documents.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full name | True Otis Houghton |
| Born | December 4, 1904, in Oklahoma, per a family tree |
| Died | 1991, per a genealogy listing |
| Father | Otis Sewall Houghton (1875 to 1954) |
| Wife | Mary Lee Pickens (1906 to 1989) |
| Known children | Robert True Houghton (1931 to 1975) and a daughter |
| Grandchildren | Kris Jenner and her sister Karen Casey |
| Jobs in census records | Bank teller in 1940 and wholesale foods salesman in 1950 |
| Known for | Grandfather of Kris Jenner and namesake of True Thompson |
| Social media | None |
| Net worth | Not publicly confirmed |
The dates come from a family history site and a genealogy listing. A death certificate or a newspaper notice would be the best way to confirm them.
Who Was True Otis Houghton?
True Otis Houghton was an American man born in the early twentieth century. He worked in ordinary jobs and raised a family. He never held office and he never became a public figure.
His name matters today because of his family. His granddaughter is Kris Jenner, the media personality and manager. Through her he is also the great-grandfather of her six children, including Kim, Khloé and Kourtney.
Almost every fact about him comes from family records and from one remark by Jenner. That is why this article is short on stories and long on careful wording. A person who left no memoir cannot be described by guesswork.
His first name is unusual and it explains why readers search for him. The name True passed down through the family. It appears in his own name and in the name of his son.
Early Life and the Houghton Family
A family tree lists True Otis Houghton as the son of Otis Sewall Houghton and Lulu Laura Barnard. His parents married in 1897. His father was born in Kansas in 1875 and his mother was born in 1876.
True was born on December 4, 1904. The tree lists his birthplace as Oklahoma. He had four siblings named Reuben Albert, Howard Payne, William Barnard and Ida Mae.
His father changed jobs over the years. Census records list him as a stock raiser in 1900 and a farmer in 1910. By 1930 he ran a furniture store and by 1940 he was an antiques dealer.
That path shows a family that moved with the times. They went from the farm to the shop floor. True grew up in that world and no source describes his school or his childhood games.
Marriage to Mary Lee Pickens
True Otis Houghton married Mary Lee Pickens. She was born on July 31, 1906 and she died on January 29, 1989. The family tree does not give the wedding date or place.
No reliable source explains how they met. Websites that offer a love story with dates and quotes are guessing. This article does not repeat them.
The couple raised at least two children. Their son Robert True Houghton was born in 1931 and a daughter followed in 1938. This article does not name the daughter or share her details, out of respect for her privacy.
Mary Lee outlived the couple’s son by about fourteen years. She died two years before her husband.
Work and Daily Life
Census records give a small view of his working life. The 1940 census lists True as a bank teller. The 1950 census lists him as a wholesale foods salesman.
Those two jobs show a man who handled money and then sold goods. They fit the world of the mid-twentieth century. Banks and food wholesalers employed many ordinary workers.
No source gives his employers, his pay or his hours. We also do not know where he lived in each decade. Census listings can differ from the records of a family tree.
A short work history may feel thin. It still tells us something useful. He earned a living through steady jobs, and nothing in the record suggests a business empire. Pages that call him rich or famous have no source for the claim.
His Son, Robert True Houghton
Robert True Houghton was born on May 12, 1931. He became an engineer. He married Mary Jo Campbell and they had two daughters, Kris and Karen.
Her parents divorced when she was seven. She and her sister were raised mainly by their mother. Robert died in a car crash in Mexico in 1975 when Kris was 19.
He died on March 29, 1975, according to the family tree. His father True was about 70 at the time. No source describes how the family reacted to the loss.
Outliving a son is among the hardest losses a parent can face. This article leaves out any guess about True’s private grief. The facts show only that the loss came sixteen years before his own death.
Kris Jenner and Her Grandparents
Kris Jenner was born Kristen Mary Houghton in San Diego on November 5, 1955. She was the elder of two girls. Her mother owned a children’s clothing store.
Her mother later married businessman Harry Shannon. He helped raise the girls and Jenner gained a stepbrother. Her paternal grandfather True is the only grandparent that published profiles name.
Jenner has spoken about her father and grandfather in public. Her comments are short and they focus on the name. She has not shared long stories about True in the sources reviewed here.
Because she was 19 when her father died her memories of that side of the family may have been limited. That is only an inference, so readers should not treat it as a fact.
The Times He Lived Through
True was born three years before Oklahoma became a state in 1907. He came of age in the years after the First World War. By the time he held a bank job the Great Depression had already shaken the country.
The 1940 census found him as a bank teller. That was a hard time to work in banking because many banks had closed in the early 1930s. A steady job in that field suggests a man who kept working through difficult years. The record does not say more, so this is only a general picture of his era.
In 1950 he was selling wholesale foods. The country was growing fast after the Second World War. Grocery stores and restaurants needed suppliers and salesmen. His new job fit that boom.
No source says whether he served in the military or where he lived in each decade. This article does not guess. The census entries are the only firm marks of his working years.
Families of that era often moved to follow work. A son born in 1931 and a daughter born in 1938 grew up through the Depression and the war. Their father’s steady income mattered a great deal in those years. Yet no letter, diary or interview survives in the public record to describe how the household felt about it.
That silence is normal for ordinary families. Most of their lives never reached a newspaper. The few lines that did reach a census form now carry the whole weight of the story.
The Houghton Siblings and Extended Family
True was one of five children. His brothers were Reuben Albert, Howard Payne and William Barnard. His sister was Ida Mae. Their father Otis Sewall Houghton lived from 1875 to 1954 and their mother Lulu Laura died in the same year as her husband.
Large families were common at the time. Brothers often shared work on farms and in family shops. We do not know if True worked in his father’s store as a young man. The record only shows the father’s changing jobs.
Family trees often list dates and names and little else. They help map who belonged to whom. They rarely show how relatives got along or what they valued.
Readers who are tracing the Houghton line should look for original records. Birth certificates, marriage licences and obituaries are stronger than a tree.
Why the Name True Became Famous
Khloé Kardashian gave birth to her daughter in April 2018 and named her True Thompson. The name drew wide attention at once. Many fans asked where it came from.
Kris Jenner later explained that the name had family meaning. It honoured her grandfather True Otis Houghton and her father Robert True Houghton. In that sense the baby carries a name that has passed through four generations. She is the great-great-granddaughter of True Otis Houghton.
The choice also shows how families keep memory alive through names. A man who never sought attention now has a namesake who appears in magazines worldwide.
That is a gentle kind of legacy. It does not need a career or a fortune. It needs only a family that decides to remember.
Why Reliable Facts About Him Are Scarce
Several things explain the gap. He held no public job. No company profile or film credit lists him. His family never published a memoir about him.
Search engines also reward pages that answer every question even when nobody knows the answer. Many sites fill in a career, a wealth figure or a dramatic story. Other sites then copy those claims. Over time the repeated lines look like fact.
A simple habit helps. Look for a named book, a newspaper or a public record behind each claim. If a page gives none, treat the claim as unverified.
Genealogy sites need the same care. They often rely on user submissions that can contain errors. They work best as leads and not as final proof.
Conclusion
True Otis Houghton lived a quiet American life from 1904 to 1991. He worked as a bank teller and a food salesman and raised a family. His name now lives on through his great-great-granddaughter. A fair article reports the confirmed facts and leaves the rest alone.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was True Otis Houghton?
True Otis Houghton was the paternal grandfather of Kris Jenner. A family tree lists him as born on December 4, 1904 and a genealogy listing places his death in 1991. He lived a private life and held ordinary jobs.
Is True Otis Houghton related to Kris Jenner?
Yes, he was her paternal grandfather. His son Robert True Houghton was Kris Jenner’s father. Published profiles name True Otis Houghton as the one grandparent they list.
Why did Khloé Kardashian name her daughter True?
Kris Jenner has said the name honours her grandfather True Otis Houghton and her father Robert True Houghton. Khloé Kardashian named her daughter True Thompson in 2018.
What did True Otis Houghton do for a living?
Census records list him as a bank teller in 1940 and a wholesale foods salesman in 1950. No source names his employers. Claims about a larger career have no support.
Who was True Otis Houghton’s wife?
His wife was Mary Lee Pickens, who lived from 1906 to 1989. A family tree lists the two as the parents of Robert True Houghton, but it does not give the wedding date.
