1960 President Robert Fisher Wilbur

Robert Fisher Wilbur was born in Omaha, Nebraska, April 11, 1895, and "arrived with the last snow fall of the season, so I've been told." His parents were Edward C. Wilbur and Elva Fisher, both of Omaha. His father's occupation was Railway freight-Rate Specialist.

1961 - ROBERT FISHER WILBUR

Young Bob attended primary schools and later the secondary Central High School in Omaha. He entered Oregon Agricultural College at Corvallis in January 1917 on returning from the Pancho Villa Campaign in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. He took a "recess" from April 1917 to August 1919 for machine-gun service in France (World War I). He was wounded in the Somme Offensive, hospitalized in London and Marseille. In 1919 be returned to OAC and in 1923 was graduated with a degree of BS in Agriculture, majoring in plant pathology.

Over the years, Bob was Scoutmaster in Corvallis and also in Nogales, Arizona; Commander of the American Legion in Milton; president of the Federal Employees Union in Nogales; Member of GSOC and the society's Treasurer, Vice-President, Business Manager of the News Letter; and President following the resignation of Franklin Monroe Brown. His term of office was from July 10, I960 to March 10 1961.

In August 1924, Bob married Perle (Polly) Johnson of Milton-Freewater, who died in 1947. Their two daughters, both married, are Elaine Allison of Lake Oswego and Gail Linder of San Diego. There are seven grandchildren.

Mr. Wilbur's occupations have included the following: Agent, U.S. Bureau of Plant Industry on white pine blister-rust control in western Oregon, 1921; Deputy State Horticultural Inspector for Benton and Linn Counties and later for Morrow and Umatilla Bounties, 1922-1929; Assistant County Agricultural Agent for Umatilla and Morrow Counties, 1923-1924; Plant virus research on certain crop diseases at the Hermiston Experiment Station in 1928 and 1929. From 1929 to 1961 he was Plant Pathologist with the U.S. Bureau of Agriculture in Plant Quarantine Service - first at Nogales, Arizona, then in Seattle, Washington, and finally in Portland. He retired in 1961, at which time he received a letter of appreciation from the Secretary of Agriculture.

His hobbies are geology and paleontology. He gave his large collection of fossils and rocks to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry as a working collection for students in 1968.

Mr. Wilbur reports that his interest in geology was a gradual development. He writes as follows:

"The subject became increasingly interesting to me as the result of observation and reading. While driving from Portland and Seattle to the various sea ports, during the years I was on Federal plant quarantine inspection work, my curiosity was aroused by a number of phenomena. Starting at the home sea port of Portland, there was the Mount Tabor Crater with its mouth choked with water-worn gravel. How come?

"West of McMinnville, on the way to Coos Bay, I saw that big rock on a hill top, reportedly dropped there by an iceberg. How come?

"At Cape Arago near the lighthouse the strata were all up-ended. How come?

"After pondering over these and many other puzzling features, I determined to learn more about geology, and the only logical way seemed that of joining an organization that fostered such educational endeavors. I joined the Geological Society of the Oregon Country in 1948 as a follow-up to an Oregonian announcement regarding the regular meeting and program at the Public Library."