William McGuire

William Saxon (Bill) McGuire, 86 died on Saturday, November 29th at the Corvallis Manor. Bill was born on October 9, 1922 in Prescott, Arkansas to Saxon P. McGuire and Ida Dillon McGuire. He attended Prescott schools and graduated from Prescott High School in 1940. He was a graduate of Arkansas State A & M (now South Arkansas University) in Magnolia, Arkansas; the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas and Master's of Agricultural Science at Lincoln University in New Zealand. He received his PhD from Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. Bill served as an officer in the U. S. navy aboard an LST in the Pacific during World War II. He was involved in 9 invasions, 2 typhoons and constant threats from torpedoes and kamikaze pilots. In 1951, he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to New Zealand where he met his future wife, Joan Stoddart. They were married in Hot Springs, Arkansas on December 21, 1952. Their first home was in Starkville, Mississippi where Bill was employed by Mississippi State University. From there, the family moved to Artesia, New Mexico and finally to Corvallis, Oregon in 1956 where Bill served as a professor in the Crop Science Department at Oregon State University. He retired in 1985. A favorite saying to his growing children was “count the day lost when you don’t learn something.” He enjoyed farming, gardening, travel, golf, hunting, fishing and camping. Bill was preceded in death by his parents; sisters Ida Mae Clark of Millington, TN and Ethel Rae Fergeson of Hot Springs, AR. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Joan; daughter Jennifer of Coos Bay; sons and their spouses Tim and Terri of Portland, Michael and Jana of Snohomish, WA, Jonathan and Kathleen of Seattle, WA; sister Anne Rodgers of Bellevue, WA; grandchildren Colleen, Ian, Amanda, Madeline, Tyler, Emily, Jacob, Finola and Grace and many nieces, nephews and cousins. Memorial contributions can be made to the McGuire Crop Science Scholarship Fund in care of the OSU Foundation 850 SW 35th Street Corvallis, OR 97333 or to a charity of your choice. A Funeral Service will be held at 11:00 am on Saturday, December 13th at the Episcopal Church of the Good Samaritan in Corvallis. Following the service will be a reception at the church with interment at Oak Lawn Memorial Park at 2:00 pm.

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William McGuire

October 9, 1922 - November 29, 2008