TFM - Texas Forestry Hall of Fame

Hall of Fame Nomination Procedures | Hall of Fame Nomination Form

Hall of Fame Inductees

	Robert Baker Inducted October 2003 Robert Baker was born in 1927 in California, where he received his undergraduate degree and his Masters in Forestry at the University of California. He then completed his education with a Ph.D. in Forest Valuation at the State University of New York. Baker assumed teaching responsibilities at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches in 1956, where he remained until moving to Texas A&M University in 1975. There he received the Teaching Excellence award for the A&M Department of Forest Science. During his more than 50-year career in forestry, Robert Baker produced numerous articles, papers and presentations in his field. Dr. Baker’s professional expertise lies in forest valuation and in remote sensing and photo interpretation, but he also has a keen interest in forest history. A significant contribution to Texas forest history is Sawdust Empire: The Texas Lumber Industry, 1839 – 1940, co-authored with Dr. Robert Maxwell.
	William T. Carter 1856-1921 Inducted September 2001 W.T. Carter was born in Tyler, Texas in 1856. His lumber empire began 1n 1876 with a small mill in Trinity, Texas and grew through a succession of additional and larger mills. W.T. and brother and partner E.A. Carter formed the premier mill of the firm in 1897, W.T. Carter & Bro., at what became Camden. Carter constructed a company railroad, the Moscow, Camden and San Augustine Railroad in 1898. With George Kelley, W.T. Carter built the Carter Kelley Lumber Company in Manning before 1907. W.T. Carter was among the early leaders in forest management techniques. W.T. Carter’s life and career spanned a time of great change in the timber industry.
	Glenn Allen Chancellor 1937 - 2001 Inducted November 2007 Glenn Chancellor, graduated in 1959 from Stephen F. Austin State University with a Bachelor of Forestry degree. He lived most of his life and spent his career in the piney woods of East Texas that he loved. He worked in Florida at Container Corporation, prior to returning to east Texas to work for Southwestern Settlement and Development, a predecessor company of Temple-Inland, Inc. He retired after 38 years as group vice president from Temple-Inland, Inc. in Diboll. In this capacity he also served as vice president of Inland Container Corporation and co-chief executive officer of Planforsur in S.A. Mexico. Glenn Chancellor’s professional affiliations reflect his lifelong dedication to the forest land and forestry industry. He served on executive committees and as chairman of the American Pulpwood Association, the American Forest Council, the Texas Forestry Museum, the Society of American Foresters (Distinguished Service Award – 1984), and Texas Forestry Association past president. He was a founding member and past chairman of Texas Reforestation Foundation, and on the Board of Trustees for The Nature Conservancy of Texas. Glenn also served on the Board of Directors for the Stephen F. Austin Alumni Association.
	John Halpin Courtenay Inducted October 2009 John Courtenay received his BS degree from New York State College of Forestry (Syracuse University) in 1948. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He began and ended his professional career with the U.S. Forest Service, serving on national forests in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. John moved to supervisory positions with the National Forests in Florida and the U.S. Forest Service Regional office in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1966, John moved to Lufkin to assume the role of the Supervisor of National Forests in Texas, where he served until his retirement in 1980. Throughout his career and retirement, John’s dedication to his profession is reflected in his long list of accomplishments and affiliations. He has been a member of the Society of American Foresters for over 50 years, being named a Fellow in 1984. John remains active in The Texas Forestry Association and the Texas Forestry Museum. He served as an active volunteer almost from the beginning of the Museum and eagerly shares his vast knowledge of East Texas Forest History. He was a Charter member and past chair of the Lufkin Tree Board and has been active in Boy Scout Troop 140 in Lufkin for many years.
	Alfred D. Folweiler 1902 - 1986 Inducted September 2005 A. D. Folweiler studied forestry at Penn State University, Yale, and the University of Wisconsin. Folweiler’s work before coming to Texas included the U.S. Forest Service and several state forestry organizations. As a faculty member at Louisiana State University, Dr. Folweiler wrote his widely used textbook, Forest Fire in the United States. After World War II he worked with International Paper and was active in the formation of the Louisiana Forestry Association. Dr. Folweiler was named Director of the Texas Forest Service in 1949, holding the position until his retirement in 1967. Folweiler formed the first forest tree improvement program in the South. The Texas Forest Service achieved an outstanding record in forest fire prevention and control under his guidance. He also fostered what would become county and regional forest landowner associations in Texas. Folweiler was active in the Texas Forestry Association and served as president of the National Association of State Foresters. He was a Fellow in the Society of American Foresters.
	Charles R. Franklin 1918 - 2008 Inducted October 2008 Charles R. Franklin, the youngest of five children graduated from University of Georgia in 1939 with a degree in Forestry. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1942-1948 then took a position in Texas as forester and land manager with Wirt Davis Estate managing 60,000 acres of timberland. His mission was to grow forests continuously on every possible acre of Wirt Davis land and to provide a sustained and increasing timber yield. Under his care the Estate’s timber productivity increased by 500% and today its forests continue to grow more timber than is harvested every year. He retired from Wirt Davis in 2000, after 42 years of dedication. Charles’s recognitions include Best in Trees/Timberland Management in 1998 by the Ft. Worth Star Telegram, He became a Fellow in the Society of American Foresters in 1979, and received the DSF award in 1972, Outstanding Forester of Texas – 1972 by TFA, and served as vice president of the Texas Forestry Association. Charles was one of the first to be licensed as a Registered Professional Land Surveyor in Texas. He was tireless in his civic, community and church organizations also. In 1992 he received the Melvin Jones Award for Dedicated Humanitarian Services from the Lions Club International.
	Simon Wood Henderson 1859-1923 Inducted September 2001 Simon Wood Henderson came to Texas in 1883 from Georgia, where he was born in 1859. In Polk County, Henderson worked for a tie-cutting contractor, and within a year had purchased the business. He acquired a general mercantile in 1886, was active in timber and land sales, and invested with Joseph H. Kurth in a sawmill in Keltys, north of Lufkin. Throughout his career, Henderson and Kurth, along with partners Sam and Eli Wiener, were involved in numerous sawmill ventures throughout East Texas and Louisiana, and in the Angelina & Neches River Railroad, a company-owned line of Angelina County Lumber Company. His business acumen led him into many other related enterprises in the Pineywoods region, including Lufkin Foundry & Machine Company, organized in 1902. Henderson was indeed a leader in the industry.
	W. Goodrich Jones 1860 - 1950 Inducted October 2004 William Goodrich Jones is considered the Father of Forestry in Texas. Jones, a banker in Temple, Texas, had a special love for trees. During his youth the family lived in Germany, where Jones visited with rangers and forestry workers in the Black Forest. Back in Texas, W. Goodrich Jones promoted the management techniques he had seen as a boy. In 1889 B.E. Fernow, chief of the US Bureau of Forestry, enlisted Jones to make a forest survey of the Pineywoods of Texas. W. Goodrich lobbied lumbermen and the legislature to create what would become the Texas Forest Service in 1915. A major force was the Texas Forestry Association, spearheaded by Jones in 1914. He served as president of TFA until 1921. Jones also promoted a state Arbor Day designation. Jones was born in New York in 1860. He earned a degree in business from Princeton, and started in the banking business in Galveston before moving to Temple. W. Goodrich Jones died in 1950.
	John Henry Kirby 1860-1940 Inducted September 2001 John Henry Kirby, born in Texas in 1860, was the most widely known Texas lumberman during his lifetime. Kirby studied law, and as he worked on cases involving East Texas timberlands, Kirby’s interest in the forests was piqued. He began to purchase timber himself, and procured outside capital to form several timber and milling companies. His Gulf, Beaumont & Kansas City Railroad helped transition the area around Beaumont from river transportation to rails for getting harvested logs to mills. Kirby soon operated more than a dozen sawmills in East Texas that produced over one million board feet of lumber a day, making him the largest lumber manufacturer in the Gulf Southwest. He sold his railroad to Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, and formed with other investors the Kirby Lumber Company and Houston Oil Company. John Henry Kirby was a forest conservation advocate, and early in the 20th century developed one of the first forest working plans for his 1.25 million acres of timber.
	Ernest L. Kurth 1885 - 1960 Inducted September 2005 Ernest Lynn Kurth attended Southwestern University before joining the family business, Angelina County Lumber Company, in Keltys Texas in 1905. Kurth worked in several positions at the sawmill, learning firsthand the challenges of each job. In 1936 he became president of the company. He began several new lumber enterprises in Texas and Louisiana, and was active in several other regional businesses. He is perhaps best known for his leadership in the organization of Southland Paper Mills in Lufkin, the first mill to use southern yellow pine to manufacture newsprint. Kurth worked hard for forestry in Texas. He supported the Texas Forestry Association in fighting for the institution of the Texas Forest Service in 1915. Kurth was perhaps one of the first in Texas to experiment with reforestation, planting longleaf seeds in 1925. He followed the advice of the fledgling Texas Forest Service in developing selective cutting and sustained-yield programs. In 1937 Kurth hired the first graduate industrial forester in Texas.
	Joseph Hubert Kurth 1857-1930 Inducted September 2001 Joseph H. Kurth, born in Germany in 1857, immigrated to Galveston, Texas in 1878. Initial work in a commercial lumber yard led to his eventual purchase of a mill at Kurth Station, near Corrigan in Polk County, and eventually to the purchase of a larger mill at Keltys, just north of Lufkin, along with Simon Wood Henderson. Angelina County Lumber Company was born of this venture, considered one of the most complete and modern of its time. A company railroad, the Angelina & Neches River Railroad, also resulted from the enterprise. Along with Sam and Eli Wiener, Kurth and Henderson expanded their interests across East Texas and into western Louisiana, becoming very influential in the southern forest products industry. Other enterprises included Lufkin Foundry and Machine Company, originally formed to repair and service sawmill equipment.
	Henry Jacob Lutcher 1836-1912 Inducted September 2001 H. J. Lutcher, the son of German immigrants, began his lumbering career near the site of his birth in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. In the early 1860s Lutcher formed a partnership with G. Bedell Moore. Their lumber manufacturing business prospered into the mid-1870s. Then, dwindling timber resources in Pennsylvania brought the pair to Texas in search of a promising new location. An exploratory trip to the state convinced Lutcher and Moore that trees, waterways, and local industry in and around the city of Orange bode well for a move. In 1878 they established Lutcher-Moore Lumber Company, considered to be the first of the large mills that ushered in the boom years of the timber industry in Texas. The mills and related railroads they built at Orange and later in Louisiana were among the largest and finest for their time, firmly establishing the Lutcher & Moore Lumber Company in the economic fabric of southeast Texas and western Louisiana.
	Robert Maxwell 1911 - 1990 Inducted October 2003 Robert Maxwell received his BA degree in history in his home state of Kentucky, and then obtained his masters from the University of Cincinnati and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. Maxwell taught at Wisconsin and at the University of Kentucky before beginning his tenure at Stephen F. Austin State University in 1952. In 1966, he was named the first SFA Alumni Association’s Distinguished Professor. Dr. Maxwell became fascinated with the history of the economic development of East Texas, in particular railroads and lumbering. He published many books and papers on these topics, including Whistle in the Pineywoods and Sawdust Empire: The Texas Lumber Industry, 1839 – 1940, co-authored with Robert Baker. Through Dr. Maxwell’s efforts, many documents relating to early forest industries were saved from destruction.
	Bruce R. Miles Inducted October 2008 Bruce R. Miles graduated with a Bachelor of Forestry degree in 1958, through a cooperative scholarship program between Texas A & M University and Louisiana State University. After serving as an officer in the U.S. Field Artillery, he joined the Texas Forest Service in 1959, and rose through the ranks from assistant forester to director of the agency in 1981. He served as the 6th State Forester of Texas until his retirement in 1996, whereupon he was bestowed the prestigious title of Director Emeritus by the Texas A & M System. Miles was a delegate of the United States to the IX World Forestry Congress in Mexico City in 1986 and is a member of the Mexico-Texas Exchange Commission. During his 37-year career he was responsible for many innovative forest management programs including the enactment of an industry-funded tree planting program, the Texas Reforestation Foundation, or TRe. He was responsible for the development of a statewide wildfire control program, and an effective pest/beetle control program. Bruce’s awards include: Gifford Pinchot Medal in 1997 by the Society of American Foresters, Distinguished Service to Forestry Award from the Texas Society of American Foresters in 1981, and the Distinguished Performance Award for Administration in 1982 from the Texas A & M System.
	G. Bedell Moore 1840-1908 Inducted September 2001 G. Bedell Moore, born in 1840 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, went into business with lumber manufacturing partner H.J. Lutcher in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Their business prospered for several years after its inception in the early 1860s, but eventually the timber resource dwindled, and the pair elected to move their partnership to another location. Extensive research in the South brought Moore and Lutcher to Texas in 1877. Impressive virgin forests of long leaf pine and cypress, suitable waterways for rafting logs and transporting lumber to coastal markets, and rail transportation in the area led to the establishment of a sawmill in Orange, Lutcher & Moore Lumber Company, in 1878. The inception of this, the largest mill of its day in Texas, and other subsequent mills in Texas and Louisiana, helped lead the way for the other timber pioneers who followed.
	Kenneth Nelson 1915 - 1992 Inducted October 2008 Kenneth Nelson, born in Diboll, Texas graduated from Lufkin High School in 1932. Although his higher education was limited to college night courses and a correspondence course from American School in Drafting, his self-taught lessons ‘in the field’ made him expert in the industry and an innovative leader. He joined Southern Pine Lumber Company in 1932, as an office clerk, in the Land & Timber Department. In 1946 became the company’s first forester. Nelson, a Registered Public Surveyor, brought an inherent understanding of the principles of ecology. His concept of the “perpetual forest” was in stark contrast to the ‘cut-out-and get-out” philosophy that branded the industry in the early 1900’s. Nelson’s recognition that “trees are a crop, inviting weeding and thinning” was accepted as company doctrine. He retired from Temple-Inland as Vice President of the Forestry Division in 1980, after 48 years. Kenneth Nelson’s professional affiliations reflected his dedication. He was a past president of the Texas Surveyors Association, the Texas Forestry Association, and of the board of the Texas Forestry Museum, a member of the Society of American Foresters, and he was honored by the Arthur Temple College of Forestry at Stephen F. Austin State University with the Kenneth Nelson Distinguished Professorship filled in June 2000.
	Eric O. Siecke 1882 - 1974 Inducted September 2002 E.O. Siecke was born and educated in Nebraska, receiving his degree in forestry at the University of Nebraska. Early professional work included service as Deputy State Forester in Oregon. Siecke assumed duties as State Forester of Texas in 1918, and served until his retirement in 1942. He succeeded in putting together an organization, which advanced the causes of forestry conservation and education in the state of Texas. During the time Siecke headed the Texas Forest Service, extensive programs in fire control and education were developed. Forest management training and education were a major focus for the agency under Siecke. The Texas Forest Service instituted seed nurseries to help fulfill the increasing demands for seedlings as companies increased reforestation efforts. The first state forest was purchased in 1924 under Siecke’s leadership. It was renamed the E.O. Siecke State Forest in 1951.
	Arthur Temple, Jr. 1920 - 2006 Inducted September 2002 Arthur Temple, Jr. was born in 1920 in Texarkana, Arkansas, into a family already very active in the timber industry in the South. He began his career in 1938, assumed the position of executive vice-president of Southern Pine Lumber Company in 1948, and subsequently served as President and CEO and Chairman of the Board of Temple-Eastex, Inc. and Temple Industries, Inc., and Chairman of the Board of Temple Inland, Inc. Arthur Temple led the company through its transitions to Temple-Inland, Inc. including a merger with Time Incorporated. Temple’s accomplishments are varied and noteworthy. He is credited with leading not only Southern Pine Lumber Company and its successors in constant mill modernization, progressive conservation and management practices, and product and company development and diversification, but also with providing visionary leadership for the entire southern forest products industry. He has been vitally interested in the lives of the citizens of Diboll, Angelina County, and East Texas.
	Thomas Lewis Latane Temple 1859-1935 Inducted September 2001 T.L.L. Temple, born in Essex County, Virginia in 1859, arrived in Texarkana via Arkansas by 1877. There he worked in the commissary of a local lumber company. Within ten years, he became a partner in a sawmill operation in Atlanta, Texas, serving as mill manager. In 1893 Temple purchased several thousand acres of timber along the Houston, East & West Texas Railway Company in Angelina County, Texas, and formed Southern Pine Lumber Company. Other company mills were added, as well as the Texas-Southeastern Railroad, a company line. The town was known as Diboll. For many years the town was considered a model sawmill town. Amenities common to mill communities, such as schools, churches, commissary and movie theater were provided. A library, somewhat unusual for such a community, was built in 1908.
	Joseph Brady Wadsworth 1922 - 2003 Inducted October 2006 Brady Wadsworth, a 1958 University of Florida graduate in forestry, began his career with ITT Rayonier, Inc., but moved to Texas to work with Southland Paper Mills in 1969. He served as Vice President of Forest Resources from 1972 to 1977. In 1985, Wadsworth retired from the St. Regis mill as Regional Manager of the Texas Region. Brady served on the Executive Committee of the American Pulpwood Association, the Board of Directors of the Forest Farmers Association, and as President of the Texas Forestry Association and the Texas Forestry Museum. Brady Wadsworth’s passion for planting trees to keep pace with the harvest rate led to the formation of the Texas Reforestation Foundation (TRe) in 1980. He persuaded industry leaders to voluntarily contribute funds to TRe, a cost-sharing program for reforestation of private forest land. Wadsworth served as the first president of TRe. To date, nearly 187,000 acres have been replanted under the program, with an investment of $8.4 million from TRe.
	Ed R. Wagoner 1918 - 2006 Inducted October 2003 Ed Wagoner, born in Riverside, Wyoming, received degrees in forestry from the University of Georgia and Duke University. First employed as District Forester in the Kentucky Division of Forestry, Wagoner moved to Texas in 1949 to become Head of the Education Section of the Texas Forest Service. In 1955 he was named executive vice president of the Texas Forestry Association, where he continued his employment until his retirement in 1983. During his career, Wagoner was a voice for forestry in Texas. He was named a Fellow in the Society of American Foresters, and was “Man of the Year in Texas Agriculture” in 1978. He was instrumental in founding the Texas Forestry Museum, and the Texas Reforestation Foundation, as well as being active in the Texas Christmas Tree Growers Association. He also served as business manager for the Texas Society of American Foresters.
	Laurence C. Walker, Ph.D. 1924 – 1999 Inducted September 2002 Laurence C. Walker, an inner city Washington D.C. product, acquired his love of the forest and outdoors from Scouting. Walker completed degrees in Forestry from Penn State University, Yale University, and finally his Ph.D. from State University of New York at Syracuse. Dr. Walker’s professional career included working as a forester on the Sabine National Forest in Texas, doing research on longleaf pine at the US Forest Service’s Southern Forest Research Station, and teaching at the University of Georgia School of Forestry. In 1963, Dr. Walker came to Stephen F. Austin State Teacher’s College as Head of the Forestry Department. Under Dr. Walker’s guidance, the forestry program grew from a small, undergraduate curriculum to one of the largest and most highly respected Forestry Schools in the nation. He was named the Lacy Hunt Professor of Forestry after his tenure as Dean of the School of Forestry.

Texas Forestry Hall of Fame Nomination Procedures

The Texas Forestry Hall of Fame honors both deceased and living persons who made substantial and lasting contributions to forestry and forest conservation in the state.

Eligibility:

To be eligible for consideration for recognition, the individual nominated must have been / be a member of the Texas forestry community who meets the following criteria:

A citizen who performed an outstanding act or whose dedicated service over an extended period resulted in major progress in forestry or forest conservation in Texas.

Screening Committee:

A screening committee, appointed by the Board of Trustees of the Texas Forestry Museum, shall be composed of the Dean of the Arthur Temple College of Forestry at Stephen F. Austin State University, the chair of the Department of Forestry at Texas A&M University, the chair of the Board of Trustees of the Texas Forestry Museum, and two at-large members selected by the Board of Trustees.

Recommendations for inclusion in the Texas Forestry Hall of Fame will be submitted to the museum’s Executive Board for its approval at its July meeting, if the screen committee has selected one or more nominees. The Board of Trustees is the final authority.

Selection of Candidates:

Any person, including a committee member, may nominate candidates. Nominations should include a statement describing the nominee’s accomplishments and a brief biography. If confirming documentation is available, it should be provided.

No more than three individuals may be honored in a single year.

Recognition:

Recognition will be by a captioned photograph with a brief listing of major accomplishments to be displayed in the Hall of Fame at the Texas Forestry Museum in Lufkin, Texas.

Hall of Fame Nomination Form