[obol] FW: Wes Batterson News Article

Fri Feb 1 09:23:01 PST 2008

My parents told me that Batterson was also one of the main people involved in saving the Nene from extinction in Hawaii.  

-----Original Message-----
>From: Tom Crabtree <tc at empnet.com>
>Sent: Feb 1, 2008 9:02 AM
>To: 'Alan Contreras' <acontrer at MINDSPRING.COM>, 'Floyd Schrock' <fschrock at gmail.com>, llsdirons at msn.com
>Cc: 'obol' <obol at lists.orst.edu>
>Subject: RE: [obol] FW: Wes Batterson News Article
>
>Like Alan, Floyd and David, I have memories of talking with Alex Walker at
>the Pioneer Museum and of Wes Batterson.  For 17 years through the 80s and
>90s my family would spend a couple of weeks in summer in Manzanita.  I don't
>think there was a single year I didn't stop by his house on Bayside Garden
>Road and look at his waterfowl collection.  My children were particularly
>transfixed by the birds he had.  As I recall, at one point he even had some
>exotic pheasants there.  In those years I probably talked to him 3 or 4
>times about the ducks and he liked telling the kids about them.  Ironically,
>I drove by there after New Years for the first time since 1999.  The house
>was still there but the birds were gone.  I assumed he had moved out and
>nostalgically recalled the many years when that was a "must stop" on our
>travels around the bay.  
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: obol-bounces at lists.oregonstate.edu
>[mailto:obol-bounces at lists.oregonstate.edu] On Behalf Of Alan Contreras
>Sent: Friday, February 01, 2008 7:52 AM
>To: Floyd Schrock
>Cc: obol
>Subject: Re: [obol] FW: ODFW Retirees - Wes Batterson News Article
>
>I was born in Wheeler, on Nehalem Bay, and I know that I met Wes Baterson
>when I wa a child, but I have no real memory of that.  I do have a clear
>memory of meeting Alex Walker in a little room in the Tillamook museum on
>March 21, 1969.  I still have the signed copy of his "Bird-watching in
>Tillamook County" booklet.  The ornithological history of this region is
>quite impressive, as is the museum.
>
>-- 
>Alan Contreras
>EUGENE, OREGON
>
>McCain/Obama in 08 !
>
>acontrer at mindspring.com
>www.OREGONREVIEW.BLOGSPOT.COM  Commentary
>www.CONTRERASBIRDS.BLOGSPOT.COM  Current Bird Photos
>
>
>
>
>
>> From: Floyd Schrock <fschrock at gmail.com>
>> Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 00:40:30 -0800
>> To: DAVID IRONS <llsdirons at msn.com>
>> Cc: David Fix <dfxjcp at humboldt1.com>, obol <obol at lists.orst.edu>
>> Subject: Re: [obol] FW: ODFW Retirees - Wes Batterson News Article
>> 
>> One benefit for a birder of not having been born recently is having had
>> opportunities to meet some of Oregon's "historic" birders.  One of my
>early
>> memories is of a "long" drive from Yamhill Co. to Portland in about 1953
>to
>> attend a special Wesley Batterson presentation of some of his
>ornithological
>> experiences.  My father was a friend of Mr. Batterson, and also of Alex
>> Walker, and I remember being in the back rooms of the Pioneer Museum in
>> Tillamook where Alex was skinning and mounting a bird (a duck, as I
>recall)
>> for display in one of his beautiful dioramas.  I strongly encourage any
>> birder who has not been up to the second floor of the Pioneer Museum to
>> visit that hallowed place (in my memory, at least) at your first
>> opportunity.
>> 
>> My father, like Mr. Batterson and Mr. Walker, had permits to collect eggs
>> back in those days, and occasionally exchanged duplicate sets with them.
>I
>> have photos of a Western Flycatcher egg set in my dad's collection that
>came
>> from Wesley Batterson.  A photo of the catalog card that Mr. Batterson
>> prepared, and another of the eggs themselves, can be seen at <
>> http://empids.blogspot.com/ >.
>> 
>> Floyd Schrock
>> McMinnville, OR
>> 
>> On Jan 31, 2008 11:00 PM, DAVID IRONS <llsdirons at msn.com> wrote:
>> 
>>>  Greetings All,
>>> 
>>> My mom forwarded this note to me today.  Wes Batterson is a name that
>will
>>> only be familiar to a few on this list.  He will always be remembered by
>>> those of us who often visited the Pioneer Museum in Tillamook.  In their
>>> bird collection were two mounted LEAST TERNS that had been collected at
>the
>>> mouth of the Columbia R. in 1964.  The collector, one Wes Batterson,
>brought
>>> the specimens to Alex Walker the longtime curator of the museum.  Walker
>was
>>> an eminent ornithologist and collector in his own right and he
>>> single-handedly built a incredible collection for this modest local
>museum.
>>> I have not been into the museum in many years, so I don't know if that
>>> collection remains intact.
>>> 
>>> I had no idea that Wes Batterson was still alive, and unknowingly I drove
>>> by his home many times.  In my youth, I birded Nehalem Bay from the end
>of
>>> Bayside Gardens Rd. dozens of times. Based on the anecdotes in this
>>> obituary, I wish I would have stopped by and made his acquaintance.
>Pasted
>>> below are the details of the accepted record of these birds as it appears
>on
>>> the OBRC website.
>>> 
>>> 074-64-04 Fort Stevens, mouth of the Columbia River, Clatsop Co., 2 males
>>> collected on 21 May 1964. Specimens in Tillamook Co. Pioneer Museum, In:
>>> *Murrelet * 53: 52, 1972. First verified Oregon record.
>>> 
>>> Dave Irons
>>> Eugene, OR
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> ------------------------------
>>> From: judie310hansen at comcast.net
>>> Subject: Fwd: ODFW Retirees - Wes Batterson News Article
>>> Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 20:09:54 -0800
>>> To: llsdirons at msn.com
>>> 
>>> Did you know him?  I remember Jim Olson talking about him.  Love, Mom
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> We thought the following article in this weeks Tillamook Headlight Herald
>>> regarding Wes Batterson would be of interest to the group:
>>> **
>>> - Kay
>>> *
>>>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>-
>>> --------------------------------------------------
>>> *
>>> *Wildlife conservation pioneer dies
>>> 
>>> By Elizabeth A. Phillips*
>>> Headlight-Herald Staff
>>> 
>>> NEHALEM - Wayne Smith remembers going to neighbor Wesley Batterson's home
>>> on Bayside Gardens Road as a child to see Batterson's collection of
>geese,
>>> ducks and other birds.
>>> 
>>> "He was just a heck of a good guy," Smith said, recalling camping and
>>> hunting trips with his longtime neighbor.
>>> 
>>> Batterson died Jan. 24 at his home on Bayside Gardens Road. He was 98.
>>> 
>>> Fay Reid, Batterson's daughter, remembered families from all over north
>>> Tillamook County coming to her family home to see her father's birds.
>>> 
>>> "Everybody growing up here got to do that," she said.
>>> 
>>> Batterson was born at his family's farm near Mohler in 1909. The farm,
>>> later sold to Southern Pacific Railroad, is now known as Batterson
>Station,
>>> or simply Batterson.
>>> 
>>> "His family has a history here," said Carol Povey, a longtime Nehalem
>>> resident.
>>> 
>>> And Wesley Batterson, the only one of five children in his family to live
>>> almost his entire life in Tillamook County, was well known in the area.
>He
>>> began working for the Oregon State Game Commission, which later became
>the
>>> Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, in the early 1940s. While he had
>no
>>> formal education in wildlife biology, he quickly became one of the most
>>> influential wildlife biologists in the state.
>>> 
>>> "He did a lot of pioneering work with breeding of game birds," said
>Herman
>>> Biederbeck, district wildlife biologist with the department. "He was a
>true
>>> pioneer in Oregon wildlife conservation."
>>> 
>>> The Tillamook Pioneer Museum is filled with Batterson's taxidermy,
>>> wildlife photographs and hand-carved decoys, and Oregon State University
>>> also has a collection of his work.
>>> 
>>> Batterson bred several varieties of game birds, including Black Brant
>>> geese, many species of pheasants and ducks. He also traveled to Hawaii in
>>> 1960 to lead a breeding program for the endangered Nene goose. Batterson
>>> wrote several articles and books about his work.
>>> 
>>> He won countless awards for his work in conservation, including Oregon
>>> State Employee of the Year in 1974 and the Kiwanis Award in Conservation
>in
>>> 1965.
>>> 
>>> What his family remembers most about Batterson, though, was not his work
>>> in wildlife conservation, but his vibrancy and dedication to his family.
>>> 
>>> "Until my girlfriend told me how famous my father was, I didn't know it,"
>>> Reid said. "He was just my dad."
>>> 
>>> Batterson and his wife, Wanda, had three children, Gene, Leroy and Fay.
>>> Wanda and Leroy Batterson died.
>>> 
>>> The family lived on Bayside Gardens Road near Nehalem for all but a few
>>> years of Fay's life, she said. Gene and Fay remember their father making
>up
>>> songs and singing while playing his ukulele, guitar or accordion. Gene
>>> remembered going on hunting and fishing trips with his father.
>>> 
>>> "I had a fun time growing up," Gene said. "We never had pet dogs or cats.
>>> But we had pet owls, pet hawks."
>>> 
>>> Batterson, almost everybody agreed, was always busy.
>>> 
>>> He rehabilitated injured birds, stuffed wildlife he found in the woods
>>> that could not be saved, and was an avid hunter and fisherman.
>>> 
>>> Wil Reid, Batterson's grandson, said he also remembered hunting and
>>> fishing trips with his grandfather.
>>> 
>>> "He knew exactly where to fish and exactly what lure to put on," Wil Reid
>>> said. "It was intuitive to him."
>>> 
>>> And he remembered how vibrant his grandfather was.
>>> 
>>> "He was always on the go," Wil Reid said.
>>> 
>>> Indeed, a framed photograph in Fay Reid's home, which she shared with her
>>> father for the last year of his life, showed him on top of Neah-Kah-Nie
>>> Mountain when he was 90 years old. It was one of three times he climbed
>the
>>> mountain that year, she said.
>>> 
>>> Marcy Russo, owner of the Big Wave Café in Manzanita, remembered Wesley
>>> Batterson as a longtime regular at her restaurant.
>>> 
>>> "He was incredibly generous," she said, remembering that she told
>>> Batterson how she wished she had a garden but simply did not have time.
>>> Batterson told her she could have it at his house, but she told him she
>>> didn't have time to tend it. So he planted the garden, tended it and
>brought
>>> her the vegetables.
>>> 
>>> "He was a sweet man," Russo said with tears in her eyes.
>>> 
>>> Wesley Batterson, son, father, friend and conservationist, will be
>missed,
>>> everybody agreed.
>>> 
>>> "He was outstanding," Povey said. "We were lucky to have him in this
>>> community."
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> ------------------------------
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>>> 
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>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> Floyd Schrock
>> McMinnville, Oregon  USA
>> http:\\empids.blogspot.com
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Alan Contreras - Eugene, Oregon