Elsie Elizabeth Mahaffey and Paul Thomas Wilson
PAUL THOMAS WILSON, son of LUCY ELLA SAWYER and THOMAS WILSON, was born May 26, 1898 in North Yakima, Yakima, Washington,7081 and died March 23, 1969 in Napa County, California.7066, 250
He married ELSIE ELIZABETH MAHAFFEY. She was born February 28, 1905 in Decorah, Winneshiek, Iowa,6300 and died May 27, 1978 in Marin County, California.250
Children of ELSIE ELIZABETH MAHAFFEY and PAUL THOMAS WILSON:
- Son
- Daughter
Education
Paul T. Wilson
- graduated from Whitman College, Walla Walla, Walla Walla, Washington in 1925 in Biology9891
- Activities: Sophomore Play (3, 4)
- Activities:
- graduated from University of California, Berkeley, Alameda County, California with a Ph.D. degree in Zoology7066
Work History
- Paul Thomas Wilson was head of the College of Marin's life sciences department.7066
Clubs and Associations
Paul T. Wilson
Obituaries
Daily Independent Journal, March 24, 19697066
Ex-College Science Leader Wilson Dies
Dr. Paul Thomas Wilson, a prime backer of the establishment of Point Reyes National Seashore and a teacher who taught natural sciences to thousands of students at the College of Marin, died in a Bay Area hospital yesterday after a long illness.
Wilson, 71, retired as head of the College of Marin's life sciences department in 1963 after teaching there since 1932. He first taught at the college when it was only nine years old and during his 31 years as one of the college's most popular professors, he taught classes in human physiology, anatomy, geology, physical geography, health education and photography. He was name head of the life sciences department in 1946.
A devotee of nature and nature education, Wilson was active in the Marin Conservation League, the Marin Nature Group, the Sierra Club, Western Botanists and the Audubon Society.
A strong backer of creation of the Point Reyes National Seashore, he served as a director of the Point Reyes Seashore Foundation. He also served as a ranger naturalist for several summers in such national parks as Yosemite, Sequoia and Olympia and worked one summer at the Rocky Mountain Biology station near Gunnison, Colo.
Born in 1898, Wilson was reared in the Yakima Valley of Washington where his father had homesteaded. He served in the Army's veterinary corps in World War I and served nine months in France, although he never got in the fighting.
After the war, Wilson earned his bachelor's degree from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash. He then attended summer school at Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands of Puget Sound and studied under renowned ecologist Victor Shelford. It was during this time that Wilson published his first of dozens of scientific paper which ranged from the distribution of clams — the subject of that first paper — to the health characteristics of twins.
Later, Wilson received his master and Ph.D. degrees in zoology from the University of California at Berkeley where he also taught for two years while working for his doctoral degree.
He is survived by his wife of 40 years, Elsie E. (Pat) Wilson, a former science teacher at the Katharine Branson School in Ross who met Wilson while she was a student in one of his classes at Berkeley. They lived on Bon Air Road in Kentfield. He is also survived by a son, Thomas M. Wilson of San Jose; a daughter, Mrs. Ruth Rodrigues of Santa Venitia; a brother, Charles S. Wilson of Anchorage, Alaska, and a siter, Mrs. H. J. Graham of Los Angeles.
Funeral will be held at 6 p.m. tomorrow at the Unitarian Fellowship of Marin, 240 Channing Way, San Rafael. Wilson will be cremated and his ashes scattered. A memorial service is planned at a later date at one of the parks in which Wilson was interested.
Independent Journal, May 30, 19787070
Elsie E. Wilson
A memorial service for Elsie E. (Pat) Wilson will be held Saturday at 5 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church in San Anselmo.
Mrs. Wilson, a resident of Marin since 1932 and a former teacher at the Katharine Branson School in Ross, died Friday following a brief illness. She was 73.
Mrs. Wilson was a native of Iowa and was a graduate of Tarkio College in Missouri. She also held two master's degrees.
She moved to Berkeley in 1929 where her husband, Dr. Paul T. Wilson, was attending college. He served for many years as head of the Life Science Department at the College of Marin. He died in 1969.
She was active in the Marin Conservation League, the American Association of University Women, the California Democratic Council, the Native Plant Society, the Sierra Club, the Strybling Arboretum and Sigma Zi.
She is survived by a brother, Thomas Wilson of San Jose, a sister, Mrs. Richard Rodrigues of San Rafael, and several grandchildren.
The family prefers memorial gifts to the Marin Conservation League.
[NOTE: The survivors listed are actually her son and daughter.]
Census Records
| Date | Location | Enumerated Names |
|---|---|---|
| June 1, 19007051 | Parker, Yakima, Washington |
|
| May 2, 19107007 | Moxee, Yakima, Washington |
|
| March 11, 19201319 | Cottonwood, Yakima, Washington |
|
| April 5, 19301175 | San Francisco, San Francisco, California |
|
| April 10, 19407067 | San Rafael, Marin, California |
|
