Dr. Orville Alvin Vogel

1907 - 1991  (83 years)

• Name	Orville Alvin Vogel
  Prefix	Dr.
  Born	19 May 1907	Pilger, Stanton County, Nebraska, USA
  Gender	Male
  Died	12 Apr 1991	Lacey, Thurston County, Washington, USA
  Buried	Pullman City Cemetery, Pullman, Whitman County, Washington, USA   [1]
  Person ID	I320962	Suedpfalz
  Last Modified	21 Jan 2016

  
  

  Father	William Vogel,   b. 17 Apr 1872, Iowa, USA ,   d. 11 May 1949, Nebraska, USA  (Age 77 years)
  Mother	Emelia Paege,   b. 13 Mar 1874,   d. 15 May 1945  (Age 71 years)
  Married	2 Mar 1899	Nebraska, USA
  Family ID	F108562	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Bertha Jennette Berkman,   b. 19 Jul 1904, Lincoln, Lancaster County, Nebraska, USA ,   d. 1 Aug 1992, Lacey, Thurston County, Washington, USA  (Age 88 years)
  Children	1. Evelyn Vogel   2. Richard Vogel
  Last Modified	1 May 2018
  Family ID	F108575	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Sources

  [S926] Find-A-Grave, (www.findagrave.com). Orville Alvin Vogel Memorial Photos Flowers Edit Share Learn about removing the ads from this memorial... Birth: May 19, 1907 Pilger Stanton County Nebraska, USA Death: Apr. 12, 1991 Lacey Thurston County Washington, USA Dr. Orville Vogel, Wheat Innovator By Hill Williams Orville Vogel, who revolutionized wheat growing, liked to describe himself as "just a dumb wheat breeder." But scientists, politicians and especially wheat growers didn't buy it. When Dr. Vogel won the National Medal of Science in 1976, the citation said, "He set the stage for waging the battle against hunger." Gov. Booth Gardner, announcing last fall the establishment of the Orville Vogel distinguished chair in wheat breeding and genetics at Washington State University, thanked Dr. Vogel "for using your God-given talent in contributing to the feeding of the people of the world." And Bill Schwerin, a wheat grower in the Walla Walla area, said Dr. Vogel was "one of the outstanding people in the world who almost single-handedly made possible the Green Revolution." Dr. Vogel, who died yesterday (April 12) in Lacey at age 83, was a Department of Agriculture researcher stationed at WSU for 42 years until his retirement in 1973. He led the team that, in the 1960s, introduced the first commercially successful short-strawed wheat varieties. The importance of the new varieties in the Pacific Northwest was that increasing fertilizer could boost yields without the weight of the heads of grain causing the wheat to fall over. Economists estimated the new varieties added $50 million a year to the state's economy. The work took on international importance when Dr. Vogel sent samples of the new varieties to plant breeders trying to develop wheat that would thrive in the tropics. One of them, Norman Borlaug, won a Nobel Prize in 1970 and later said, "It was from his (Vogel's) genetic material that we were able to breed and develop the Mexican dwarf-wheat varieties that subsequently revolutionized wheat production" in the Third World. Yet, when Dr. Vogel was in a reminiscing mood, one of the stories he most enjoyed telling was how, as a high-school-age employee in his brother-in-law's machine shop in eastern Nebraska, he learned to solder stills "for moonshiners from down on the Missouri River." Dr. Vogel put that talent to use later when he worked his way through Yankton College in South Dakota repairing automobile radiators. "When the boss discovered I could solder radiators, he gave me a nickel raise, from 30 to 35 cents an hour," he recalled. He later transferred to the University of Nebraska. While at WSU, Dr. Vogel invented and improved equipment to make agricultural research more efficient. Virgil Johnson of the University of Nebraska recently said he found Vogel-invented equipment being used in experimental nurseries in 50 countries. Vogel's contribution "is enormous and will continue into the future," Johnson said. After Dr. Vogel's retirement, he and his wife, Bertha, challenged the wheat industry to raise a special fund for wheat research. They offered to put up $1 for each $20 contributed by farmers. When the period for matching funds ended, the Vogels' contribution totaled $26,000. The fund now stands at more than $700,000. Survivors are his wife; a daughter, Evelyn Gullikson, Olympia; a son, Richard, Bellingham; a sister, Dorothy Brandstetter, Stanton, Neb.; a brother, Claires Vogel, Cape Coral, Fla.; and six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. The family suggests contributions to the Vogel Wheat Research Fund in care of the WSU Foundation, 223 Hulbert Hall, WSU, Pullman, WA 99164-6228. Services will be at the Simpson Methodist Church in Pullman on a date to be announced. (The Seattle Times, April 13, 1991) Family links: Parents: William Vogel (1872 - 1949) Emelia Paege Vogel (1874 - 1945) Spouse: Bertha Jennette Berkman Vogel (1904 - 1992) Sibling: Dorothea L Vogel Brandstetter (1905 - 1992)* Orville Alvin Vogel (1907 - 1991) *Calculated relationship Burial: Pullman City Cemetery Pullman Whitman County Washington, USA Plot: Block 3 AOUW, Lot 6, Grave 6 Created by: Larry Linehan Record added: Aug 14, 2012 Find A Grave Memorial# 95357318