Obituary of Roland Lee Guthrie PhD

Roland Lee Guthrie, PhD, 85 of Morgantown, passed away during the early morning hours of Wednesday, December 11, 2013, at Monongalia General Hospital. He was born April 5, 1928, in Charleston, WV, son of the late J Hawthaway and Erma Helen Stadler Guthrie. After growing up in Huntington, WV, and graduating from Huntington High School, Roland enlisted into the US Army and served from 1946 to 1948 in Japan as a Technician Fifth Grade. He was personally selected by General Robert L. Eichelberger, commander of the 8th Army, overseeing the post-war occupation of Japan, to be in the honor guard at the general's retirement ceremony. After completing his military service, he attended Marshall College in Huntington before transferring to West Virginia University, where during his junior year he was called up to serve again in the US Army during the Korean conflict as a Corporal in West Germany. There, he worked as a surveyor along the new Cold War frontier. Upon completion of this latter tour of military service, Roland returned to WVU where he earned a BS in Forestry followed by an MS in Botany and a PhD in Biology. Roland began his career as a Forester-Naturalist at the Isaac W. Bernheim Forest near Louisville, KY. In 1959, he began his teaching career in the Biology Department at WVU and at the time of his death was a Professor Emeritus of Biology. Dr. Guthrie taught courses in Botany, Biology, and Forestry. He published his research in various journals; his most important research, "Xylem Structure and Ecological Dominance in a Forest Community," was published in the American Journal of Botany in 1989. Dr. Guthrie was co-author with Dr. Roy Clarkson and Wm. Homer Duppstadt of Forest Wildlife Plants of the Monongahela National Forest and co-revised with the late Dr. Earl Core the Forest Trees of West Virginia. For over 30 years, Roland served as Director of the University's Core Arboretum, guiding its development from its early years into an important teaching and research facility and community resource. Many people fondly remember the Sunday morning wildflower walks each April that Roland conducted for the public. During his long teaching career, Dr. Guthrie received a number of awards and honors, including: being selected as an Outstanding Educator of America in 1975 and an Outstanding Teacher 1976-77 from the WVU College of Arts & Sciences. He received the Teaching Award of Merit for 1987-88 from the WVU Honor Society of Agriculture, Gamma Sigma Delta and was awarded full membership in Sigma Xi (the Scientific Research Society); he was made an Honorary Fellow in the Royal Horticultural Society (UK) in 1976, and in 1986, the WVU Forestry Yearbook, "The Cruiser," was dedicated to Roland for his service to the University and the public for work as Director of the Core Arboretum; he was inducted into the WV Agriculture & Forestry Hall of Fame in 1999. He was a founding member of the WV chapter of the Nature Conservancy for which he served as Treasurer for three years. Dr. Earl Core appointed Roland and Dr. Willem Van Eck to negotiate with landowners across WV to acquire land for the Nature Conservancy. He considered their crowning achievement to be their negotiations which resulted in the acquisition of the key parcels of land for the Nature Conservancy now making up the Cranesville Swamp Preserve. Roland is survived by his wife of 59 years, Madge Gould Guthrie; three sons, Frank M. of Champaign, IL; Andrew Lee, with partner Nicholas Colman of Farnham, England; and John H. of Morgantown. A sister, Mrs. Mary Lou Barbera of Huntington; a niece and nephew, Linda Reynolds and Michael Barbera, both of Huntington, plus several cousins, including John Hamric of Burlington, WI. The Hasting Funeral Home in Morgantown has been entrusted with performing cremation services. A memorial service will be held at the funeral home in early 2014 and will be announced in this paper. A private committal service will be held in Huntington, WV.