Dr. Florence E. Blazier was an Associate Professor of Home Economics from 1924 to 1949. Blazier was born on September 24th, 1888, in Springfield, Indiana. She received her undergraduate education from the University of Chicago and the University of Indiana. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1932. Blazier had previously taught home economics in various grade schools and high schools throughout the 1910’s. She then taught home economics at Indiana University. She became the head of the Department of Home Economics Education in 1925 and held that position until her retirement. She was paid $2800 a year initially for this position, but by 1945, her salary had risen to $3770. She retired in 1949 due to an illness. Blazier tried to come back to work part-time when her health began improving, but she passed away in 1951.
Frances Ann Clinton Hall was a home demonstration agent at Oregon State College from 1930 to 1964. Hall was born in 1903, in Adna, Washington. She received her Bachelor of Science from the College of Puget Sound in 1925, and her Master of Science from Oregon State College in 1930. She was brought on to work at OSC as an extension agent at-large at an annual rate of $2,400. During her time as a home demonstration agent at-large, Hall served in various places in Oregon, such as Portland, Yamhill and Union County. Hall also worked on a wide array of projects in 1930. She helped revise nutrition extension material, prepared radio service material, and prepared the extension service’s exhibit at the Pacific International Livestock Exposition of 1930, as well as the State Fair. She also assisted with social service programs in Portland, such as Diets for Dependent Families. In 1931, she was assigned to serve in Multnomah County. Hall later became Assistant State Leader of Home Economics Extension in 1944, and in 1952, she became State Leader. She resigned in 1958 and got married and became a homemaker for a few years, but was soon widowed. She returned in 1961, and became an extension agent for Klamath County. She resigned in 1964.
Alma Frances Tapscott was an Assistant Professor of Clothing, Textiles, and Related Arts in 1946. She was born in 1909 in Lima, Ohio. She attended Ohio Northern University, Bowling Green College, and Ohio State University, receiving her Bachelor of Science in Home Economics, with additional study in elementary education, from the latter in 1936. She received her Master of Arts from Teachers’ College, Columbia University in Clothing, Textiles, and Related Arts. Before coming to OSC, she spent eleven years teaching high school and one year as a spectroscopist in private industry. She was hired at $2800 for a ten month term. She resigned in 1948, at which point she was making a salary of $3,360.
Irene Butts was an English instructor at Oregon State College from 1946 to 1964. She was born in 1899, in Minnewahkon, North Dakota. She received her undergraduate education at North Dakota State University from 1936 to 1939, and received her Bachelor of Arts in English from Oregon State College in 1946. She listed her daughter, Jayce LaRayn Butts, as her beneficiary in her job application to OSC. However, she did not mention if she was single, married, or widowed. In 1951, she had to take sick leave, as she fell ill with pneumonia. In 1953, the Oregon Federation of Women’s Club wrote a letter about the Oregon State College Board of Trustees loan of $200 to Irene Butts in 1946, which was still not fully paid off. She made one payment in 1953, which made the balance $173.90, but afterwards, she was difficult to reach. The letter mentions the many difficulties Butts had faced over the years in paying back her loan. Butts later revealed in an apology letter that she had many medical expenses that made it difficult to pay off her loan. She retired in 1964, after 18 years of service to Oregon State.
Erwin Bertran Lemon received a business degree from Oregon Agricultural College in 1911, becoming a part-time accounting instructor until 1943. Lemon also held the office of University Registrar from 1922-1943 and was Dean of Administration from 1943-1959.
Dr. Clare Rose Comebellack was an English instructor at Oregon State College from 1946 to 1954. Her annual salary was $2,700. She was previously an English instructor at the University of Oregon. She also worked as a high school and middle school teacher at various schools in California. She was listed as married with no children when she came to work at OSC. She received her undergraduate education from San Jose State Teachers College and the University of California from 1924 to 1927. She received her Bachelor of Arts in 1928 and Master of Arts in 1930 from Stanford University. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California in 1937. Her master’s thesis was titled, “The Marvelous in the Earlier Middle English Metrical Romances”, and her doctoral thesis was titled, “The Husband’s Return: A Study in Medieval Fiction”. She had published an article called, “Root, Eye, and Mind”, in The American Mercury in 1941. She also received a letter from President A.L. Strand complimenting her on an article she published in the American Journal in 1948, titled “The Identity and Origin of Eurychus in the Ships' Catalogue of Hyginus” This article is still available through jstor.com. Combellack requested sabbatical leave from the university in 1953 after working for six years, but was told that she did not qualify because she had been hired on a temporary basis, with annually renewed contracts for six years. She was also informed that since she would not be granted a permanent, tenured position within the English department, she would have to be terminated due to State Board policy. Her employment with the university was terminated in 1954. She was born in 1907, in Kennett, California.