Zaneta Isabel Reiner was assistant supervisor of the Memorial Union Dining Service, and later was a home demonstration agent at large from 1943 to 1947. She was born in 1916 in Gettysburg, South Dakota. She earned her Bachelor of Science in institutional management from OSC in 1943, with additional study in nutrition and clothing. She immediately began work as assistant supervisor of the MU Dining Service after her graduation, making an annual salary of $1200. However, in 1944, it became clear that enrollment in the Army Specialist Training Unit program had dropped, making it no longer necessary to employ her services. She was let go, and began serving temporarily as a home demonstration agent in Umatilla County. She applied to be a home demonstration agent at large in 1946. She was hired at an annual salary of $2400, and she resigned from this position the next year to go into business in Pendleton.
Wanda Cecil Thorson was a home demonstration agent for Douglas County for the 1946-1947 school year. She was born in 1920 in Tacoma, Washington. She received her Bachelor of Science in Home Economics from OSC in 1943. Before coming to OSC, she spent three years serving in the Navy as a supply officer at the Mare Island Naval shipyard. She attended high school in Myrtle Creek, Oregon, and was a resident of Douglas County herself. In December, she married and changed her name to Mrs. Wanda Matson. She began to work half time in June of 1947, and resigned at the end of the month.
Viola Karen Hansen was a home demonstration agent at Oregon State College from 1944 to 1956. Hansen was in 1912, in Plainview, Nebraska. She received her Bachelor of Science in Home Economics from the University of California in 1944. Before coming to work at OSC, Hansen was a war emergency assistant for the 4-H Club in Linn County, Oregon. She was brought on to work at Oregon State at an annual salary of $2,400. For six years, Hansen served in Linn County as a home demonstration agent. In 1950, Hansen took a leave of absence to go to Europe with her church to help displaced persons, as Europe was still experiencing a refugee crisis from World War Two. She also received her master’s degree from Harvard in 1951. Hansen returned to work in 1952, and she was appointed to work under the Mutual Security Agency in Washington D.C. for four months. This was part of a federal government project dedicated to foreign agricultural relations. During this time, Hansen was in charge of a group of young women teachers from Northern European countries who were studying in the United States. She returned after four months and became acting home furnishings specialist and State Extension Agent for OSC at an annual salary of $6,624. In 1955, Hansen took sabbatical leave to obtain her Ph.D. in education from Columbia University. She resigned in 1956 to accept a position as State Leader of Home Economics Extension at the University of Kentucky.
Viola Brainerd Shaffer was a Polk County home demonstration agent from 1946 to 1948. She was born in 1898, in Kansas City, Missouri. She earned her Bachelor of Science from OSC in 1939 in family relations and sociology, with additional study in clothing and manual arts. She did further study at Columbia University, Kansas State, and Chicago Technical Normal School, studying family economics. She was widowed when she came to OSC, with one 15-year-old son. She had five years of experience as a high school food and clothing teacher, and also had experience as a rural branch librarian. She maintained twenty-six rural branch libraries in two counties, and organized reading groups in connection with Home Department Extension Service in California. She also served as a Farm Security County Supervisor, District and Area Supervisor, and State Director of Home Management Supervisors in Oregon. She was a personal friend of Azalea Sager, who vouched for Shaffer’s work. She took a significant pay cut from her Farm Security work in joining OSC staff as an extension agent, but preferred this work so she could spend more than with her son. She was hired at $3300 per year. She resigned in 1948 to be married, at which point she took the name Mrs. Wells.