Senator Wilbur Cleland Molison View All Years

WILBUR C. MOLISON

MR. PRESIDENT: Your committee, appointed to prepare a suitable resolution commemorating the life, character and public service of the late Honorable Wilbur C. Molison, begs leave to submit the following memorial:

Wilbur C. Molison of Grinnell, Iowa, was an unselfish, enthusiastic and dedicated servant of the public good until his death on December 15, 1969.

The son of William and Elizabeth Cleland Molison, he was born near Malcom, Iowa, on December 20, 1902. He attended Malcom High School and graduated with a B.S. degree from Iowa State University, Ames, in 1924. He served as Washington County Extension Agent for four years before returning to Poweshiek County to farm in 1928. From this beginning, he became vitally interested in the educational and economic opportunities for the farmer. He was elected to the Poweshiek County Farm Bureau Board of Directors in 1934, and served as President of the County Farm Bureau from 1940 to 1944. Following his Presidency, he was elected to the State Farm Bureau Board of Directors, representing an eleven-county area, and held this office until 1948.

Mr. Molison’s service to education included membership on the Grinnell­ Newburg Board of Education; he was President of the Board. He was a member of the Poweshiek County Board of Education, and in 1961 was appointed to the Board of Regents of the State of Iowa and served until 1968.

The Honorable Wilbur C. Molison served in the Iowa Senate from 1951 to 1959 representing Poweshiek and Keokuk Counties. The Board of Directors of the Grinnell Community Hospital as well as the Poweshiek County 4-H Association were served not only by his membership but also by his presidency. Immediately preceding his death, Mr. Molison was a member of the Board of the Grinnell State Bank and the General Telephone Company of the Midwest. He was a member of the United Church of Christ­Congregational and served in every office of the church as well as being State Moderator of the Iowa Conference of Congregational and Christian Churches. He was a member of the Hermon Masonic Lodge in Grinnell and was a thirty-second degree Mason. A member of the Kiwanis Club in Grinnell, he was the recipient of the Club’s “Outstanding Senior Citizen Award” in Poweshiek County in 1969.

Mr. Molison was married to the former Miriam McLain on July 6, 1927, and to this marriage was born three children: Mac Molison of Grinnell, Mrs. Grant (Mary) Finley of Harlan, Iowa, and Robert Molison of Urbana, Illinois.

Therefore, Be It Resolved by the Senate of the Sixty-third General Assembly of Iowa: That in the passing of the Honorable Wilbur C. Molison, the state has lost an honored citizen and a faithful and useful servant, and the Senate by this resolution would express its appreciation of his service, and tender its sympathy to the members of his family.

Be It Further Resolved: That a copy of this resolution be spread upon the Journal of the Senate and that the Secretary of the Senate be directed to forward an enrolled copy to the family of the deceased.

JOAN ORR, Chairman

CHARLES F. BALLOUN

JOHN L. MOWRY

Committee

The resolution was unanimously adopted.