10/23/06 Spillman Memorial Stone rededicated

Washington Ag October 23, 2006 Saturday a ceremony on the Pullman campus of Washington State University rededicated the Spillman Memorial Stone in the Clark Hall Plaza. William Jasper Spillman was WSU's first wheat breeder and a member of the then Washington Agricultural College faculty from 1894 to 1902. The Memorial Stone had been moved to Spillman Agronomy Farm in the 1950's. Current WSU winter wheat breeder Steve Jones says the folklore was that Spillman's and his wife's ashes had been spread at Spillman Farm but he says their ashes were actually spread on campus near Johnson Hall. Through the effort of Jones and some other faculty members, the Memorial Stone was returned to the campus earlier this year very near its original location. Jones: "Just a beautiful site just west of Hulbert Hall. We tore out a 60x60 square foot area of concrete and put in grass and a little pathway and shrubs. The stone is there now. So it is a beautiful little area." Jones says Spillman worked directly with farmers, surveying them by mail. He says basically any wheat grown in the Pacific Northwest today goes back in its pedigree to Spillman's first lines. Spillman went on to work for the USDA but Jones says he thought enough of the Pullman area to have his and his wife's ashes spread on campus. I'm Bob Hoff.