G. Burton Wood Oral History Interview (1 of 2)

Gregory Burton Wood, who preferred to be called Burt, left his mark at Oregon State University. From his initial stint at Oregon State University as an undergraduate student, Wood’s journey to education would be a varied one. Despite this, he would return to OSU as a professor and eventually rose to a director position with the Agricultural Department. Among his many commitments and accomplishments outside of OSU, Wood also contributed to the community as a founding director of the Citizens Bank of Corvallis. In his first interview for this series, Wood begins with how his family came to be in Oregon.

Further into the interview, Wood talks about his habit of playing near rail road tracks. He managed to become well acquainted with the engineer of a train that ran from Jacksonville to Medford. The engineer allowed Wood to ride along in the engine compartment and he would take every opportunity he could to ride. As he got older, his time would be taken up by a paper route and later a job at a local grocery store. Eventually his family relocated to Corvallis from Medford and Wood gives a brief recollection of the move.