Bing Francis Oral History Interview (2 of 2)

The interview opens with Francis discussing the Indian regalia that he received from his grandfather, who used to trade on the Siletz Reservation for baskets and also bought the regalia from John Ponsee, a beloved family friend and tribal member. Ponsee, already an old man when Francis first met him as a child, had been the chief of his tribe but was no longer in that position and had no heirs to pass his regalia down to. Francis’ family spent a lot of time camping on the reservation throughout his childhood and early adult life. He and Ponsee maintained a close friendship until Ponsee’s death. Ponsee and his wife told Francis about their experiences on their tribe’s Trail of Tears - a forced march from their homelands in the Rogue River area first to Grand Ronde, and then to the Siletz Reservation. Ponsee’s wife told Francis that when her grandmother became ill on the Trail, she was forced to abandon her and continue marching, leaving her grandmother to die alone. Francis shares the tribal history told to him by Ponsee’s family and other tribal members, as well as his recollections of life on the reservation.

From there, Francis talks about the early days of his career, beginning when he was still a student at Oregon State Agricultural College working for Dr. Kenneth Gordon in the Zoology department and later for Dr. John Horner in what would become the Horner Museum. He focuses in particular on his early experiences with managing museum collections. As a zoology student, he was assigned field work that included tracking and recording the presence of wildlife in certain areas, and he was later asked to collect (i.e. trap and kill) specimens for the museum’s collections. He eventually marched into Dr. Gordon’s office and refused to continue collecting specimens because the killing weighed too heavily on his conscience. From that point on, his role was oriented toward wildlife observation. Francis also talks about the experiences that led to his interest in animal husbandry and zoology. He describes what he learned from Dr. Horner and the work that he did in the museum, including Horner’s emphasis on having complete information for each specimen. Francis spent many hours chasing down leads in trying to figure out the origins of the donations received by the museum. After Horner died, Francis lost interest in working for the museum and moved on to other areas in his career. The interview ends with him explaining how he came to work for Jess Hansen and then as a county agent in Washington and Jackson Counties.

Lawrence E. "Bing" Francis was born on June 12, 1910. A graduate of Oregon State Agricultural College (Zoology, 1932) and former Washington County Extension Agent, Francis spent much of his career working in the legal and banking professions.