Interviewer: Susan Brumley
Interview Date: November 21, 1985
Location: Waldo Hall, Oregon State University
Duration: 0:20:28
This interview opens with Newton’s description of the farm outside of Corvallis where he was born and raised. He then briefly relates his school years and early adulthood, noting that he learned to fly at Oceanside Junior College in Southern California and then enlisted in the Glider Corps during World War II. In 1945 he joined the merchant seamen. As part of his duties during the war he travelled to India, Belgium, and the Philippines. When the war ended, he returned to the U.S. and took advantage of the G.I. Bill to finish his undergraduate degree. He married, had two children, and took a job with the agricultural extension service at Oregon State College. He then worked as a private horticulture consultant for a year. When the Korean War began, he enlisted again, this time in the Military Sea and Transportation Service.
Afterward, he returned to OSC to pursue a master’s degree. When he finished, there was a demand for people with agricultural experience overseas, so he applied to the United States Agency for International Development and was assigned as an agricultural advisor. He spent two years in Afghanistan transitioning nomadic communities to settled agriculture. He was later assigned to Korea, and then to Iran and Nepal. Later, he was transferred to Vietnam during the Vietnam War. His role there was to teach refugees subsistence agriculture and gardening. After the war ended he was sent to Nigeria to do similar work with victims of the civil war there. The interview concludes with Newton describing how he met his second wife and talking about his work abroad and his retired life.
Ivan Newton was born in 1917 and grew up on a farm just west of Corvallis. A former Extension Service employee, Newton also earned a bachelor’s degree in Horticulture (1948) and a master’s degree in Natural Resource (1956) from Oregon State College. Newton spent the majority of his career abroad as a component of his military service or in pursuit of a career in international development. He passed away in 2006.
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Afterward, he returned to OSC to pursue a master’s degree. When he finished, there was a demand for people with agricultural experience overseas, so he applied to the United States Agency for International Development and was assigned as an agricultural advisor. He spent two years in Afghanistan transitioning nomadic communities to settled agriculture. He was later assigned to Korea, and then to Iran and Nepal. Later, he was transferred to Vietnam during the Vietnam War. His role there was to teach refugees subsistence agriculture and gardening. After the war ended he was sent to Nigeria to do similar work with victims of the civil war there. The interview concludes with Newton describing how he met his second wife and talking about his work abroad and his retired life.
Ivan Newton was born in 1917 and grew up on a farm just west of Corvallis. A former Extension Service employee, Newton also earned a bachelor’s degree in Horticulture (1948) and a master’s degree in Natural Resource (1956) from Oregon State College. Newton spent the majority of his career abroad as a component of his military service or in pursuit of a career in international development. He passed away in 2006.