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Memorial Tributes Volume 1 (1979) / Chapter Skim
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Percy Harold McGauhey
Pages 183-190

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From page 183...
... Professor McGauhey was born on a homestead ranch on January 20, 1904, in Ritter, Oregon. The harshness of the eastern Oregon lands is reflected in his philosophy of life and in his verses, many of which appear in Rimrock Ranch and Other Verses and in Oral History of the Sanitary Engineering Research Laboratory, published by the Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley.
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From page 184...
... It was in the latter capacity that he molded and led what has become one of the most respected sanitary engineering laboratories in the world. Professor McGauhey conducted pioneering investigations on a wide variety of subjects that included the composting and management of solid wastes, the economic evaluation of water, the treatment of waste by septic tanks and percolation fields, the eutrophication of natural waters, the fate of detergents in sewage treatment, and the use of the soil mantle as a waste management and water reclamation system.
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From page 185...
... He spent two years in a sanatorium and another year recuperating from surgery. From his verse "Sanatorium," a glimpse of this time emerges: Sanatorium Ink armary Like patient oxen in their stalls We lie benumbed of flesh and brain; Each crack, each smear upon the walls, Becomes the pattern of our pain.
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From page 186...
... I see you there alone yet cannot come To share your solitude When lengthening shadows of' the evening grow— Suddenly to a blackness that is night; Bearing on its restless wings The hot damp cloak of' loneliness. Education to him was the task of instilling useful and wellstructured knowledge into recipients who were expected to work hard and doing this without unnecessary interference or ballyhoo from administrators.
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From page 187...
... In his Oral History of the Sanitary Engineering Research Laboratory, he notes that the Richmond Field Station is some seven miles northwest of the Berkeley campus and remarks: Reluctance of' some faculty members to undertake such a long journey (from campus) was one of the problems of' utilizing the (Field Station)
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From page 188...
... Dichotomy Though 'gult'ed in weariness by day That makes him long t'or bed A man may come to dread the nightWhen night holds things to dread. Mack was a true example of the type of individual here now being paid homage: a descendent of pioneer Americans who took the promise of the American dream literally and who achieved it through the application of strenuous physical labor to a lifelong quest for education and excellence.
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Key Terms

  • civil engineering
  • water pollution
  • pollution control
  • control federation
  • field station

  • oral history
  • harold mcgauhey
  • science degree
  • service award
  • virginia polytechnic

  • percy harold
  • rimrock ranch
  • tahoe water
  • loveable wile
  • waste management

  • miles northwest
  • wile called
  • economic evaluation
  • control board
  • paper found

  • honorary degree
  • distinguished service
  • septic tanks
  • true example
  • academic programs

  • clay pipe
  • strenuous physical
  • sewage treatment
  • unreasonable world
  • damp cloak


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