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w.-
<br /> Matsler left
<br /> `clever'
<br /> stamp MATSLER Continued from Page 1B
<br /> on area parks superintendent in Multnomah Matsler worked for the city until
<br /> County. 1964, then spent a year in a similar
<br /> A whimsical animal with a position in Arlington County, Va.
<br /> ■ Obituary: Eugene's formerturtle-like body and an ant-eater After that, he worked as superin-
<br /> arks and recreation director is snout, the litter eater contained a tendent and park planner for Mult-
<br /> p tape-recorded message telling chil- nomah County.
<br /> remembered as a visionary. dren: "I'm hungry, I need some- But there was more to Matsler
<br /> thing to eat." than parks. He also loved wood-
<br /> Sure enough, children took great working — he called it whittling,
<br /> By SUSAN PALMER delight in running around gather-
<br /> ...AL.., said his wife,
<br /> The Register-Guard ing up litter to feed it, Rhay said. vFrances Mat-
<br /> If you've taken your mom to Hendricks "He was good at coming up with :4 sler.
<br /> Park for a Sundaycreative solutions to problems," He was fa-
<br /> picnic, enjoyed a run Rhay said. mous for the
<br /> through Amazon Park or hiked the Ridgel
<br /> ine Trail with its sweeping views, take a Matsler grew up in Texas and wooden carved
<br /> moment this weekend to say a silent moved to Eugene in 1936. He attend- ' " neck t i e s h e
<br /> thanks to William Riley "Tex"Matsler. ed the University of Oregon and i wore and for
<br /> Matsler, Eugene's former parks and ret received a bachelor of landscape ar- the wooden
<br /> reation director who worked to make the chitecture in 1946 and a master's in .-. 41411., pendants he
<br /> parks possible, died Thursday of pneumo- parks and recreation administra- William Riley gave friends.
<br /> nia in Eugene. He was 85. tion in 1962. "Tex"Matsler When the UO's
<br /> Acquaintances called him a stubborn vi-
<br /> sionary with a streak of creativity who recreation director in 1949 after grandstand was remodeled in the
<br /> resembled American humorist Mark working as a landscape architect at 1980s, Matsler carved small wooden
<br /> Twain. the University of Oregon and for ducks from the old boards and pre-
<br /> "He already had white hair and a mus- the Portland Bureau of Parks and sented them as gifts to contributors
<br /> tache when I first met him and he was Recreation. who gave more than $1,000 to the
<br /> plain-spoken and very clever," said Tim Under his direction, Eugene ac- project.
<br /> Rhay, the city's parks maintenance quired Hendricks Park, Westmore- Matsler was born April 4, 1917,
<br /> manager. land Park, Amazon Park and land in Brownfield, Texas, to Josephine
<br /> While Rhay never worked with Matsler, along the Willamette River that McClain and Lum Matsler. He mar-
<br /> he took a parks planning seminar from him would eventually become parkland, ried Josephine Lumm in 1942. She
<br /> during the 1960s and recalls an ingenious said Andrea Riner, current parks died in 1985 and he married
<br /> device — a litter eater — that Matsler planner and senior landscape archi- Frances Flemming in 1985.
<br /> helped craft white he was working as parks tett. He served in the U.S. Navy con
<br /> In 1950, he took newspaper pub- struction battalion known as the
<br /> Turn to ME r'SLER,Page 4B lisher Alton Baker and managing Seabees during World War II.
<br /> editor Bill Tugman to the area He is survived by his wife; two
<br /> where South Eugene High School sons, Reagan of Silverton and Mark
<br /> now stands and pointed to the ridge of Corvallis; four •brothers, Urbin
<br /> south of the city. "That won't al- and Ed of Dallas, Ore., Mac of
<br /> ways be there if we don't do some- Springfield and Harold of Minden,
<br /> thing about it,"he told them. Nev.;a sister, Patsy Jensen of Flori-
<br /> The Ridgeline Trail Park was da; and four grandchildren. A son,
<br /> completed after his tenure, but Joel, died previously.
<br /> JANVAKy 25 i 2003 friends who recognized his contri- Private inurnmentwill be at
<br /> bution recently placed bronze Mulkey Cemetery in Eugene.
<br /> r
<br /> 161, KeijisteGuard plaques bearing his name under the Musgrove Family Mortuary is in
<br /> park maps at the Dillard and Blan- charge of arrangements.
<br /> ton roads access points. Memorial contributions may be
<br /> "It's time to acknowledge Tex made to the W. Riley "Tex" Matsler
<br /> more publicly for what he did 50 Memorial Scholarship Fund in care
<br /> 0 years ago," said John Etter, former of the University of Oregon Founda-
<br /> principal landscape architect for tion, P.O. Box 3340, Eugene, OR
<br /> the city. 97401.
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