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Samuel Obenshain
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Thursday, July 27, 2000
'A heart as big as the moon'
Pioneer of soil science, state politics dies at 96
Samuel Obenshain was a venerated Blacksburg elder who also was a
member of the Republican Party during an era when the Democratic
machine of Harry Byrd dominated Virginia.
By MICHAEL SLUSS
The Roanoke Times
BLACKSBURG - Samuel S. Obenshain, a research pioneer who
built a nationally renowned soil science program at Virginia Tech, died
Wednesday at his Blacksburg farm. He was 96.
Obenshain was a professor in Tech's department of agronomy from
1933 until his retirement in 1969. Early in his tenure, he took charge
of
an effort to map soils in every county in Virginia. He eventually directed
all soil science work at the university, overseeing research, teaching
and
a comprehensive soil survey program that was run by Tech and the
U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"We were the premier institution in the United States for soils work,
and that was because of Sam Obenshain," said Ike Eller, Tech's
director of development for the College of Agriculture and Life
Sciences.
Obenshain also was an active member of the Republican Party
during an era when the Democratic machine of Harry F. Byrd Sr.
dominated Virginia politics and effectively controlled all levels of state
and local government.
"It was difficult for anyone at that time to be a Republican," said
Ward Teel, a Republican who represented Montgomery County in the
House of Delegates from 1973 to 1983. "But, being a professor at that
time, he just ignored it and went on and did his own thing."
Obenshain was co-founder of a soil science consulting firm, owner
and operator of a 620-acre Blacksburg farm and a pillar of the
Blacksburg Baptist Church. Longtime friend and business partner
Verlin Smith called Obenshain "one of the greatest gentlemen I've
known in my entire life."
"He had a heart as big as the moon," Smith said.
Obenshain was born in 1904 in Botetourt County, the son of Boyce
and Ida Shockley Obenshain. His father was a farmer, businessman
and Botetourt's first Republican sheriff.
He earned his bachelor's degree from Tech in 1927, graduating as
the university's top agriculture student and finishing second overall in
his
class. He went on to earn a master's degree at Texas A&M and a
doctorate in soils from Iowa State University. He married Josephine M.
Dudley, a librarian at Iowa State, in 1933.
Obenshain was the first trained soil scientist hired by Virginia Tech
and received the university's first commercial fellowship. During his
tenure, Tech's soils mapping and classification program was regarded
as the nation's best.
In 1965, Obenshain co-founded Soil Consultants Inc., a private firm
that provides developers with soil information for locating housing
developments and commercial projects.
Obenshain retired from Tech in 1969 and took up farming full time.
He continued to raise cattle through this year.
Obenshain's son Richard is credited for shaping the GOP into a
viable force in Virginia politics in the 1970s. Richard Obenshain died
in
a 1978 plane crash while campaigning for a seat in the U.S. Senate.
Samuel Obenshain also was preceded in death by his wife, who died
in 1992.
Obenshain is survived by his children Samuel Scott Obenshain, a
physician and educator in Albuquerque, N.M.; Joseph B. Obenshain, a
lawyer in Roanoke County; and Elizabeth A. Obenshain of Blacksburg,
an editorial writer with The Roanoke Times. He also is survived by 10
grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
A funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at Blacksburg Baptist
Church. Burial will follow at 4 p.m. at Mill Creek Baptist Church
Cemetery in Botetourt County.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the S.S.
Obenshain Scholarship at Virginia Tech.
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