Later Years
In 1853, Willson served as a member of the board of trustees at Willamette University, which was the new name of the Oregon Institute. The following year he served as a commissioner for the proposed and later built Oregon and California Railroad. William Holden Willson died in Salem on April 17, 1856, at the age of 51 and was interred in Salem Pioneer Cemetery. Willson owned a bookstore in Salem at one time, and when his daughter Frances married Joseph K. Gill in 1866, Gill took over the store. The land he donated for a park in Salem is located next to the Oregon State Capitol and was named Willson Park in his honor.
Read more about this topic: William H. Willson
Famous quotes containing the word years:
“It is remarkable how easily and insensibly we fall into a particular route, and make a beaten track for ourselves. I had not lived there a week before my feet wore a path from my door to the pond-side; and though it is five or six years since I trod it, it is still quite distinct. It is true, I fear, that others may have fallen into it, and so helped to keep it open.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Social Security is a government program with a constituency made up of the old, the near old and those who hope or fear to grow old. After 215 years of trying, we have finally discovered a special interest that includes 100 percent of the population. Now we can vote ourselves rich.”
—P.J. (Patrick Jake)