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:
“Keeping up with the Joneses was a full-time job with my mother and father. It was not until many years later when I lived alone that I realized how much cheaper it was to drag the Joneses down to my level.”
—Quentin Crisp (b. 1908)
“Lonesome? God, no! From the day the kids are born, if it’s not one thing, it’s another. After all those years of being responsible for them, you finally get to the point where you want to scream: “Fall out of the nest already, you guys, will you? It’s time.””
—Anonymous Mother of Four. As quoted in Women of a Certain Age, by Lillian B. Rubin, ch. 2 (1979)