Ramon Browning Wilson Obituary (1922 - 2013)

Ramon Browning Wilson Click here to listen to Funeral Recording Professor Ramon Browning Wilson, 90, died Monday evening in Sandy. Born Sept. 22, 1922 in Ogden to Benjamin Andrew Wilson and Hannah Josephine (Browning) Wilson, he married Ruth Goates Worlton on July 27, 1945 in the Logan Temple. She died in 2003. They had five children. He graduated from Davis High School in 1940 and enrolled in Utah State Agricultural College (now Utah State University) where he studied dairy production and agricultural economics. He worked his way through school milking cows, doing construction work on Hill Air Force Base and being a surveyor's helper. He enlisted in the U.S. Army via the Reserve Officer Training Corps. Three weeks after being married he boarded a troop ship headed to the Pacific Theater of Operations. He spent four years in uniform and mustered out as a Captain with year's service in the Philippines. He earned his bachelor's degree from Utah State in 1947. He earned his master's degree in agricultural economics at Purdue University in 1948 and his doctorate from Purdue in 1950. He joined the Utah State faculty and later worked for the California Department of Agriculture in Sacramento. In 1954 he returned to Purdue, where he spent the bulk of his career as a professor and administrator. He taught agricultural economics, public policy and marketing. While at Purdue he participated in trade missions to Europe, the Far East and South America. On one of those trips he survived a plane crash into the Rio de Janeiro harbor. He led People-to-People missions to the Soviet Union and the Peoples Republic of China. In 1974 he became Assistant to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and head of the USDA Office of Intergovernmental Affairs in Washington, D.C. He traveled extensively throughout Europe and Africa as a member of the NATO Food and Agriculture Planning Committee. He retired from Purdue in 1978, returned to Utah and spent three years at the Ezra Taft Benson Agriculture and Food Institute on the BYU campus. He participated in academic studies at the University of California, Berkley, and Georgetown University. He was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints throughout his life, serving in a variety of church positions in Indiana, Washington and Utah. The Wilsons took considerable pleasure in befriending Utah graduate students at Purdue. He was active in the Sons of Utah Pioneers and the SCORE business mentoring organization. An accomplished outdoorsman, he fished, hiked and hunted extensively in the Intermountain West. Survivors include son William Scott (Sarah) Wilson, Rochester Ind.; daughter JoAnne (Jeff) Price, Sandy; son Bruce Ramon (Julie) Wilson, Draper; daughter Kay (Thom) Morgan, Farmington; grandchildren Luke Ramon (Nancy) Wilson, Dr. Hannah Josephine Wilson; Dr. Greg (Angel) Price, Angelle Barrett, J.D. (Katie) Price, Kathleen (Michael) Snarr; Nicholas (Misty) Wilson, Lindsey Wilson; Matt (Emilee) Morgan, Danny and Anna Morgan; great-grandchildren Drake and Calvin Wilson, Scott, Jason, Sam and Elsa Price, Chase, Luke and Ruby Barrett; Paige, Claire and Dayne Price. Ray and Ruth's daughter Lynn, died in 2012. Services will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 13, 2013 at the Sandy Hidden Valley Third Ward, 11755 S. Highland Dr., Sandy. A viewing will be held prior to services from noon to 1:45 p.m. at the church. Burial will be in Ogden Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family, which is most appreciative of the care provided by Sunrise assisted living facility in Sandy, suggests memorials to the LDS Perpetual Education Fund. VisitationHidden Valley 3rd Ward Sandy, UT April 13, 2013 12:00 PM - 1:45 PM ServiceHidden Valley 3rd Ward 11725 South 2000 East Sandy, UT April 13, 2013 2:00 PM CemeteryOgden City Cemetery 20th and Madison Ogden, UT 84404 April 13, 2013