George Wisner, a Corvallis Gazette-Times reporter for nearly 20 years, has died after a two-year battle with colon cancer.
Wisner, 79, who died Tuesday, worked for the paper from 1972-1990, earning praise for his “hard-nosed” news reporting. Those who knew him also will remember his wide range of interests and passion for life.
“George had a nose for news and a natural instinct for a good story,” said John Bragg, a G-T photographer who often worked with Wisner. “His stories were built of humor, compassion, sobriety and sometimes a touch of the outlandish.”
Barbara Curtin Miles said, “When I arrived at the paper in 1981, I was a little intimidated by George — seemingly gruff, on top of his game, busy with bigger things than a newbie reporter. Then I happened to ask a question about his daughter Heather’s dancing, and his stern appearance melted. He became the genuine, talented guy that I knew and respected during our years working together.
“He went on to pursue his dreams of higher education, research and travel, (and) we fell out of touch. But we shared something that no longer exists: the thrill of writing a story for one’s hometown and seeing it roll off the presses just a few feet from one’s desk.”
Rod Decker, Wisner’s city editor at the G-T, recalls his work on the recruitment of Hewlett-Packard to Corvallis in the 1970s.
Wisner stayed on the story like a bulldog, Decker said. Eventually he got enough information on the record to break the story, setting off a “knock-down, drag-out politics and land-use battle” that eventually resulted in HP getting the city services it wanted on a split City Council vote.
“(Wisner) was an old-fashioned hard news reporter,” Decker said. “He didn’t give up.”
Wisner’s former wife, Carol Mitchell, recalls that the HP story led to some hate mail from each side, as well as accolades. “When someone said to him, ‘I can’t tell if you are for or against the HP development,’ he replied, ‘Then I guess I’ve done my job.’ ”
“His investigations sometimes made local enemies,” Mitchell said. “He learned to read upside down, which really annoyed officials who let him into the office but unwisely had left documents on their desks. He routinely … irritated the cops and local officials. But he always tried to be accurate and objective. And he did a lot of good for individuals who needed help fighting the system.”
Early years
Wisner was born in 1941 in Binghampton, New York, and graduated from high school in Montrose, Pennsylvania. He served in the Air Force before starting college at Pasadena (California) City College, where he met Mitchell (they married in 1966 and divorced in 1986). During his college years he worked as a bus mechanic, a school bus driver and for the Pasadena Boys Club.
He graduated with a journalism degree from Cal State Los Angeles in 1969 and started work at the News-Post in nearby Monrovia.
Wisner joined the Gazette-Times in 1972. In addition to his news reporting, Wisner wrote regularly on the outdoors, often after hiking, skiing and climbing among the Cascade volcanoes with fellow G-T reporter Don Bundy, with Bragg along to take the pictures.
“We worked many stories together, usually guided by George’s nose for news,” Bragg said. “In particular, George loved to visit, explore and tell the tales of the people who lived and worked in Oregon’s Coast Range logging towns.”
Wisner’s interest in the timber industry also led to two published works, a master’s thesis on Oregon State University’s McDonald-Dunn Research Forest and a later volume on the legendary Hull-Oakes firm in Monroe.
Wisner also served as a volunteer firefighter in Corvallis.
“He’d go out in the middle of the night, come home all smoky, then shower and go off to work,” Mitchell said.
“I remember,” Bragg said, “showing up on a rainy night near the tracks on Southwest 15th Street where the old Corvallis flour mill was burning to the ground and found myself taking a picture of George, manning a firehose, silhouetted against the flames.”
Mitchell remembers a different fire.
“One time the G-T sent him out to cover a fire. But when he didn’t return, they sent another reporter to look for him. That reporter couldn’t find him but got a photo. Eventually George turned up. The fire department was severely shorthanded that day and desperate to get the house fire under control. So he suited up. There he was in the photo. That photo of him suited up and on the roof of a burning house — ‘Reporter fights fire’ — went national.
“He really was one of a kind.”
Back to school
Wisner left the paper in 1990 to return to school, eventually earning a master’s in archaeology and anthropology from Oregon State University.
“He had a lifelong interest in archaeology and early settlements,” Mitchell said.
Daughter Heather Wisner noted that those interests often led to travel adventures in Mexico and Central America. He also worked on archaeological digs in Oregon and Idaho, Heather said, did some survey work for the Bureau of Land Management and wrote articles for archaeology publications.
Mitchell praised Heather for her caregiving during George’s cancer fight.
“He died at home as he wanted and was devotedly attended by his daughter for his final month,” Mitchell said. “Heather was extraordinary, even managing to get him to the coast for a bowl of Mo’s chowder in Newport.”
Miles, upon hearing that Wisner was ill, sent him an email May 6 in which she closed with, “I wish you all the best as you move on to your next ‘assignment.'”
She said she didn’t expect a reply. She got one five days later.
“I am overwhelmed by those who have written to me in recent days,” Wisner wrote. “And I will be forever grateful. As one Hospice worker asked me: ‘What do you expect out of this experience?’ Thought a moment, and all I could comment was: ‘Don’t really know. Never died before.’ Thought she might have meant Hospice, but just wanted to tweak her mind a bit.
“But you are right, we never lived in a finer journalism moment, an era that went all too quickly, yet produced some very memorable stories. If the world remembers me for little else, I hope it will be this: ‘I gave it my best shot.’ And enjoyed it all — with the best publishers, editors, city editors, copy editors, reporters, and support staff anyone could have at their backs.”
Information on memorial services was not available at press time.
