biographical statement

Willis George Eichberger, was born in Foster, NE on 8 Nov. 1912. He graduated from high school in Plainview, NE. He attended the Univ. of NE and graduated in 1940 with B.Sc. degree.

He taught high school in Verdigre, NE from 1940-1947. He worked for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in Ainsworth, NE from 1947-1953. At that time, he decided to return to college for his Master’s degree. He graduated for the Univ. of NE in 1954 with an MA degree. He then attended Iowa State College (now IA State Univ.) at Ames, IA graduating with a Ph.D. in economics in 1956.

Subsequently he was employed by the USDA in Little Rock, AR and the Public Health Service in Atlanta, GA and Wash., DC. While in that capacity, they went to Accra, Ghana, Africa on a United Nations Study Commission team in 1962 for 3 months. Upon their return, he applied for employment with the State Dept., Foreign Service section. He was accepted and they went to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for the next 10 years. While in that job, he was the Deputy Director for U.S. AID (Agency for International Development).

While they were stationed in Africa, they traveled extensively in Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia and other parts of both eastern and western Africa.

The Eichbergers were married on 24 April 1937 in Lincoln, NE. They were married for 56 years. Gretchen Merting of Lincoln, NE, died in 1993 in Baytown, TX. Willis George Eichberger passed away in 1998 in Baytown, TX.

They had two children. A son, Robert was born in 1938, was a career officer retiring from the US Air Force in 1980. He currently resides with his wife in Tucson, AZ. A daughter, Erma, born in 1939, was an executive secretary for many years and currently resides with her husband in Baytown, TX.

The Eichbergers were residents of Valdosta from 1974 until 1992.

This biography written by Willis George Eichberger's son Robert in 2008

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