Paul John SCARBRO

SCARBRO, WEIGLE, YOUNGBLOOD, TEMPLETON

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 8/27/2016 at 16:21:01

August 28, 1873 ---- January 18, 1941

Paul Scarbro Dies in South Dakota

Funeral services were held Tuesday at 2 o’clock in the First Methodist Church in Brookings, South Dakota for Paul Scarbro, 68, principal for the last 18 years of the School of Agriculture at State College. Rev. Edw. W. Stodgill conducted the services, and the body was laid to rest in Greenwood cemetery, beside his son, Keith, who died in 1928. Classes at State College were dismissed all Tuesday afternoon to allow students to attend the funeral services.

Mr. Scarbro died suddenly Saturday afternoon at 4 o’clock from an attack of heart disease. There had been no indication of ill health until he fell ill Friday night. He was taken to the Municipal Hospital Saturday afternoon and died about an hour afterwards. He was 67 years, 4 months and 21 days old at his death.

Known to hundreds of South Dakotans – many former School of Agriculture students and others – as “Dad” Scarbro, he was instrumental in promoting vocational education for hundreds of farm boys and girls.

Paul John Scarbro was born at Mt. Liberty, Ohio, August 28, 1873 and moved with his parents to Keokuk county, Iowa, when he was four years of age. He attended country school in Keokuk county, graduating from the high school of Monroe, Iowa in 1892. He received his B. D. degree from Iowa State Teachers College in 1908 and his A. B. degree from Des Moines University in 1912, later taking graduate work at Iowa State College and Boulder Colorado. He was united in marriage to Hazel Dell Weigle, June 17, 1908. He had one son, Keith, who preceded him in death in December 1928.

Mr. Scarbro worked with young people for about forty-five years. In 1892 he began teaching in a rural school in Marion County, Iowa. Since that time his life was devoted to young people in 4-H club activities, Boy Scout work and in the School of Agriculture at South Dakota State College. He was one of the pioneers in 4-H Club work. While in Iowa he worked with Mr. O. H. Benson, who afterward became national leader of club work in the United States. In Iowa, Mr. Scarbro served as a volunteer local club leader without pay. He organized the first baby beef club in the U. S. During this time he was principal and later superintendent of the Belmond, Iowa high school. In 1918 he left this position to go to South Dakota as State Club leader, in which capacity he served for five years. In 1923 he became principal of the School of Agriculture, which position he held until his death.

Another phase of young peoples activities in which he participated, was his work with Boy Scouts. He spent seventeen years in this work, beginning as a volunteer scoutmaster in Belmond, Iowa, later serving for many years as scoutmaster in Brookings, South Dakota.

Mr. Scarbro was a son of a Methodist minister, joining the church in his early youth, and through many years was active in its work. He was a member of the I.O.O.F., a Shriner in Masonry, a member of the M.W.A. lodge, past patron of the Eastern Star, belonged to the Occident Consistory and was an active member of the Kiwanis club. To all who knew him, he was a true and noble friend. He consistently looked on the bright side of life, having as his slogan, “Keep Smiling”.

He leaves to mourn his death, his wife, Hazel Scarbro; a sister, Mrs. Blanch Youngblood, Grants Pass, Oregon and two nephews.

Monroe Citizen -- Monroe, Iowa
January 1941

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[burial in Greenwood Cemetery, Brookings, Brookings County, South Dakota; He is not buried in Monroe Cemetery in Monroe, Jasper County, Iowa where his first wife, Martha (Templeton) Scarbro [April 20, 1879 --- August 22, 1906] is buried]