2003 Assembly Joint Resolution 85
ENROLLED JOINT RESOLUTION
Relating to: the life and public service of Professor Francis Doan Hole.
Whereas, Francis Doan Hole was born on August 25, 1913, in Muncie, Indiana, and died on January 15, 2002, in Madison, Wisconsin; and
Whereas, Professor Hole received a bachelor's degree in geology and biology from Earlham College in 1933, a master's degree in French literature from Haverford College in 1934, and a doctoral degree in geography and soil science from the University of Wisconsin in 1943; and
Whereas, Francis married Agnes Calvert, a former Earlham classmate, in June 1941; and
Whereas, as a conscientious objector during World War II, Professor Hole, a Quaker, performed 2 years of civilian public service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture facilities at Coshocton, Ohio, Big Flats, New York, and Gatlinburg, Tennessee; and
Whereas, Professor Hole joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty as an assistant professor of soils, initially with the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, in July 1946; and
Whereas, Professor Hole participated in Wisconsin counties in soil surveys that were followed up with cartographic work and the publication of county soil maps; and
Whereas, over the years, Professor Hole's responsibilities grew to include teaching and research with the department of soil science, and later teaching the Geography of Wisconsin course in the department of geography, which earned enthusiastic acclaim from his students; and
Whereas, Professor Hole was the coauthor of a standard textbook, Soil Genesis and Classification, a textbook still in use today; created Soil Survey Horizons in 1960, a periodical that has been continued by the Soil Science Society of America; and designed the Soils of Wisconsin Map, published by the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey in 1968; and
Whereas, Professor Hole received the University of Wisconsin-Madison's distinguished teaching award in 1974; and
Whereas, following his retirement in 1983, Francis Hole continued his active involvement as a professor emeritus by giving periodic lectures to any interested audience, from preschoolers to academics to retirees, about humanity's stake in the soil; and
Whereas, in 1983, Professor Hole, collaborating with a group of McFarland 6th-grade students, began a successful campaign to convince the Wisconsin legislature to name Antigo silt loam the state soil, which he considered one of his proudest accomplishments; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the assembly, the senate concurring, That the members of the Wisconsin legislature commend the devoted public service that Francis Doan Hole contributed to this state, express their sorrow at his death, and extend their condolences to his family and friends; and, be it further
Resolved, That the assembly chief clerk shall provide copies of this joint resolution to Professor Hole's wife, Agnes; and to his children, Sarah of Madison, Wisconsin, and Benjamin of College Park, Maryland.
