years of his life" doing "his finest work." In his handwritten 
1936 autobiography. Peck comments, "I have enjoyed my teach¬ 
ing work thoroughly and have never felt that I would like to 
give it up." He further acknowledges "the many strong personal 
friendships" among former students, himself, and Jessie that 
developed over 25 years. 
That students held Peck in high regard is evident from his¬ 
torical documents, discussions with alumni who knew him as 
students, and published accounts of Peck's life and professional 
activities. Recent phone interviews with former acquaintances 
and alumni note that Peck was friendly and well-liked by stu¬ 
dents. In 1914, Peck resolved, in the students' favor, a conten¬ 
tious issue with President Homan over wTiich the senior class 
threatened to withdraw, denying the university a graduating class 
(Gatke 1943)! Later, President Doney describes Peck's popular¬ 
ity and reputation (Gatke 1943): "The Professor's classes soon 
filled so that Mrs. Peck assisted him ....The students say he is 
square, so wondrously square that he wants the same quality in 
them [ i.e. technical knowledge]...as for common sense, 
straightfire good judgment, he is a mingling of Lincoln and 
Coolidge." Professor Peck was also known to quiz students dur¬ 
ing "junior generals," a two-hour exam that continued to the 
present day as one-hour "senior orals." However, one can imag¬ 
ine a very different environment for learning in those days. Native 
wildflowers and grasses were still present along the Mill race for 
field study, and lecture rooms (circa 1905) "often proved to be 
of great disadvantage to our instructors" especially when "ac¬ 
companied by large and noisy brass [street] bands...[that so] 
floodfed] the air with noise [that] no germ could live, no hu¬ 
man mind could function...." During Peck's tenure, university 
life was also different; heads of departments reported directly to 
the presidents who were often "dictatorial," and faculty "lived 
on a pittance, had "terrible insurance and pensions," were elected 
yearly with no promise of tenure, and mostly remained at the 
university out of dedication to students and to their profession. 
Similarly, students mostly "worked their way through school, 
and had few luxuries." However, various historical documents, 
and conversations with former faculty and students, suggest a 
feeling of mutual respect and camaraderie that continues 
even today. 
Social and Literary Pursuits 
Acquaintances on the faculty who knew Peck during the later 
part of his career describe him as pleasant, scholarly, and well- 
liked but "more conversant in small groups." His wife Jessie 
was "an ardent conversationalist," and both frequented formal 
faculty dinners that were the custom in those years. They lived 
a short distance from campus in a house that still stands at 1552 
Court street, and where for over 45 years "they greeted the great 
and near great from all over: maybe to help identify some simple 
plants, maybe to pass on some priceless bit of 'botanical wis¬ 
dom'... along with the 'tallest stories' as told by Mrs. Peck...." 
These included botanical expeditions along "the old Indian trail 
over Cape Lookout on the Oregon coast,...or 'running' the 
meagerly furnished hotel at Denio on the Oregon-Nevada bor¬ 
der." Not surprisingly, they discussed the dangers they faced 
while collecting in the same manner that "the average person 
might speak of a casual morning walk to the post office" (Gatke 
1943). 
Peck's literary penchant also flourished at Willamette Uni¬ 
versity and in Salem where he consorted with Professor Richards 
in English, was part of an active faculty book club, and figured 
prominently in the writers section of the Salem Arts League 
(Oregon Statesman, 1925). His most notable literary accomplish¬ 
ment was the Book of Bardons and Other Poems, a volume of 
poetry published by Gorham Press in 1923. President Doney 
described it as "delicate, subtle, an aeolian whisper from the 
flowers and trees and skies, slipping into the human heart to 
interpret its deep experiences." One contemporary suggested 
that Peck's poetic instinct helped him "to interpret the beauty 
and majesty of the biological sciences" from the perspective of 
one who saw "unity and plan ordered and touched by infinite 
Intelligence." But neither his Republican political affiliations 
nor his ties to First United Methodist Church in Salem kept 
him from accepting scientific truths. In an apparently unpub¬ 
lished manuscript entitled "Earth's Green Mantle," he uses 
Morton and Jessie Peck on horseback during their explorations of the Oregon flora. 
Kalmiopsis Volume 7, 2001 
3 
