University News
Wehrly Memorial Service Set
October 22, 2015
MACOMB, IL -- A memorial service for Western Illinois University Agriculture Professor Emeritus Jim Wehrly will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday, Oct. 26 at Wesley Village in Macomb. Wehrly, 92, passed away Oct. 22 in Macomb.
Wehrly spent all of his professional life in agricultural professions. Prior to joining Western's faculty, he was professor of agricultural economics and a research economist at Texas A&M University, a county agricultural extension agent in Indiana and a resident farm manager, in addition to having been reared on an Illinois farm.
Wehrly joined Western's agriculture department in 1969 and retired in 1992. As an agricultural economics professor at WIU, his main duty was teaching undergraduate courses in farm management, agricultural finance, and farm income tax management and reporting. He was active in the American Association of Agricultural Economics, the Illinois Association of Professional Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, the International Agricultural Economics Association, and the International Farm Management Congress; and he encouraged student involvement in these organizations whenever student participation was relevant. He also supervised theses and special problems courses for international graduate students in the department of economics who were interested in agricultural studies. Wehrly also served as assistant dean of Western's College of Applied Sciences.
Wehrly's community involvement in Macomb included two terms as a member of the Board of Directors for Habitat for Humanity, a member of the Board of Directors and a volunteer for Loaves and Fishes, active membership in the Macomb Lions Club and promotion of missions involvement by his church.
Wehrly and his late wife, Bea, who was also a longtime WIU faculty member (Bea passed away June 15, 2014), supported the University during their careers and long after retirement. They created the Bea and Jim Wehrly Scholarship, the Wehrly Book Scholarship, the Bea Wehrly Study Abroad Scholarship, the Educators for Tomorrow Scholarship and the Jim Wehrly Agriculture Finance Scholarship at WIU.
He received his Ph.D. from Purdue University, and his master's and bachelor's degrees from the University of Illinois. He was a veteran of the U.S. Navy.
Wehrly is survived by two sons Dave and Don, and one daughter, Dot, and five grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, donations can made to the Jim Wehrly Memorial Fund at Western, in care of the WIU Foundation, 301 Sherman Hall, Macomb, IL 61455-1390, or online at https://www.wiu.com/giving. Please designate donations as "Jim Wehrly Memorial."
A full obituary will be available at http://www.clugston-tibbittsfh.com.
Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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