William St. Clair Greever, 90, of Moscow died on Sunday, Jan. 14, 2007 at Aspen Park Healthcare. He was born July 22, 1916, to G. Garland and May St. Clair Stocking Greever in Lexington, Va. He met Janet Elizabeth Groff in 1949 when they were at Harvard and Radcliffe finishing their doctorates, and they were married on Aug. 24, 1951, in Pleasant Grove, Pa. Daughter Barbara Clair was born on Jan. 30, 1957, in Moscow. Bill attended Los Angeles High School before earning his BA at Pomona College in 1938, MA at Harvard in 1940 and doctorate at Harvard in 1949 in U.S. History. He served as an enlisted man in the Army from 1942-46, doing paperwork in California, Utah, Texas, the Philippines and Japan, moving from the rank of Private to that of Technical Sergeant. He considered his best assignment to be Chief Clerk at the Ogden Prisoner of War Camp for Italian prisoners. In 1947, Bill began his teaching career as an Instructor in business history at Northwestern University. He joined the faculty of the University of Idaho in the fall of 1949; his areas of specialization were Westward movement and social and cultural history of the United States. He served as chairman of the history department from 1956-82, and upon his retirement in 1982 he said, "I always regarded teaching as my most important assignment and gained my greatest satisfaction from it." While at the UI he served three elected terms on Faculty Council, served on the board of editors of the Pacific Historical Review 1956-58, on the board of editors of Idaho Yesterdays 1976-86 and was active in professional organizations. He was the author of "Arid Domain: The Santa Fe Railway and Its Western Land Grant," 1954 (prize in Pacific History for the best "first book" in the field by a younger scholar, Pacific Branch of the American Historical Association, 1954), "The Bonanza West: The Story of the Western Mining Rushes 1848-1900," 1963 (Spur Award for Best Nonfiction Western, Western Writers of America, 1963; tied for fourth place in the Mining History Association's list of the top 20 most-recommended mining history books, 1998), various articles, and numerous book reviews. Bill was a Guggenheim Fellow 1958-59, a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and a lifetime member of the Latah County Historical Society. As professor and chairman of history emeritus of the UI following his retirement, Bill continued to write articles and book reviews, served as a member of the Advisory Board of the University of Idaho Press 1991-98, and maintained his lifelong interest in railroad and mining history. In 1987 he received the Award of Merit from the Western History Association; in 1990, the Paul Award from the Mining History Association. In July of 1999, Bill suffered an ischemic stroke, and spent most of the remainder of his life at Latah Health Services and Aspen Park Healthcare in Moscow. Janet was able to lunch and visit him on an almost daily basis as his health gradually declined, and they spent much "quality time" together. The family would like to thank all the people involved in his health care throughout these last years. Bill is survived by his wife, Janet of Moscow (married 55 years); his daughter, Barbara Greever; and his son-in-law, John S. Pool of Moscow. In a remarkable coincidence, his cousin William Robert Greever of Spearman, Texas, also died on Jan. 14, just a few hours before Bill. The family farm continues to be managed by W.R.'s sons Steven and Robert Darrell Greever in Spearman. Also surviving are Bill's cousin Kathleen Sutton of Spearman, and the children of both of his Texas cousins. Bill will be greatly missed by his family, friends and former students. Bill requested that there be no formal funeral or memorial service. The family invites any of his friends and colleagues who may wish to do so to join them for refreshments and an exchange of memories from 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 28, in the Idaho Room of the Best Western-University Inn of Moscow. The family would like to thank the University Inn for their help and support in arranging this reception. Cremation has taken place, and private burial will be in the Moscow Cemetery at a later date. The family would like to thank the Vassar-Rawls Funeral Home of Lewiston for their help in making these final arrangements. Bill was always very grateful for his receipt of the Guggenheim Fellowship, which enabled him to do the bulk of the research for Bonanza West by supporting him during his 1958-59 sabbatical in Berkeley. For those who wish to make a memorial contribution, the family suggests gifts to the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (90 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016, www.gf.org/donat.html), or to other organizations of their choice.
