14 Facts About Wilbur Ternyik

Wilbur E Ternyik was an American civic leader who has been characterized as a founding father of coastal planning, a coastal advocate, and a guardian of the Oregon Coast.

Wilbur Ternyik was a descendant of Clatsop leader Chief Coboway, who met the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1804 when they arrived at the Pacific Coast near Astoria, Oregon.

Wilbur Ternyik's father moved back to the east coast prior to Ternyik's birth, and his mother suffered from alcoholism; he was mostly raised by his grandparents.

Wilbur Ternyik was born in Astoria and grew up in Warrenton, Oregon, graduating from Warrenton High School.

Wilbur Ternyik often wore a tan buckskin jacket and used what he called his "tomahawk peace pipe" as a gavel in meetings.

Wilbur Ternyik spent eight months recovering in the hospital from machine gun wounds to his leg.

At age 16 Wilbur Ternyik began working part-time for the US Soil Conservation Service,.

In 1952, Wilbur Ternyik supervised early efforts to stabilized sand dunes on the Oregon Coast.

In 1971, Wilbur Ternyik was elected chair of the OCCDC, presiding over a group of 24 elected officials and six at-large representatives appointed by Governor Tom McCall.

Wilbur Ternyik chaired the Oregon Coastal Conservation and Development Commission from 1971 to 1975.

Wilbur Ternyik authored the 1979 book, Beach and Dune Implementation Techniques, "a primer in the field of beach restoration", according to the Siuslaw News.

In 1984, Wilbur Ternyik promoted an effort to form a new county, to be named "McCall County", out of the western portions of Lane and Douglas counties.

Wilbur Ternyik ceased the effort at the request of the governor.

Wilbur Ternyik's work was the tangible creation of his heart's vision.