Agricultural Hall of Fame - DAVID STATHEM WEAVER

DAVID STATHEM WEAVER
June 19, 1896 - November 12, 1966

David Stathem Weaver was born in Hamilton County, Ohio on June 19, 1896. After serving in the infantry in World War I and graduating from Ohio State University in 1920, he spent three years as Instructor in Agricultural Engineering at Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College. Most of his professional career from 1923 until his death on November 12, 1966 was spent at North Carolina State University (under various names) in dedicated service to the people of North Carolina.

Upon arrival at North Carolina Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1923, Weaver began work for his Master's degree and completed it in 1925. During most of his early career in North Carolina, he was a professor of agricultural engineering and devoted part of his time as the state's first extension worker in the field of Agricultural Engineering. From 1937 to 1948, he was head of North Carolina State College's first Department of Agricultural Engineering. In 1948 he became Assistant Director and upon the retirement of I.O. Schaub he was made director of the North Carolina Extension Service, a post he held until his retirement in 1961.

As Director of Extension, Dave Weaver was a principal coordinator of the work of his agency and the various federal agencies such as Soil Conservation Service, Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, Rural Electrification Authority, Farm Service Administration and other state agencies. He served as President of the North Carolina Board of Farm Organizations and Agencies.

Dave Weaver, as he was known by his friends, was a man of great vision and many talents. He was a lover and breeder of dogs and was one of the few judges approved by American Kennel Club to judge all breeds; he was a disciple of farm mechanization and predicted that the muscles of man and beast would be relieved of drudgery by machines and motors long before the mechanization was a reality; he was called to Washington in 1936-37 as Principal Engineer for the Federal Rural Electrification Administration and became a proponent of electrical energy on farms when many people were still thinking of electricity only as a source of light. His artistic talents included some painting and woodcarving but extensive involvement with copper tooling which combined with the talents of Mrs. Weaver to provide wall hangings of graceful pointers or setters or of magnolia leaves and blossoms for their friends. Above all Dave Weaver was a teacher and a humanitarian.

As an administrator, Mr. Weaver never lost the "human touch" and never permitted growing organizational structures to obscure the central purpose of improving the quality of life and increasing the incomes of the people of his state and nation. He was warm and friendly, but he could make tough decisions. He was a team worker. His visions have become realities. His students, co-workers, and friends revere their associations with him. He championed the Hall of Fame to honor leaders who preceded him but insisted that he should never be included. North Carolina is enriched and its people are uplifted by David S. Weaver's forth-three yeas of dedicated service. He is worthy in every way to be enshrined along with other distinguishable leaders in the Agricultural Hall of Fame.

Elected to the North Carolina
AGRICULTURAL HALL OF FAME
1976