West Virginia University - News and Information Services
Scholarship established in memory of WVU forestry alum
A distinguished alumnus of West Virginia University’s forestry program has been remembered with the creation of a scholarship. The Myles Family Foundation has made a donation of $100,000 to the WVU Forestry Endowment Fund to create the George A. Myles Scholarship for deserving forestry students.
Myles, who died in 1999, earned a bachelor’s degree in forestry from WVU in 1942 and went on to enjoy a fulfilling career in the field.
After graduation, Myles served in the United States Air Force, applying his education as a wood technologist preparing wooden airplane parts at a Kentucky base. After World War II, Myles started his own lumber business with a second-hand sawmill and a small stand of timber in Goshen, Va.
In 1952, he relocated his family to Elkins noting that the Mountain State is "where the hardwoods are the greatest," and established a mill in Elkwater. In 1960, he purchased land south of Beverly and built a band mill. He later joined forces in 1969 with Wendell Cramer and Donald Curtin to form the W.M. Cramer Lumber Company in Augusta, Ga. He and Cramer also purchased a sawmill in Marlinton. Cramer Lumber is currently located in Hickory, N.C.
During his 40 years as a leading citizen of Elkins, Myles served as the director of the YMCA and held a number of important roles in the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church. He was president of the board of directors of the Elkins-Randolph Library and director of the Davis Trust Company.
In 1984, Myles was recognized by the WVU Division of Forestry Alumni Association with its Outstanding Alumnus Award for his significant contributions to the forestry profession and for his tireless stewardship of West Virginia’s natural resources.
“He was a charter member of the Forestry Endowment Fund Committee, a strong advocate of the programs of the Division of Forestry, and a mentor and source of support for many people in West Virginia’s natural resources community,” said Joseph McNeel, director of the Division of Forestry in WVU’s Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences.
The gift was announced at the Division’s annual alumni banquet April 23. June Myles, daughter of George Myles, was in attendance along with students, faculty, staff, alumni and other friends of the division.
The inaugural George A. Myles Scholarship was presented to Jimmy King, a wood science and technology major from Morgantown.
Office: (304) 293-6997