OBITUARIES

KEiltIEIH

G. C(]I{WAY

Kenneth G. Conway, well-known lumber salesman for Arcata Redwood Co., died on a High Sierra hunting trip, October 14, of a heart attack. He was 63.

An enthusiastic outdoorsman, Mr. Conway had just returned to camp after stalking deer with one of his brothers when the attack occurred. They were near Ravendale, Calif.

He was born on the fourth of Ju y, 1905 in Enid, Oklahoma. He took his early schooling there and later earned a law degree.

In addition to hunting and fishing, he worked for many years in The Boy Scouts. His son, Kevin, who was to become an Eagle Scout, shared his love of scouting.

Mr. Conway, whose sales area for Arcata Redwood was southern California, parts of Texas and New Mexico, had previously been assistant manag'er of the lumber div. with

Georgia-Pacific. He had also worked for the old Holmes Eureka Lumber Co.

He was a member of Henry S. Orme Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons and was also a member of Los Angeles Hoo-Hoo Club 2.

Mr. Conway is survived by his widow, Ramona; a son, Kevinl and four brothers, Martiu, Jefferson, E. Werden and Eugene.

W. E. DIFFI)RII

W. E. Difrord, one of the keyfigures in the growth of the modern plywood industry, died October 8 in Seattle, after a lengthy illness.

Wallace Ellsworth Difford was born March 25, 1890, at Belvedere, Ill. He attended the University of Chicago on a scholarship and was graduated with a BA degree. He won a law degree from Chicago's Kent College and was admitted to the bar at Texarkana, Ark., in 1914.

In 1938, after an eanlier series of business and association management successes, Difford devoted all his time to developing a program of recovery and expansion for the fir plywood industry, which was suffering

Wesiern Lumber & Building Moleriols T ERCHANI from a severe down-turn in the market. He completely reorganized the industry's promotion program and helped create a new concept in industry-wide quality control.

As chief executive of the Douglas Fir Pl''lvood Association over a period covering nearly 25 years, Difrord watched the industry grow from an annual production rate of only 650 million sq. ft. to more than nine billion sq. ft. at the time of his retirement in 1962. The basic program of sales promotion, marketing, quality control and research that he established still forms the keystone of plywood promotion today.

Difford's period of service with the plywood association was broken in 1946, when he resigned to establish W. E. Difford and Sons, a wholesale plywood and lumber marketing development company in Seattle. In 1952, he was asked to come back to the pl1'wood association as its managing director, and he remained with it until his retirement.

He was a member of Sigma Nu social fraternity and Phi Delta Phi, national law fraternity.

Survivors are his widow, two sons, two daughters, and. 12 grandchildren.