Tipp City Herald

October 11, 1977 

STUDEBAKER, SAMUEL S. - Tribute was paid to Samuel S. Studebaker Sr. by more than a thousand persons who visited Trostel-Chapman funeral home in New Carlisle on Sunday afternoon and evening.  Mr. Studebaker, who was nationally recognized for his leadership in conservation, farm credit and dairy farming, was also known locally for his contributions to education in Bethel township and Miami county.  Among those who came to the funeral home were students he had taught in Bethel high school and the present president of the National Association of Soil and Water Conservation districts, George Bagley, who flew in with his wife from St. Joseph, Missouri.  Mr. Studebaker, who was 80 on July 25, died at his home 4825 East Studebaker road, Tipp City, in the same room in which he was born.  He had suffered a sudden massive coronary seizure at noon on Thursday, October 7, as he was about to eat his lunch.  At 80, he was still active in some farming operations, having taken a load of corn to the elevator earlier Thursday.  With his son, Sam Jr. and grandson, Larry, a dairy and grain enterprise of 600 acres in Bethel township was in operation.  Mr. Studebaker had attended Bethel schools and graduated in 1920 from Ohio State university with a degree of bachelor of science in agriculture.  He was given a distinguished service award for outstanding achievement by the Ohio State College of Agriculture in 1970.  This was just one of the many awards and distinctions attained by Mr. Studebaker.  He is the only Ohioan to be inducted into both the Ohio Agricultural Hall of Fame, this in 1970, and the Ohio Conservation Hall of Fame, 1977.  He was to be recognized in November by the Miami County Soil and Water Conservation district for the 30 years he had served on that body.  Several speeches were on his schedule during the late fall and winter and he planned to be in San Francisco for the national meeting in early 1978.  His services as supervisor of the Miami county district was just the beginning.  He was named the vice president of the Ohio Federation in 1957 and president of that organization in 1959.  He then served as director of the National Association from 1960 to 1962, taking the national vice president's position in 1962 and serving until 1966.  It was then that he was elected national president and maintained his office in Tipp City during his lengthy term.  Deeply interested in education, as well as agriculture, Mr. Studebaker was a high school principal and superintendent of Bethel local schools from 1921-1932 and served on the local school board from 1934-1948.  He was elected to the Miami County school board in 1932 and served as its vice chairman and chairman through 1960.  He had completed a year of graduate study in educational administration at Ohio State and was a member of Alpha Gamma Rho, national agricultural fraternity.  Known as a "conservationist" long before there was a popular understanding of the word, Studebaker often emphasized the need for best use of the environment as he worked with students.  He continued presenting his philosophy in his work with soil and water conservation through the years and in many places across the United States.  Membership in many organizations was an active obligation to him.  He belonged to the Church of the Brethren, the American Farm Bureau Federation, charter member of the Bethel Grange and its first Grange Master.  He was a member and former director of the Miami Valley Milk Producers and was an incorporator of the Miami Valley Production Credit Association, serving as its manager for 11 years.  A past member of the credit board of the Louisville District, he was also a director of the Miami Citizens National bank.  He has been chairman of the Miami County planning commission since its beginning.  Mr. Studebaker was preceded in death by his parents, Abraham E. and Elizabeth Darst Studebaker and his only sister, Helen Studebaker Royer.  Survivors include his wife Marie Shroyer Studebaker; two sons, Sam Studebaker, Jr., who farmed with his father and John (Abe) of Richland, Michigan; one daughter, Nancy Studebaker Lynch (Mrs. Marvin Lynch) of Bethel township; eight grandchildren; and one great granddaughter.  The Reverend Thornton Black, former pastor of the West Charleston Church of the Brethren, returned from Maryland for the 2 p.m. services on Monday at the church.  Burial was in the New Carlisle cemetery. 

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