Willis George Eichberger, was born in Foster, NE on 8 Nov.

1912. He graduated from high school in Plainview, NE. He attended the

Univ. of NE and graduated in 1940 with B.Sc. degree.

He taught high school in Verdigre, NE from 1940-1947. He worked for the

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in Ainsworth, NE from 1947-1953. At that

time, he decided to return to college for his Master’s degree. He

graduated for the Univ. of NE in 1954 with an MA degree. He then

attended Iowa State College (now IA State Univ.) at Ames, IA graduating

with a Ph.D. in economics in 1956.

Subsequently he was employed by the USDA in Little Rock, AR and the

Public Health Service in Atlanta, GA and Wash., DC. While in that

capacity, they went to Accra, Ghana, Africa on a United Nations

Study Commission team in 1962 for 3 months. Upon their return, he

applied for employment with the State Dept., Foreign Service section.

He

was accepted and they went to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for the next

10 years. While in that job, he was the Deputy Director for U.S. AID

(Agency for International Development).

While they were stationed in Africa, they traveled extensively in

Ghana,

Kenya, Ethiopia and other parts of both eastern and western Africa.

The Eichbergers were married on 24 April 1937 in Lincoln, NE. They were

married for 56 years.  Gretchen Merting of Lincoln, NE, died

in 1993 in Baytown, TX. Willis George Eichberger passed away in 1996 in Baytown, TX.

They had two children. A son, Robert was born in 1938, was a career

officer retiring from the US Air Force in 1980. He currently resides

with his wife in Tucson, AZ. A daughter, Erma, born in 1939, was an

executive secretary for many years and currently resides with her

husband in Baytown, TX.

The Eichbergers were residents of Valdosta from 1974 until 1992.