Edna Crocker

Long-lived in the Forest Service, and in life, Edna Crocker served 46 years in the Chief's office, and lived to be 103 years old. Born in Frankfurt, Michigan in 1876, she started working for the Division of Forestry as a stenographer on December 12, 1898.

Edna (Frost) Crocker typed for chief forester Gifford Pinchot and his associates Henry S. Graves, Ed Griffith, and George B. Sudworth before becoming personal secretary to associate forester Overton W. Price.

When President Taft fired Pinchot and Price in 1910, during Ballinger-Pinchot controversy, Edna Crocker became secretary to Chief Henry S. Graves. She remained the chief's secretary through his term and the tenures of Greeley, Stuart, Silcox, Clapp, and Watts. She retired from the agency on December 30, 1944.

Her career brought her in close contact with the leaders of America's forest and conservation movement. She witnessed the establishment of the western district offices and forest experiment stations, as well as the creation of eastern national forests, and cooperative fire programs. When she retired, the Information Digest for November 11, 1944 said her retirement marked "the end of the first forestry epoch."

Additional Resources:

"Secretary to 7 Chiefs Dies." The Forest Service History Line. Winter, 1980.

"Mrs. Crocker Retires." Forest Service Washington Office Information Digest, November 11, 1944. No. 145, p. 4.