Archives West Finding Aid

Lysle Mason Buck was born October 4, 1887 in Maine. Always referred to as "Paddy", Lysle Buck graduated from Washington State College (later Washington State University) in 1911. He was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, and was active in sports at WSC. He was captain of the baseball team, played on the basketball team, and while playing on the football team became famous for being on the receiving end of a 55 yard pass for a touchdown on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1910, against Whitman College at Walla Walla. It was the first pass for a touchdown in WSC history. After graduating, he worked for the Pacific Telephone Company as a civil engineer for his entire career. He died October 31, 1950 at Grants Pass, Oregon and is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Lora Mae Green was born September 12, 1886 in Johnson, Washington Territory. She was a charter member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority at WSC. After graduation in 1909, she worked as an assistant librarian at WSC until 1916. She and Lysle Buck were married August 30, 1916, in Pullman, Washington. She died January 31, 1981, and was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California. Their daughter, Marjorie Louise Buck, was born October 4, 1917 and died April 22, 1988. She also attended WSC starting in 1936 and was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority.

Lora Green's mother, Belle Lizabeth (Shirley) Green, was born November 4, 1865 in Monmouth, Oregon Territory. She moved the family farm in Johnson, Washington to Pullman, Washington after her husband, Noah W. Green, died at the age of 39. She ran her home as a boarding house for WSC students for years as a way to support her four children. She died April 11, 1954, in Glendale, California. She authored "The Wagon Train of 1852," the story of her mother's journey from Illinois to Oregon and later family history in eastern Washington.

A note about the expression “insane asylum”: Publicly funded psychiatric hospitals, then known as insane or lunatic asylums, emerged in the 19th century as part of a trend toward institutionalization of people with mental illnesses. Originally designed by reformers to provide a retreat from common society, asylums often perpetrated abuses against marginalized members of society. In addition, it merits noting that terms like “insane” and “crazy” have a problematic history in that they have often been used to stigmatize any person considered “unacceptable” to powerful members of society. For instance, asylums have at times been used to confine not only people with mental illnesses but also elderly individuals, assertive women, and conscientious objectors. These words often have the effect of excluding particular groups while perpetuating stereotypes about mental illness.