A brief biography of Robert C. Wahrmund (1924-1983)

    Robert C. Wahrmund was born in Fredericksburg, graduated from high school in Comfort, and attended Schreiner College in Kerrville, all in the Hill Country of Texas. He enlisted as a naval air cadet in 1942 and served as a flight instructor in the Marine Corps until the end of World War II.  In 1947 he married Catherine Carsner, and one year later he graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a degree in mechanical engineering.  After graduation, he was hired by Exxon and worked for that company, overseeing construction related to the oil industry.  During his career he, his wife, and their four children lived in various places in Europe and the United States until he retired as world-wide Purchasing Manager for Exxon shortly before his death.

    In 1975 he and his wife joined the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Bernardsville, NJ.  In the years following, they participated actively in Quaker meetings in Houston and Kerrville, TX, and in Anchorage, AK.  While they lived in Anchorage, the Wahrmunds gave impetus to building a Quaker meeting house in Palmer, AK, and Robert Wahrmund oversaw the construction.  The success of this venture brought about a spiritual renewal of the Anchorage and Fairbanks meetings and became a model for still another Quaker meeting house which he was building near Kerrville in Central Texas when he died.  That meeting house and the Hill Country property it was on became the home of the Quakerland Friends Community during its existence.

    Robert Wahrmund was an avid pilot, and in the years between his retirement in 1981 and his death at end of 1983, he and his wife traveled to Quaker Yearly meetings throughout the United States as Field Service Representatives for the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), a long-standing Quaker organization that seeks to bring the views of Friends to national legislators.  During this time they went on a fact-gathering mission for FCNL to the Soviet Union and traveled some 6000 miles, from Leningrad to Uzbekistan, meeting with city committees in every major city promoting peace and understanding.

   The Robert  C. Wahrmund Peace Studies Scholarship For Freshmen and Sophomores is given in memory of his dedication to peace and his vision for peaceful cooperation among all people.

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