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SOU library gets Decker's treasure Widow donates part of editor's collection By BILL KETTLER The books that made Bill Decker's life have a new home in Ashland. Decker, who worked with writers such as Larry McMurtry and Wallace Stegner before he retired to Ashland, died in 2000. His widow, Anne, has donated 340 books from his personal collection to the Southern Oregon University library. The collection includes books that Bill Decker shepherded to press as well as a number of titles on Oregon history and western Americana. "He loved this locale," Anne Decker said. "It's appropriate to have his books here. "I wanted them to be used. They don't do anybody any good on my bookshelf." Anne Decker said her husband traded books with other editors the way boys trade baseball cards. "He always had copies of the books he edited," she said. "He would call (other editors) and say 'I really want that book you edited. What would you like of mine?' " A Virginia native, Bill Decker spent much of his youth in the West and graduated from Stanford University in northern California. When he entered the publishing business, his years in the West made him a logical choice to work with western authors. Over several decades, he worked with writers such as Ken Kesey, Judith Guest (who wrote "Ordinary People"), and Earnest Gaines, ("The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman"). The Deckers moved to Ashland in 1986. Bill Decker taught creative writing for several years and helped start an annual writers workshop at what was then Southern Oregon State College. The collection includes titles that have strong regional significance: there are several books by Dayton Hyde of Chiloquin, and unusual items such as an autographed copy of Gen. Douglas MacArthur's "Reminiscences." "We've only begun to go through the boxes," said Teresa Montgomery, SOU's associate library director. "We haven't uncovered all the treasures yet." Montgomery said the books will make a significant addition to the SOU library's collection of western Americana. "These wouldn't necessarily have been titles we'd have chosen at that time," Montgomery said. Montgomery said the Decker collection is the fourth major donation to the library in recent months. Poet Tom Fert�, an SOU alumnus, donated a collection of unusual poetry books; Helen Redbird-Smith, who also attended SOU, donated a collection that includes many titles about Oregon's American Indians; and Leonard Levy, a constitutional lawyer who retired to Ashland, donated his collection of books on constitutional law. "It's very gratifying when these people think of us," she said. Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.