DR. WILBUR THORNTON MEEK

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Dr. Wilbur Thornton Meek, former chairman of the Social Science Department at Southeast Missouri State University, died Dec. 8, 1990 at a Knoxville, Tenn. nursing home. He was 90 years old.

Meek taught at Southeast, beginning in 1962. He retired as chairman of the Social Science Department in 1970 at the age of 70.

Graveside funeral service was held Dec. 22 at the Simsboro Community Cemetery in Simsboro, La.

Meek was born Feb. 1, 1900 in Fairmont, Neb., son of the Rev. and Mrs. Charles C. Meek.

He was a veteran of World War I, serving as a Second Lieutenant with the Mounted Artillery.

After the war, he attended Princeton University, graduating in 1922.

Nov. 1, 1941, he married the former Elaine M. Capps. She preceded him in death July 5, 1982.

During World War II, Meek was sent to Panama by the State Department to replace a suspected Nazi at the University of Panama.

In 1947, he earned his Ph.D. in economics.

He taught economics in New York State, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Louisiana.

He also operated a chicken farm and worked for the state department as an exchange professor in Bogota, Columbia, and Maracaibo, Venezuela.

After retiring from Southeast in Cape Girardeau, he took teaching jobs in New Mexico, Phoenix, Ariz., and Cambellsville, Ky. In 1980, at age 80, he retired.

He is survived by three children; Dr. Charles Capps Meek, Houston, Texas, Dr. Thomas Thornton Meek, Knoxville, Tenn., and Julia Maragaret Meek Gainey of Fayetteville, Ga.; and by seven grandchildren.