It was July 2023, and I was finally traveling to Mobile, Alabama, to conduct an oral history with Keville Larson. This interview was some time in the making. During the height of Covid quarantining, Steven Anderson and I attempted to interview him over Zoom. It wasn’t an ideal situation, so we had to wait some time until we could meet in person. On a hot and humid summer day, we made our way to the offices of Larson & McGowin in Mobile, where I would learn much about Keville’s life.
Born Laurens Keville Larson on September 6, 1937, Keville grew up in a secluded suburb outside New York City, where he spent much of his childhood playing outside and watching his father take care of the trees on their property. His father, Lawrence Keville Larson, worked for Weyerhaeuser Timber Company in pulp and paper sales; his mother’s family owned a sawmill in Alabama. You could say that Keville had forestry in his blood.
SA: Well, let’s go back to your father. KL: Oh, okay. SA: And his— KL: Oh, yes. He grew up in the paper mill town and after he’d gone through school there and Oxford, he came back. He had a job with Reed Paper Company, or Reed something. SA: Wisconsin? KL: No, in London. SA: Oh. KL: And he worked for them for a while and then he came over—came back to the United States and worked for them some more. But eventually was hired by Weyerhaeuser Timber Company to start and run the New York Office, pulp and paper sales. But at some point, Earl had called my father and said, ‘Oh my sister’s going to catch a train in Chicago, she’s going with a roommate from Vassar to Hawai’i.’ Said, ‘Would you see that they get—’ so my father did that, met them, put them on the train. He said they barely made the train and if they hadn’t, they wouldn’t have been able to get to Hawai’i for a time. But after that there was a couple of contacts, but not a lot, between my mother and father. But then he was invited down to Mardi Gras in Mobile and my—there was a courtship and my father and mother got engaged. SA: Oh wow, okay so this is Estelle? KL: Estelle. SA: McGowin. KL: She was in a family of five with Earl McGowin being one of the brothers. She had four brothers: Floyd, Earl, Julian, and Nick. And they owned and ran a sawmill in Chapman, Alabama. South Alabama area. SA: So, what did your father do for Weyerhaeuser? KL: He was pulp and paper sales in New York. SA: For his whole career? KL: I think that was the area he worked in, whole career. And he was the only employee for the beginning, and then they had a couple of other employees, and they had that office. SA: So, he’s in pulp and paper for 30— KL: Thirty-something yeah, he retired—that was in the early 30s, and he retired in about ’58 or ‘9. SA: I think—actually, I was reading something last night that said, I thought, that it was 1964 or so that he retired. Because I was looking up Kieckhefer Paper Company, we talked about. And it turns out that Weyerhaeuser merged with Kieckhefer in 1956 or so. So, your father was there for— KL: I guess he may have had— SA: An overlap— KL: --extended into ’64, may have been his retirement time. SA: I see. KL: But from both my father and my mother’s family, I got lots of exposure to forestry and growing trees and timber as a crop.
As a teenager, Keville began working occasionally at his family’s sawmill, girdling trees and painting land lines. After high school, he pursued a degree in geography from Stanford University while working odd jobs in forestry over the summers. When recalling his summertime excursions, he talked about how he and his peers had fun in the woods while on the job.
SA: What was your favourite part about working that summer? KL: Just being in the woods. We had a crew of high school kids. One of the things I always remember. Today, axe throwing has become a popular past time. But we did that for our lunch breaks, we’d take our axes and whomp, throw them at a dead tree or something. Sometimes it would be up there too high, and you’d have to throw another axe up there to knock it down. (laughs) That sort of thing was fun.
Unlike many of his contemporaries, Keville had the opportunity to spend time in the woods of Wisconsin, France, and Sweden, learning about the different trees in those areas and how to manage them while pursuing an undergraduate degree in geography at Stanford University. This gave Keville a real advantage before attending the Yale School of Forestry and earning a Master’s of Forestry degree in 1961.
Keville then joined his uncle’s business, Pomeroy & McGowin Forest Service Company, which offered an array of forest management services.
KL: Pomeroy & McGowin was the partnership that was formed in 1938. But in 1957, Julian saw a need for helping small landowners with forestry here in this area. So, he founded Pomeroy & McGowin Forest Service Company. That was just our small group here, where the major company of Pomeroy & McGowin cruised millions of acres all over the south, based in Arkansas. At first, the first few years, yes, I was just stumbling along just doing forestry work. I had done enough things before to have some, but I wasn’t—I got indoctrinated into forestry by the people that were already here and doing timber marking or land line painting or burning or things like that. Gradually, I got enough confidence and understanding, knowing of that kind of thing, and the forester that had been here, Don Harper, had run the organization for four or five years, and he left about ’64 or ‘5, somewhere in there. And so, I was the manager of the company. Well, I hadn’t expected to be doing business like that, I thought I was just going to be in the woods doing things. But there wasn’t a large group, and I could—we didn’t have, I didn’t have any trouble. We already had an accounting thing in place and a secretary that knew how to do that, so as far as running the business, I was dealing with clients. And gradually, we grew and began consulting with people other than landowners. Able to do any kind of forestry work except large cruises. Pomeroy & McGowin always kept—they are specialized in millions of acres, hundred of thousands of individual cruises. We did small cruises and served small owners in this area.
By 1968, the company had grown to the point where Keville’s uncle split from Pomeroy to form Larson & McGowin, Inc. While Pomeroy worked with larger landowners, this new company focused on providing forestry consulting on smaller parcels of land. Keville rose through the ranks and, after his uncle’s death in 1973, he became president and owner of the company. It was also around this time that Keville started participating in professional organizations, including the Association of Consulting Foresters (ACF), the Alabama Forestry Association (AFA), and the Forest Landowner’s Association (FLA). Being active in these organizations helped grow his network and the business.
As part of running the business, Keville was called upon to be an expert witness in numerous court trials. Keville shared one of his favorite memories of doing so:
SA: You talked a little bit about being an expert witness. KL: Oh gosh, yes. SA: You want to tell us your favourite story? KL: There were a lot of them. I remember one of the ones that some of my lawyer friends here in Mobile love to hear is—it was an oil, a seismic line, they had run a seismic line through a man’s property, and he claimed they damaged it. Well, it wasn’t damaged. I mean, they had cut a few brushes and things like that. But he sued them and so next thing I know I’m in the stand, and this is in Clark County, north of here, where the lawyer—one lawyer there—who runs the town, it was his jury and his judge and his courthouse. Everything. And he looked at my resume as they always do, to try to discredit you as being an expert, and this was during—I’ve forgotten the years exactly, maybe ’67. But Yale was in the news for all sorts of riots or bad things. Just had a bad name at the time, especially down here, I guess. He looked at my resume, looked at the jury and said, ‘Yale!’ That was all. That was his method of discrediting me. That was one. Others— SA: What—you mentioned, I’m just curious about the unrest or riots. What was going on at Yale? KL: At Yale? Oh, it was the times. SA: The war, or—Vietnam War? KL: No. I don’t know, no telling what they were doing. They just demonstrate every once in a while. SA: Those Elis. KL: (laughs)
Through the years, Keville continued to advise people on how to best take care of their lands and forests. He grew his connections within organizations like ACF, serving as president from 1982 to 1984, often taking his family on vacations wherever they had their annual meetings—from New Brunswick, Canada, to California to Wisconsin to Florida. Larson & McGowin continued to be a family endeavor—his daughter Jessica became involved in the business as a Property Tax Manager and Timberland Real Estate Broker. Jessica is involved with the FLA and also is part of a group of Mobile women whose families own timber. She also attended the Seventh World Forest Congress in the 1990s, of which Keville was a board member and chairman.
Besides forestry, Keville was highly involved with his community. Through his mother’s influence as a pianist, Keville developed a keen interest in music. He has served as president of Greater Mobile Concerts, Inc., the Mobile Opera, and the Allied Arts Council of Metropolitan Mobile. His passion for the arts was complemented by his active participation in the Mobile Rotary Club and the City of Mobile Museum.
When finishing up our conversation, Keville offered one last piece of advice to other forestry consultants:
"Find your interest group early on and immerse yourself in them and learn from them and share with them. And when they get—when they spend enough time in their career, and they’re getting ready to retire, see about going on the board of the Forest History Society. (laughs)"
Keville passed away in the fall of 2023, just a few months after our interview. His legacy is marked not only by his profound impact on forestry but also his unwavering commitment to his community and family. His life's work will continue to inspire those in the forestry profession and beyond.
To learn more about Keville’s life and career, find the full transcript in our Oral History Guide.
