Summit Helicopters, Inc. and Hiwassee Timber Company

The Robert E. Dorward Memorial Scholarship Endowment was established in 2001 by Summit Helicopters, Inc. and Hiwassee Timber Company in memory of Robert E. Dorward.

Bob Dorward was a man who could grow trees and a garden. He began his professional life in 1949 when any resident of North Carolina could attend NC State. There were no SAT’s or ACT’s. He graduated from NC State with a BS in Forest Management in 1953.

After service in the U.S. Navy, in 1956 Bob accepted a position with the Hiwassee Land Company (now Bowaters Woodlands). He worked as a forester until the company put him in charge of its nursery in Vonore, TN. Almost immediately he began work with Dr. Bruce Zobel of NC State University in a tree improvement program. He and his team searched seven states for the straightest and best growing pines in the southeast. They collected coins from these specimens and grafted trees to produce seed for many millions of pines that contribute to the economy of the Southeast today.

Later on, he managed tree planting for the several states in Bowater’s region. Part of his job was site preparation and required helicopters. When he was approached by Summit Helicopters as a contractor, he listened and decided to give them a chance. Being of Scottish ancestry, Bob made sure that operations were thrifty and efficient; as a result, he only gave them a small piece of the work. However, when they performed better than expected, he gave them more and more work. His careful, empirical attitude always ensured that real value was received in forest operations.

His contractors, co-workers and employees respected Bob Dorward, because he demanded a job well done. He was a man whose word was his bond. His wife Fran and his three children, Elaine, Bruce and Missy remember his unswerving search for perfection. His frugality in spending Bowaters’s money, his care in managing their nursery and land, his openness to new and better methods and his success in planting their forests produced jobs for people in the Southeast.

He will be remembered as a man who loved to grow gardens and trees. He never thought seedlings could be tossed out to live or die. He looked again and again. Replant. Release spray that tract again. Get it right next time. Do it again.

He is a prime example for the tree improvement and forest management graduates of NC State.