Glenn F. Monnier
Dec. 3, 1929 – July 13, 2015
Glenn was the second of five children born to Howard and Harriet Monnier in Merriman, Nebraska. When he was three years old, the family moved to Woodburn, Oregon.

Glenn graduated from Woodburn High School in 1949 and in 1951, was drafted and served in the U.S. Army, stationed in Germany during the Korean War. After leaving the Army, he returned to Woodburn and soon began the first of his many entrepreneurial adventures.

During that time, he met and married the love of his life, Dorothy Rice. They had a brief courtship and began their married life in Coos Bay, OR, where their first son, Craig, was born. Later, he and Dorothy returned to Salem where his career included many vocations; dump truck owner, warehouseman, correctional officer, retail sales and others. It was his power transmission sales position where he discovered his natural gift of physics and mechanical engineering.

It also happened that around this time, he was commissioned to build a ferro-cement boat. That experience led Glenn to his real passion, farming filberts (now called hazelnuts). One summer day in 1973, he surprised Dorothy and his children, announcing that he had just purchased a 25-acre farm in West Salem and had also purchased an older tractor-pulled filbert picker.

It was at this time that the idea of building a self-propelled picker started forming in Glenn's mind. Glenn designed and built the filbert picker from scratch. Soon after, he also designed and built two fork-lifts, also from scratch, one for their orchard and one for his brother-in-law. Soon after, Glenn built a large trailer to carry the heavy totes used to transport them to market.

Glenn's creativity also led to an efficient way to crack the hard-shelled nuts with the invention of a centrifugal force nutcracker which is still in use today, and from which, he received a U.S. patent. All of this with only a high school diploma.

In 1993, Dorothy and Glenn moved to Woodburn Senior Estates for their retirement years and where he discovered his next passion—golf. They enjoyed wintering in Yuma, AZ where they made many good friends, then returned to The Estates for the summer months. Glenn also served on several boards in The Estates.

Glenn leaves his beloved wife of 61 years, Dorothy; sons, Craig and Randy Monnier, both of Salem, daughter, Valerie Monnier Fisher (David),of Carlsbad, CA, three much-loved grandchildren: Jessica (Los Angeles, CA), Andy (Rachel) (San Diego, CA) and Aaron (Carlsbad, CA) and brother, Wayne, of Woodburn. He also leaves many dear relatives and friends who will miss his fun-loving and big personality.

A memorial service celebrating Glenn's life will take place at 2 p.m., Friday, July 24 at Simon-Cornwell Colonial Chapel, 390 N 2nd St, in Woodburn.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions be made to the Shangri-La Corp. of Salem, an organization they founded in 1963 with 15 other families, to serve the needs of the developmentally disabled. http://www.shangrilacorp.org/ or 4080 Reed Road SE #150, Salem, OR 97302.