Marple Scott Wyckoff (1907-1995)

Portrait from the Official Manual of the State of Missouri, 1961-62.

    As November draws to a close we return to the "Show Me State" to highlight the political exploits of a man named Marple--Marple Scott Wyckoff. A citizen of prominent standing in Putnam County, Missouri, Wyckoff is another in a long line of oddly named state representatives from Missouri, many of whom (twenty or so at last count) have had profiles here.

   A lifelong resident of Putnam County, Marple Scott Wyckoff was born on July 12, 1907, the son of Edward L. and Anna M. Wyckoff. He studied in schools local to Putnam County as well as the Unionville High School. A farmer for a good majority of his life, Wyckoff first entered politics in the mid-1930s when he began service as an assessor for Lincoln township, serving in that post for an indeterminate length of time. In 1942 he won election as Putnam County Clerk and would hold that office for twelve years.

   Marple S. Wyckoff married in Unionville, Missouri on April 19, 1947, to Ruth Harrington (1916-1996). The couple were wed for nearly five decades and later had three children, Charles Lee, Patricia Kay, and Dixie Ann. In 1954 Wyckoff announced his candidacy for the Missouri State House of Representatives and in November of that year was elected unopposed, garnering 1,970 votes. Taking his seat at the start of the 1955-56 session, Wyckoff sat on the following committees during his first term: Elections, Roads and Highways, Savings and Loans, Seeds and Grain, and Ways and Means.

Wyckoff as he appeared in the 1955-56 Missouri State Manual.

   In all Wyckoff would represent Putnam County in the Missouri legislature for five terms (1955-1965) and ran unopposed in his reelection bids in 1956, 1958, and 1960. During his final term in the house, Wyckoff held a seat on the committees on Agriculture, Roads and Highways, Unemployment, Utilities, and Ways and Means. He was an unsuccessful candidate for a sixth term in August 1964, losing out in that year's Republican primary to Leslie C. Shelton, who bested him by over 250 votes. 

  Little could be found on Marple Wyckoff's life following his leaving the legislature. He died in Putnam County on December 14, 1995, at age 88 and was survived by his wife Ruth, who died in February of the following year at age 79. A burial location for both Wyckoff and his wife remains unknown at this time.