Bill Senske, West Coast Pest Control Pioneer, Dies at 93

Bill Senske

SPOKANE, Wash. — William “Bill” Senske, founder of Senske Lawn & Tree Care, a Spokane, Wash.-based lawn, tree and pest control company, passed away at his home on May 25.

In 1947 Bill Senske had a choice to make. He could continue working for Trackson Company of Milwaukee, Wis., trying to sell a new kind of rubber-tired front loader Caterpillar tractor to contractors from the Palouse region of eastern Washington to Montana — a tractor nobody could really see the value in — or he could apply his chemical engineering expertise to solve an age old problem: eliminating dandelions from lawns.

As a youth, Bill visited his aunt Tillie’s farm near Latah, Wash. One of his many jobs on the farm was to dig the dandelions from the sparse farm lawn. Fast forward to World War Two. Research papers published in the chemistry journals he read to keep up with technology while managing the incendiary bomb manufacturing process at Pine Bluff Arsenal referred to a couple of very interesting compounds being tested. One of those compounds was DDT, the insecticide. The other was 2,4-D, a product that was found to make broad-leaved weeds like dandelions grow their cells so fast they would plug up and die. The new characteristic of 2,4-D, which is still used today on crops and lawns, was that it would not hurt grassy plants at the low doses necessary to eliminate weeds.

It didn’t take much to connect the dots: Bill had a wife and two kids and needed to put a roof over their heads. There were thousands of lawns in Spokane, his hometown, and every one had a full crop of dandelions. So, in 1947, he put together a wheelbarrow and a hand pump and started spraying lawns for fifty cents each to remove the dandelions. He met with significant skepticism in the early days so he had to do the work for his new customers and wait for results before he got paid the four bits. Soon he added fertilizer applications to add color and density to the lawns.

Bill’s reputation grew in the community. He helped Hygrade’s slaughterhouse and meat packing plant eliminate a severe cockroach problem. By spraying the plant down inside and out on a weekend when it was closed, he was able to reduce a significant public health problem. There were so many roaches dead on Monday morning, the plant couldn’t open until wheelbarrows of dead insects were removed. With this tremendous success under his belt, Bill became the expert that local food processing plants and health departments went to for help on serious pest and vector issues.

His greatest successes might not be possible today, but in the 1950s Bill made the quality of life in Spokane much better than it could have been had he not been called on to help out the community. In the early 1950s he cooperated with Spokane health departments and local business to eliminate two serious health related problems: rats and pigeons.

Washington Water Power (Avista) and the railroads had a serious rat problem. Rats were infesting all the buildings and natural areas in the core city area up and down the river and railroads. Raw sewage dumping into the river and grain spills at elevators and along the railroad itself were food sources difficult to correct that helped large rat populations to thrive. WWP and the railroads sponsored Bill’s efforts to manage the rodent population over a long, multi-decade program in Spokane.

About the same time downtown building owners were suffering the effects of about 10,000 pigeons living on the architectural features of Spokane’s beautiful historic buildings. Some of the doctors' and professional offices in prominent Spokane buildings were having issues with bird parasites, lice, mites and bird bugs coming inside. Obviously, something had to be done to protect the health and welfare of Spokanites. About seventy percent of affected downtown building owners agreed to pay a fee based on the area of their roof to get rid of the pest pigeons. Most paid from $50 to $250 for the operation. The pigeon population collapsed over a few days. Most of the building owners who benefited paid for the service. The Spokane health department cooperated on the project. Recently, as some buildings have been removed in downtown Spokane, pigeons have become a nuisance again.

The original company Bill started in 1947, Chemical Weed & Pest Control, shortened its name to Weed & Pest Control during the environmental movement of 1970. His son, Chris Senske, joined the business and the name was soon changed to Senske Weed & Pest Control. As the business developed and grew into a modern automated lawn care company under Chris’ leadership, the pest control company was spun off into a separate corporation and the names changed to Senske Lawn & Tree Care and Senske Pest Control companies that that today have combined $20 million in sales.

Bill Senske retired during a period of several years as he slowly gave up day-to-day operational control to the younger Senske. During that period, he also started a new business with his wife, Elizabeth, selling doll houses and miniatures. He re-retired in 1997 to enjoy his home in Spokane.

Bill Senske was born in Spokane in 1914 to William and Hulda Senske. He attended Lewis & Clark High School and was awarded a DuPont Scholarship to study chemical engineering at the University of Wisconsin where he graduated in 1936. He was hired by DuPont in 1936, but because of a skin ailment was not allowed to work in the company's organic chemistry analytical laboratory. He pursued other chemistry-related careers until he ended up in Spokane with the Trackson Company.

Bill’s skin condition was cured soon after initiating his lawn care career. He attributed the cure to exposure to the ethanolamine salts of 2,4-D he used on lawns on a regular basis.

Bill was active in the East Spokane Kiwanis, Spokane South Side Senior Center, a lifetime member of the National Pest Management Association and several local and regional trade associations.

William Senske is survived by his five children, 9 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren and Pepi, his black lab friend.