Carroll Paton Wilsie was born October 13, 1902, to T. C. and Mary (Skinner) Wilsie in Branden, Wisconsin. He received his B.S. (1926) from the University of Wisconsin and his Ph.D. (1931) from Michigan State University. Wilsie served as Agronomist (1931-1937) at the Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station and Assistant Professor of genetics and agronomy at the University of Hawaii.



Wilsie joined the staff of the Agronomy Department at Iowa State College (University) as Research Associate Professor (1937-1947). He was promoted to Professor (1947-1969). At Iowa State, Wilsie was in charge of forage crop breeding and production. He was particularly interested in the genetics, breeding, and ecology of forage grasses and legumes such as alfalfa. He wrote dozens of scientific articles and also authored a book, Crop Adaptation and Distribution (Archives call number S439 .W69c).



Wilsie was a member of several scientific organizations and served on numerous committees. He served as Chairman of the Central Alfalfa Improvement Conference (1946-1950) and also the North American Alfalfa Improvement Conference (1954-1956). He served on a number of committees for the American Society of Agronomy and was named a fellow. Wilsie was also Chairman of the North Central Regional Technical Committee. He received the Merit Certificate Award (1967) from the American Council of Forage and Grassland Agriculture.



Wilsie married Julia F. Kusta of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, in 1931. They had one child, Marcia. Wilsie died on January 14, 1969.