Minor "Tillie" Raymond Tillotson (1886-1955) received the Pugsley Silver Medal in 1948. He was born in Vermillion County,Indiana in 1886 and received his early education in Lebanon. He was a student at Northwestern University in 1904-1905 and received his B.S. in civil engineering from Purdue University in 1908. He married Winfred Shawcross in July 1909. Tillotson had a distinguished career in both the Forest Service and the National Park Service, investing almost all of his adult life in the service of these two agencies concerned with conservation of natural resources. He rose rapidly to the position of supervisor of the Shasta National Forest in northern California and was later transferred to a position of equal authority and responsibility as supervisor of the Cleveland National Forest. He resigned from the Forest Service in 1919 to become a construction engineer for the Standard Oil Company but late in 1921 he joined the NPS as an engineer on a major construction project in Yosemite National Park.
Early in 1922, he was appointed resident engineer of Grand Canyon National Park, a position he held until he was made superintendent of Grand Canyon in 1927. During his superintendency the new park headquarters was built, the West Rim Drive was relocated, the cross canyon Kaibab Trail was completed and the village housing and hospital were built. He was also widely admired for his public relations efforts, including extensive articles about the park that appeared in numerous publications. In January 1939, he became regional director of Region One, headquartered at Richmond, Virginia and remained there until 1940 when he was transferredto his beloved Southwest as regional director of Region Three at Sante Fe, where he served until his death 1955.