» 大学的发展
哈尔·威尔玛斯和他的同伴, 莎朗·韦斯, have added their support to Northwest 密苏里州 State University’s School of Agricultural Sciences and a planned 农业学习中心, 每人认捐$25,为这个项目投入了000美元.
农业学习中心, for which the University and Northwest Foundation are raising funds, will be built at Northwest’s 448-acre R.T. Wright Farm and serve as a multipurpose facility, providing classrooms and laboratory resources to supplement and enhance the academic curriculum.
“我回头看所有的人, we all got a good education at Northwest, and I feel an obligation to help somebody else come through the ranks of being a 熊猫,威尔玛斯”, who earned his bachelor’s degree in agriculture at Northwest in 1969, 说. “Having the facilities like they’re talking about, it looks like a win-win situation for the community, college and young people that are the best natural resource we have. There’s a lot of opportunity there.”
杆巴尔, the director of Northwest’s School of Agricultural Sciences, thanked Wilmarth and Weiss for their gifts and investment in the program’s future.
“We are so appreciative of the support from Hal and Sharon for the 农业学习中心,巴尔说. “They are making an investment in the continued success of the School of Agricultural Sciences at Northwest. Their dedication will make a difference not only for our students but for the community and region as well.”
Wilmarth began his Northwest connection in 1958 as a full-time student-athlete, competing for the 熊猫 wrestling team while working a part-time job. 肩膀撕裂后, 然而, he went to work full-time for Farmers Produce in downtown Maryville and became a part-time student.
Wilmarth was active in the agriculture club, Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity and the M-Club, a social organization for Northwest student-athletes.
He has strong memories of the faculty connections he established within Northwest’s agriculture program and the mentorship they provided. He names former faculty members R.T. 赖特,F.B. 霍顿, John Beeks and Dennis Padgitt in the ag department as well as Sterling Surrey, 艾琳穆勒, J. Gordon Strong and William Garrett as influential mentors.
“I could not have made it through school if it weren’t for Sterling Surrey,” 威尔玛斯说. “Those that knew him, he stood out in their fields, just like F.B. 霍顿是. Their encouragement kept a lot of kids in school. There were a lot of distractions for students as there is today, 但是那些家伙, 他们会让你走上正轨. If you strayed, they’d tell you about it.”
Wilmarth met his late wife, Joy Couts, in 1962 when her brother set them up on a blind date. 他们的四个孩子, 莎莉·威尔玛斯·帕特森, 塔米·威尔玛斯·曼迪, 托德·威尔玛斯和斯科特·威尔玛斯, attended Northwest along with more than a dozen of their relatives.
作为网上赌博网站十大排行的学生, Wilmarth had worked at Farmer’s Produce in Maryville and later Farmer’s Elevator in Hopkins, 密苏里州. He and his brother eventually purchased the elevator and expanded the operation to include Farmers Supply in Burlington Junction and Mo. Valley Agriservice in Rock Port, 密苏里州. They sold seed and offered custom fertilizer and chemical work. Today, Wilmarth farms corn and soybeans in Page County, Iowa, and northern Nodaway County, 密苏里州.
“I’m just a farm boy that couldn’t get it out of his blood – same as being a 熊猫,” he 说.
Northwest students and graduates played a key role as employees of the Wilmarths’ agriculture operations. 其中之一, 李Larabee, 1975年网上赌博网站十大排行毕业生, was a long-time employee and assumed ownership of those plants after Wilmarth retired from retail sales in 1998.
Weiss attended Bemidji State University in Bemidiji, 明尼苏达州, and most recently worked in the 明尼苏达州 Office of the Attorney General. Wilmarth and Weiss both retired to Arizona where they met. The pair spends their summers in Maryville.
Wilmarth’s enthusiasm for Northwest inspired Weiss to match his donation to the 农业学习中心.
“He’s such a big 熊猫 sports fan that it’s really grown on me and I enjoy it,” Weiss 说. “We go to the games together and it’s a great time. It sort of brings me back to my college days.”
威尔玛斯说, “I can’t help but think that everybody that I met there had an influence on how things went in my life. You just can’t get through life today without a lot of good friendships and relationships. Some people we met there and socialize with yet today. Not a day goes by that we don’t think about the 熊猫s. As long as I’m alive, I’m gonna be ‘forever green.’”
