Originally published in the Southeast Missourian in Cape Girardeau."A Missouri alumnus points out some of the services alma mater provide

Hilty, Peter

English

University of Missouri: MOspace

It's nice wilen people tahe time to say Ilwnhs, III an api/lioll piece publi shed ill the Southeast Missourian in Cape Girardeau, alII 111 11 liS Peter D. Hilty , AB'SO, AM'SI , PhD'S8, expresses {lratit IIde for the educatioll he received at "MU" (" //1 ollr time it was llOt lIecessanJ to add Columbia," li e no t es), Moreover, lie started a trelld. "J\ftt:r f went to Columbia, a Ilumber of my nieces amI nephews followed me," says til e Ellgli.~/1 professor at SOlltlieast Missollri State Ulliversity. The edll -catioll oftllis "Moryall CVllllty delegatio,," at Mis-SOllri Ilfls bee n as important to Ille; r car('er.~ (IS mi ll e has bee ll to me,l,e S(/y~·. "The Ulliverl>ily of M issO ll ri lUIS beell (/ power/III force ill, IIOt ol/Iy my life, /Jil t in Ihe li ves of many aro lllld me." Hill y was an EI/qlis h i l/ strl/Uor at Mizwlt for s ix years wh ile pursuillg lI i .~ doctorale. He also ta ugh.t a l. Pa rll Co llege i ll Pa rJwi lle, Mo., al/d Arlulllsas S late Cv/fege ill JOll esboro beforl' se l-t.lil1 g i ll Cape Gi m rdeall ill 1962. Every time lI e goes hallie t.o Morgall COllll ly, Hil t~J h ears cO ll vers(jf ;oll s pll llcllla led wi th Ulli -ve rs ity refere ll ces, deepc llill g IIi s ap p reciatio n fo r 0 1' Mi zz.o ll . Here is h is article, SPRING DAYS BEGIN EARLY ror m y nephe w, Bob, on hi s d airy ra rm in centra l Missour i. He is up a t 5 , m ilking hi s he rd of 50 Hols teins, rour at a ti me , w ithout on ce stooping in hi s new milking pa r lor. T his is th e day th a t the Da ir y Herd Improvem ent Associa tion representa ti ve is weighing the milk , and th a t ta kes a littl e extra ti me, Each cow's pro-duc ti on is we ig hed, but Bob re fl ec ts th e troubl e h as certa inly pa id off. His h erd has doub led in pro-duc ti on in th e last 10 years through ca re ru l m a n· a ge m e nt and reco rd keep in g, h e rd c ullin g and the use of produ ction tes ted dairy s ires. RESULTS ARE EVERYWHERE a ppa rent as he looks a bout the fa rm thi s bright Ma y morning. They h ave jus t fini sh ed r emod eling th e 70 -yea r-old farm h ouse. The da iry ba rn is new. The two s ilos a re fit -ted w ith un loade rs and reede rs. He rem embers th e 22~ PETER HILTY SAYS THANKS rarm when h e was a kid and the y made some spare money se lling cream and eggs to the loca l pro-duce house. His wife, Kathy, has bcen reading some new thoughts on rarm diets in bulle tins from the Uni· versity of Missouri Home Economics peop le, and these thoughts are apparent on th e breakfast table. They eat quickly, but the Morgan County rarm agent arrives before th ey have finish ed, and the two are off to run con tour and tC ITace lines in a fie ld that showed som e e ros ion last winter. BOB IS BACK TO THE BARN by 10. A cow is hav· ing trou b le calv in g, a nd th e loca l ve ter inarian (3 Mizzou a lumn u s) a lTives to assis t. While he is there, he te ll s Bob of prob le m s hi s neigh bor is h a\'in~ w ith hi s swine h e rd , <.Ind that he ha d taken a pig to th e Un ive rsi ty's D iagno~tic Lab in Colum-b ia for a n a utopsy. The ve te ri na ri a n asks about Bob's corn a nd beans, and th e far me r tell s him that his grandfa ther , who died last wintcr a t the age of 95 (a ll of which he had spent on the farm) had told his grandson that he hnd never seen the farm produce so a bundantly. "Bettel' seeds," Bob says, "and bette r t ill age and lot s of luck. My corn averaged over 100 bushels per acre last season. when I began , I was luc ky to ge t 25." Ka th y ha d p lanned to go to the Farm Extens ion Club in the afternoon to li sten to the hom e demon-stra tion age nt sh ow m icrowave cookin g , but a neighbo r c;1 l1 s asking lo r he lp to ge t to Columbia to visit her hu sband, who has reccml y had a four-part coronaJ'y bypa ss a t the Univ crs ity Hosp it a l. Bob a nd Kat hy plan to vis it th eir son while there, h imself an inte rn a t the hospital, but when they ca ll th ey find h e is a ssist in g a t a n a utopsy. They do learn tha t hi s wife, who has jus t fini shed a degree in educa tion, has la nded a position for ncxt ycar in Boonv ill e. AS THEY DRIVE HOME, th ey li sten to a spirited de-bat e on minimum tillage on the radio. They stop, too, a t a roads ide s tand to buy some ead y straw-berri es - a ne w var ie ty developed by the Un ive r-sit y. Before he s ta rt s mi lking, Bob takes time to look over the farm record s that h ave arrived from th e Un ive rs it y Ma il -in Reco rd Pro g ram. T h e analyst suggests in a note tha t th e d a iryma n should se ll hi s old er cows a year ea rli er than is hi s prac-tice; Bob s imply grin s. Whil e Bob wa it s for s uppe r, h e wa tc hes the news on KOMU -TV, the Un ivers it y owned and opera ted te lev is ion s tat ion. Later he a nd hi s wife put on their bes t clothes and go to the loca l church to hea r the U ni vers ity Chorus , on spring tour, give an a ll -Bach concer t. Th ey are in bed by II and Bob lies awa ke, li s tening to th e fir s t mockin gb ird of the season , re me mberin g what the ornithology professor a t MU had said about mockingbirds a nd reca lling bit s of w ha t a n Eng li sh professor com-mented a bout Whitman a nd moc kingb irds and wonder ing what to do w hen poets a nd scientis ts d isagree. Wit h the ming ling of Bach 's counterpoint and 1 th e mockin gb ird and dairy herd improvement fi g-ures he fa ll s as leep , waking once to remember that he had fa il ed to read the loca l wee kl y today. He had wanted to see what the new J -School grad uate had said in hi s column. The story I h ave jus t written about Bob is not quit e true, but it migh t be true. The only arranging I have done is s imply a matter of huddling all of these event s into a single day. I CANNOT RECALL when I first became aware of the University of Missouri. My ea rliest memories include the cou nty ex tension agent a nd ex tension bu ll e tin s on eve ry subjec t from sh ade trees to I.omato beetl es, Korea n lespedeza to terraces. I be-lieve tha t we arc ra rely remi.nded of the divers it y and complex it y and force for good that the Univer-s ity of Missour i has been in the lives of a ll orus. Bob is a fanner , but concern for the Missouri fann er is onl y one of the man y concerns of the Un iversi ty. The lean pork we ea t, the trees which shade us, the qu ail wh ic h li ve und er the trees, the clot hes we wear, the ea l"lh and rocks we wa lk on a nd the wa ter under the rocks. the very air we brea the , a re a ll within it s province. I was a n Art s a nd Science s tudent, not a n Aggie. We left the Aggies untouched in our ta lk of poetry and art and philosoph y. We were , in facl, ex pec led to mention th em onl y for humorou s purposes. I cou ld not join in th is shunning, but fe lt it was for-tuna le tha t a ll schools were on the same Campus. MY LIFE AT MU is 25 years behind me and I have lime for reflec tion . Obvious ly oth er s t a te uni-vers iti es p lay s imilar import a nt I'o les in the ir s ta tes. And certainly other sta te and private edu -ca t iona l in stitution s pe rfo rm their fu ncti ons as well as MU. Private seed and feed and mac hinery companies carryon expensive research and edu-ca tion. The Univers ity and almost eve ryone who knows I am a n MU gradua te vastl y overestimat e m y interest in the football Tigers. Perh aps the Uni -vers it y of Missouri has been more successful as a vendor of knowledge tha n a discoverer of it. But for me and my eight nieces and nephews, the Un iversity of Missouri a t Columbia is trul y our a lma ma ter, a n appropria te metap hor, and I am gra teful to give her th is long-delayed letter of grati-tude . 0 ~_~ ______________________________________________________________ J ~23 

Peter Hilty says thanks

https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/bitstream/10355/73882/1/MizzouAlumnus1981MayP22-23.pdf

Peter Hilty says thanks

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