Alumni Memories

Donald R. Nielsen

Agronomy, PhD., 1958
(Don Kirkham's 27th student, retired professor, University of California, Davis)

Donald R. Nielsen

It was 6 p.m., Feb. 15, 1953, when I answered the telephone in Tucson, Arizona. I said, "Hello", and a voice replied, "Hello, is this Don Nielsen, I am Don Kirkham at Iowa State College. Professor Charles Black showed me your transcript from the University of Arizona, and I would like to offer you a research assistantship in soil physics to study for the Ph.D. with me."

Joanne L. Nielsen

I was speechless! I had earned a B.S. degree in soil chemistry and at that time I was working on an M.S. degree in soil microbiology under the supervision of Professor Wallace H. Fuller (Ph.D., Iowa State). Being the son of a vegetable farmer in Phoenix, Arizona, I had no vision of ever obtaining a Ph.D., and for sure, not in soil physics which required lots of mathematics and physics in addition to soil science and agronomy. Joanne and I had been married only five months. She was a Registered Nurse working at a local Tucson hospital for $200 per month, and I had a $100 per month University of Arizona fellowship.

After a few moments, I heard, "Are you there?" I said, "Yes, I think I would like to study at Iowa State, but we would need some additional money earned by my wife as an RN to support ourselves. She will need to find out if there is reciprocity between Arizona and Iowa for her to work as an RN in Iowa." Professor Kirkham responded, "I understand - I'll soon be calling you again."

The very next day at 6 p.m., I answered to the ring of our telephone. Professor Kirkham asked, "Does your wife know any chemistry?" After asking Joanne, I replied, "She took a chemistry course in high school." Professor Kirkham commented, "That's quite all right - Professor Hanway is willing to hire her in the Soil Testing Laboratory and teach her what she needs to know. He'll pay her the same salary as your wife will earn at the College Hospital. And she may leave the Soil Testing Laboratory as soon as she has a position at the College Hospital. Now, will you come to Ames to study with me?" I hesitated, and then suddenly replied, "Yes", and hung up the phone without even saying goodbye or thank you. For several moments we were numb, and looked at each other in almost disbelief, stunned by my reply that was to take us to Iowa State!

We arrived in Ames just in time for me to take calculus in summer school. Joanne began working at the College Hospital. Arrangements had been made for us to live in one of the Quonset huts of Pammel Court. The next four years provided a unique education and opportunity for our future. I received the Ph.D. with Professor Kirkham, Joanne and I were both inspired and helped by his wife Mary Elizabeth (Betty), and we became a part of a global family community of soil physicists and spouses nurtured by Don and Betty Kirkham.

Read on about the Legacy of Don and Betty Kirkham