Alumni Memories

LaMar Grafft

Animal Science, B.S., 1973; M.S., 1977
(Safety Specialist, University of Iowa)

Back in about 1971 or 1972, I was a student at ISU. I was newly married, and we were quite poor. I was working as a student at the Beef Nutrition Farm, probably earning about $1.15 an hour. I took a beef course from Paul Brackelsburg. One of the features of the course was a beef tour. We were going to several feedlots as a class. I took my lunch with me, because I knew I could not afford to eat out (my wife and I would splurge one day a month and eat at Henry’s Hamburgers, where we could get 5 hamburgers and a half pound of fries for $1.00).

Anyway, we were on the tour and Paul came up to me and asked me to be his guest at the diner we were going to be stopping at. He knew things were tight, but did not want me to be separate from the group and feel like an outsider. I accepted his invitation, and as payback, have always tried to be generous with my own students. Thanks, Paul, for your wonderful example.