Kenneth Hanson, ’48, ’51, ’52, is the longest-standing life member in the University of Minnesota Alumni Association’s records. His three horticulture degrees took him to Georgia, New York, and Lebanon, and he spent more than 20 years as director of the Missouri State Fruit Experiment Station. He now lives in Gulfport, Mississippi, with Margaret, his wife of 54 years. In a recent conversation, he discussed the University, his career, and his decision to become a life member.

Why did you choose to study horticulture?
I’ve always been interested in seeing new things; that’s why I got involved in fruit breeding [and] developing new varieties. I grew up in western Minnesota where it’s too cold for most fruits. We used to buy apples out by Big Stone Lake that had been developed to withstand the 40 and 50 degree below zero days you can get out there. They weren’t the best quality, but we ate them. It was the Depression, and you took what you could get. Growing up on a farm, we were fortunate that we had our own milk, beef, hogs, chickens, and sheep. I was very active in 4H. I had a whole wall of blue and red ribbons.

Did you come to the University right out of high school?
Yes. I went to high school at the West Central School of Agriculture, which I understand is now the University of Minnesota, Morris, and I entered the University in 1941. At the end of fall quarter, most of the graduate students went right into the service, so I [as an undergrad] went from making 25 cents an hour in the horticulture greenhouses to being a USDA field agent in basically a graduate assistant’s job. I had joined AGR [Alpha Gamma Rho, an agricultural fraternity] and there were three of us who stayed until the end of the year to close down the house. Then I went into the service, too.

Why did you keep pursuing degrees?
My brother Earle had his Ph.D. in plant pathology and was teaching at the University, so that had a lot of influence on me. Also, I got married while I was in the service, so I had to go to work right away [when I got out]. I was fortunate to get reinstated with the USDA and I used the USDA job and the GI Bill to get through school.

How did you end up teaching in Lebanon?
I had worked for six years at the Geneva Experiment Station in New York state, where
I did a lot of fruit breeding. Our family wanted a different experience, so I signed on for three years with the American University in Beirut. This was a very interesting time. I taught all the horticulture classes except subtropical. We had an average of 24 different nationalities involved as students. I had some research plots over the mountains in the Bekaa Valley. It was mostly classifying and adapting varieties to use less water—there is no rainfall in the Bekaa Valley during the growing season.

The people were really wonderful. While we were there, we camped all over Europe and the Middle East. People ask if I was scared to camp out there in the desert….We’d usually find the police station and tell them what we were doing. I remember once that a group of Bedouins was curious about why we weren’t staying in a hotel. We told them we were American Bedouins and invited them in for coffee. They ended up posting guards around our camp that night so no one would bother us.

What did you do when you returned from Lebanon?
We came back in June of 1963 and that December I became director and horticulturist of Missouri State Fruit Experiment Station. We were an independent agency then, not affiliated with a university, so I had to go to the legislature myself and get funds for operating and improve-ments. (The station is now the centerpiece of Southwest Missouri State’s Mountain Grove Campus.) It grew from just me to a plant pathologist, an entomologist, a plant physiologist, and research assistants. The budget went from a few thousand dollars to I guess pretty close to half a million. I retired in 1985.

What were some of your successes at the experiment station?
I developed a couple of new peaches. One of them, the Loring, is an early bloomer and was one of the top five peaches east of the Rockies. I see them here at the farmers market. The Ozark Gold apple, which I developed, ripens six weeks ahead of Golden Delicious. I worked on lots of grapes. I named one the Challenger after the space shuttle.

In 1958 you joined the alumni association as a life member. Why?
I wanted to continue getting the alumni magazine, and I got tired of sending in the yearly subscrip-tion. I was in a position that I could afford to buy a life membership, so I did. I’m glad I did. I get a chance to read the magazine no matter where I happen to be. It even followed me to Lebanon. I’m one of seven boys and two girls. All of us have U of M degrees. Quite a few in the second generation graduated from the University as well, plus their grandkids. We have quite a line of Hansons that have graduated from the U.

by Chris Coughlan-Smith