Lonny Otterson and Melissa Miller will become household names in Mower County this summer.

Monday, June 25, 2001

Lonny Otterson and Melissa Miller will become household names in Mower County this summer.

They are two new faces in the Mower County Extension Service office. Before the summer is over, Otterson and Miller will be as recognizable as any faces to families throughout the county.

Otterson is the new Mower County Extension Service educator. He replaces Dave Quinlan, who died last November after a six-year stint as the Extension Service educator.

Miller is the Extension Service’s 4-H summer assistant.

A native of Clarks Grove, Otterson’s father is a repair man and his mother a homemaker. He has three sisters and is the second oldest in his family.

Otterson earned an associate’s degree in applied science at the University of Minnesota-Waseca, collected his bachelor’s degree in animal science and then returned to the U of M for a master’s degree in ag education and animal science.

"My whole background has been in animal agriculture. It’s really my niche," he said.

That interested developed when he was a child, living in Clarks Grove, but keeping 4-H livestock projects at a farm outside of town.

"I really loved 4-H," he said. "It was the highlight of my life to take care of my sheep, swine beef and dairy projects during the year and get them ready for the county fair and then the state fair."

"Raising animals is a great experience. They are totally 100 percent dependent upon you and that’s a huge responsibility for a kid to have," he said.

He also enjoyed participating in FFA at Albert Lea High School and after earning his master’s degree, he was recruited to become an ag instructor and FFA adviser in the Glencoe school district, which had a pairing-sharing agreement with neighboring Silver Lake.

Otterson helped revise the ag education curriculum in the district and a one-year interim position became a five-year-long investment of his time and talents.

One of his crowning achievements was to bring a construction trades course to the district and then to put his students to work renovating a condemned house for occupancy. With financial help from the Stevens Seminary, the house was acquired, remodeled by the students and then sold for a break-even amount.

Otterson said the experience remains profound in his life. "It taught me to have compassion and patience. I earned the reputation of one who loves to work and enjoyed a good rapport with the school district administration and school board as well as the students."

Then, Otterson married. His wife, Cindi, a registered nurse at St. Marys Hospital in Rochester, and he have a daughter, Lilly, 9 months old.

He next went to work for Andersen Windows as a national installation trainer, where, once again he employed his teaching skills.

But traveling across the United States and being away from home for long periods of time took their toll and when the University of Minnesota Extension Service called about a vacancy in Mower County, Otterson was eager to listen. An offer was extended and Otterson agreed to come to Mower County as an Extension Service educator.

He is enjoying his new responsibilities immensely, the new Extension educator said.

"It’s fun to have the telephone ring and people calling with their questions," he said.

"To me everything is related to agriculture," he said. "Everything comes from the land and agriculture and I want to help those involved in agriculture."

In addition to the daily contacts with citizens, Otterson’s varied responsibilities include surveying the progress of crops and like farmers, he doesn’t like what he sees.

"Their attitude remains good, but they know it’s been an awful spring with so much moisture," he said. "They just haven’t gotten the heating units they need, the hot, dry weather for the crops to grow."

On the positive side, Otterson assisted Lowell Franzen, the county’s agricultural services director at a pesticide collection Wednesday at Harvest States Elevator in Elkton.

Thirty producers delivered 5,300 pounds of chemicals to the collection site for proper disposal.

Coming later this summer is the annual Mower County Fair, where Otterson and his Extension Service peers will be racing everywhere to assist farm families and others in celebration of their hard work and lifestyle.

Call Lee Bonorden at 434-2232 or e-mail him at lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com.