Rogers Retired, But Still Involved
VETERAN SERVES ON CATTLEMEN’S ASSOCIATION
Ron Rogers, a retired veterinarian and a Vietnam veteran, is very much involved in his community through the Newton and McDonald County Cattlemen’s Association.
Through the association, he and others work with the Joplin Regional Stockyards. This April will mark the sixth year one of the association’s members has donated a calf for a fundraiser for Crowder College, he said. They sell the calf, plus they have corporate sponsors that donate and 30 to 40 patrons that donate to Crowder agriculture students for activities and trips. All the funds go into a 501(c) 3 for the
agriculture students.
“We’ve raised over $60,000 in five years,” he said.
Rogers is a Crowder graduate. He said he called Jim Tatum, one of the founders of the college, to thank him. He said he was one of 100,000 students who wanted to thank Tatum and his associates for founding Crowder College.
The cattlemen’s association also supports the Cash Moore Foundation for underprivileged children, he said.
It also helps Crowder with Aggie Days, which is an event in which 2,000 to 3,000 high school students come to Crowder for an Ag contest in the spring. They come to practice for a state contest in Columbia, he said.
In the fall, 100 college students come to Crowder, and the school holds a contest and the cattlemen’s association cooks steaks, he said.
There are more than 100 active members in the association, but it is looking for new members all the time, he said.
Rogers was one of three members who went to Jefferson
City to lobby for rural Missouri.
“We got the Right to Farm bill passed. We’re lobbying to try to get laws passed that benefit rural America and enable them to do what they’ve been doing for the past 100 years,” he said.
Rogers is also on the McDonald County Soils and Water Conservation Board. He said it has programs for pest management and put on an intensive grazing school and other programs, including a spotted knapweed control and eradication program. Spotted knapweed is an invasive species.
Rogers told a story about Vietnam, where he was a combat infantry veteran and earned a Purple Heart.
Most of his time was spent in the jungle but, occasionally, he got to go to base camp. Once, at base camp, he borrowed ingredients and made ice cream, he said. Some members of his platoon asked him, “What if you get caught?” Rogers replied, “What are they going to do? Send me to Vietnam?” He said his friends forgot their fear and helped him eat the ice cream.
Rogers is looking for information on Elmer W. Mahurin of Goodman, a Vietnam veteran who died in Vietnam. He wants information about Mahurin to submit to the McDonald County Historical Society. He asks anyone with information to contact him at 417-592-0901.
Rogers also noted that, when he got back from Vietnam, he went to a football game and a girl he went to high school with came up to him and said, “Where have you been lately? I haven’t seen you around.”
He said that is typical of the way Vietnam veterans were treated.
Rogers told some stories about his time as a veterinarian as well. Once, when he was working at the Animal Clinic of Neosho, around Christmas time, a man came in with a dog. He said the dog was sick and he didn’t have any presents for his kids. All he had was the dog, and he could not afford to pay. Rogers cared for the dog and told the man to bring in $20 when he could afford it. Sometime later, the man was at the clinic again and he paid the $20 he owed.
“The guy had character because he didn’t try to rip me off like some of them did,” Rogers said.
Another time a man brought in the family dog, whose name was Spot. He told Rogers that Spot was family and he needed to do anything he could to make Spot better. However, the man said, if it was going to cost more than $20, Rogers could go ahead and put him to sleep.
Relationships are important to Rogers. He said, “C.V. Chapman and Al Chapman taught me how to be patient. We developed a lifetime relationship by getting to know each other.”
He continued, “I’m proud of all the good people I got to know in the first 20 years of my life prior to going to Vietnam, and since I came home I’ve met a lot of good people in that 50 years. If I’d have gotten killed like Elmer, there’d have been no 50 years. I hope I’ve made a difference in some people’s lives.”
He also noted, “I appreciate my wife, Connie, and all my friends for tolerating my attitude.”