Posts Tagged: retirement

Visalia Times-Delta features retiring advisor

In a feature story printed on her last day at work before retiring, UC Cooperative Extension 4-H advisor for Tulare County Carla Sousa said it wasn't until her retirement party last Saturday that she could pinpoint the greatest achievement of her 33-year 4-H career.

Sousa told Visalia Times-Delta reporter Victor Garcia that many current and former 4-H members approached her at the party to say what a positive impression she'd made on their lives.

"For them to thank [me] for what [I] did for them, that would be my greatest accomplishment," Sousa was quoted.

According to the article, Sousa said her attitude about 4-H has changed over the years along with the organization. She values most the "life skills" — including communication and teamwork — that participants come away with.

"At first I thought the subject matter was [most] important, but realized that it's the life skills they get out of it that's important," Sousa was quoted.

Read more about Sousa's career in a retirement release on the UC ANR news website.

Sousamug

Fred Swanson's retirement covered on ABC 30 news

Nearly 200 people gathered at the UC Kearney Research and Extension Center yesterday to send off retiring director Fred Swanson. The event was covered by ABC 30 Action News, the No. 1 broadcast news outlet in Fresno.

Reporter Dale Yurong interviewed Swanson in front of the center's two-story office, laboratory and meeting room complex, one of many expansions at the center that Swanson oversaw during his 26-year tenure at the helm.

"The idea was to put Kearney on the map and really develop this research center into a world-class facility," Swanson said on camera.

Somehow, Yurong was able to add video of a young Swanson to his two-minute report. It looks to me the man in the black-rimmed glasses in the same clip is Kearney-based entomologist Charlie Summers, though Yurong mentioned the name of retired UC viticulture academic Pete Christensen during his brief appearance. (It may be Christensen in the next clip walking a vineyard with Swanson.)

Swanson and Christensen were viticulture farm advisors in the Fresno County UC Cooperative Extension office in the 1970s.

"That was the heyday of the grape boom. Many of these growers had never grown grapes and not really been exposed to viticulture and so it was a challenging period of time, but it was an exciting period of time," Swanson said.

Attending the luncheon yesterday were many of Swanson's colleagues, area farmers, dignitaries from the cities of Reedley and Parlier, representatives of state and federal legislators, a member of the Fresno County Board of Supervisors and the Fresno County sherriff, Margaret Mims.

When Sheriff Mims was introduced, UC IPM advisor Walt Bentley wondered aloud, "Is she looking for Fred?"

Fred Swanson.

It's a sad day for UC

In the last month or so, I interviewed four retiring UC academics about their education, their beginnings with UC, their accomplishments (there were many) and their retirement plans. In all, the quartet represent 126 years of service to the California agricultural industry. All of them retire today. You can read all about the retirees by going to the news releases, linked to their names. Here, I'll share the fun part: their retirement plans.

Fred Swanson, director, UC Kearney Research and Extension Center
Swanson and his wife Cheryl will stay in their new Kingsburg home during retirement, but they have many plans for travel and recreation. The Swansons will spend more time at their cabin at Huntington Lake, play more golf at the Kings River Golf and Country Club and maintain a busy schedule of fishing and hunting trips. Swanson already has plans for two more fishing trips this year in Alaska, pheasant hunting in South Dakota, duck hunting in Tulelake, dove hunting in Kingsburg and a first-time elk hunting trip in Colorado. “Life is really good!” Swanson said.

Mick Canevari, director, UC Cooperative Extension in San Joaquin County
Canevari said he and his wife will continue to operate her specialty clothing store in Stockton and he will manage the family farm. An avid outdoorsman, Canevari already has plans for a two-week hunting trip in Canada this summer, and the local fishing and hunting he has enjoyed all his life will continue, but with greater frequency. “The one thing that will change is that now I won’t have to come home on Sundays,” Canevari said.
(The Stockton Record ran a story on Canevari over the weekend titled "Outstanding in his field.")

Don Lancaster, director, UC Cooperative Extension in Modoc County
Lancaster said retirement will provide more time for hunting and fishing, pastimes he has enjoyed going back to his days in Beegum, Calif., when venison and trout were frequently on the family dinner table. Today, Lancaster is already fishing at a favorite resort in British Columbia, Canada.

Mario Moratorio, farm advisor, UC Cooperative Extension in Yolo and Solano counties
Moratorio has plans to visit his undergraduate alma mater in Uruguay in July to present a seminar on the UC agricultural extension system. “The dean of the college is a close friend of mine,” Moratorio said. “He has been trying to develop an extension system like ours in Uruguay and would like to have another voice carrying his message.” Moratorio’s home base will remain the Solano County community of Cordelia Village, where he also plans to support local farmers during his retirement by connecting them with low-income residents in order to enhance their access to fresh fruits and vegetables.

Bill Peacock called a guru, hero and innovator

Retired UC Cooperative Extension viticulture advisor Bill Peacock was christened "Tulare County's grape guru" in the headline of a Visalia Times-Delta story that lauded his 36-year career.

The story of his UCCE odyssey was punctuated with warm praise.

"I would say, in my eyes, Bill is one of the heroes of the industry," grower Alfred Guimarra was quoted in the article.

"Bill turned out to be an outstanding farm adviser," grower Pat Pinkham was quoted.

The article said Peacock played a prominent role in some of the most important innovations for Central Valley grape growers in the last 50 years. Among them:

• Introduction of drip irrigation, which cut per-acre water use in half.
• Use of gable v-shaped trellises, which doubled per-acre grape production 
• Development of dried-on-the-vine raisin-production system, often called the "Peacock system," which doubled per-acre raisin production. 
• Identification of ideal fertilizer-application times, mostly post-harvest, which ended years of wintertime applications.

For more on Bill Peacock's career, you can also read this news release from the UC ANR News and Information Outreach.

Bill Peacock

Ventura Star reports on Phil Phillips' retirement

The Ventura Star today ran a story about the end of IPM entomologist Phil Phillips distinguished career with UC Cooperative Extension. The story says Phillips was fascinated with bugs since he was 7 years old.

"I've been blessed with a spectacular career," Phillips was quoted. "It's playing with insects basically."

The story was most likely prompted by a news release by UC IPM writer Stephanie Klunk, but Ventura Star reporter Terria Smith gathered her own comments from Phillips' colleagues.

Mary Bianchi, horticulture farm advisor in San Luis Obispo County:

"In order to be able to start effective control programs, you really have to understand insects: where they come from, how they live. That's where Phil's work was key: by building the framework where researchers could start their programs and integrate them into farming systems."

Earl McPhail, Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner:

"He's done great in making sure they know what to do as far as what to look for as new pests come in. . . . He's going to be difficult to replace."

Phil Phillips

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