University of Minnesota School of Agriculture - Agrarian Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

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major economic interests of the state and. every home engaged in or touched by these interests. A man who coordinates all these diverse interests quali- fies as an expert in wild horses rather than sheep, and Dean Coffey has met the situation admirably and adequately. The ability to discharge his heavy duties lies less in the preparation to which I have alluded than it does in the man himself. His simplicity, his directness, his democracy, his honesty and his loyalty win and retain the loyalty, respect and affection of all who come in contact with him, from farm boy to university president. He is a friend to every deserving person and cause and at all times a Chris- tian gentleman. The state and university are fortu- nate in having him in a position of such responsibility and you and I and all his colleagues are fortunate in having him as our friend and associate. The dedication of this volume is a gracious and Coffey's ability, character and outstanding services. DEAN COFFEY Sixteen Years of Age well-merited recognition of Dean -GUY STANTON FORD. Acting Presia'e11t of the U71i'UE1'Sifjl 0 f Mimzesota. VVALTER Coxfrrsv, Mas. COFFEY, LARDNER COFFEY, DEAN COFFEY. A bappy, frimzdly family Pagz' Nizzvfrzvz

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A Tribute to Dean Coffey I think the only piece of advice my father gave me during my educational career was when, with slate and primer under my arm, I started, under convoy of two neighbor girls, for my first day' in school. Guy, he said, don't be a tattle tale in school. I hope in recalling my first memory of Dean Coffey, I am not violating that injunction. For his name first came under my notice at school, in the Graduate School of the University of Illi- nois. One day at a meeting of the executive committee of the Graduate School, the dean, who was strong for regularity, brought up the DEAN Comm puzzling case of a graduate student who pro- Twffffa'-Offf YMVS Of Asf posed animal husbandry as a major and eco- nomics as a minor. Could he, himself a pro- fessor of economics, approve such an uncon- ventional combination? I learned, further, that this student, a member of the staff in the College of Agriculture, was a specialist in sheep husbandry and argued that a knowledge of markets, tariffs, and other economic matters was as germane to his major interests as anything in biology. The student woniand I was for him from that day to this. It seemed to me then, as it has since, that he saw a little further than most of his associates. The student's name was W. C. Coffey. Perhaps another incident convinced me he was far-seeing. I had just married and wanted to build a home on a shoestring. I had the shoestring but the lot I coveted was owned by this same W. C. Coffey-in ahead again. He was willing to sell, how- ever, and sheep husbandry sheared only a lamblike profit from history. When I came to Minnesota, I followed my old neighbor's rise to influence in his own faculty and no one was more gratified than the writer when, in 1921, it was possible for President Coffman, who had also been his neighbor in Urbana, to win Professor Coffey of the University of Illinois as Dean of the Department of Agriculture at Minnesota. Anyone who would pay tribute, as you are doing in this volume, to Dean Coifey's wise leadership and educational statesmanship, must remember that no corresponding deanship of agriculture in any other university is so complex and exacting in its de- mands as the headship of the Department of Agriculture at the University of Minne- sota. It combines many and diverse functions. It is a college in which agriculture, forestry, and home economics are combined. To this it adds the responsibilities of the experiment station and of four sub-collegiate schools of agriculture. It is truly a tripartite department, carrying on education on all levels. Its constituency is the Page Eighteen

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Dean Coffey, An Appreciation NE of the greatest compensations of the teacher is the possibility of assisting in the development of men who will influence the world for good in their day and generation. And it is a matter of the keenest satisfaction to testify to their excellence after the passage of time has made good the high hopes we had of them as students and young men finding themselves. That is why it is a very great pleasure as well as a satisfaction to speak now in appreciation of one of the finestrsouls it has ever been my privilege to know and to love. Back in 1903 Walter Cascella Coffey reg- istered in the college of agriculture of the DEAN QOFFEY University of Illinois. He was more mature Tffiffnf Yeflff Of A80 than the average student and brought with him certain credits from Hartsville and Frank- lin colleges of Indiana, the state of his nativity. He also brought with him a teaching experience that helped not a little in the ability to attack new subjects as well as situations. This maturity, added to his native ability and industry, made of W. C. Coffey a superior student and, almost from the start, an outstanding character in the university. 4 Graduating in 1906 Mr. Coffey at once set about the enterprise of earning his master's degree, which was conferred in 1909. The extra time required in securing this degree was due to the fact that upon graduation he was made part time In- structor in Sheep Husbandry. This appointment was not idly made because it carried full responsibility for that particular interest, not only in the classroom but over the state and with those farmers who were interested in the possibilities of sheep even as a subsidiary interest. First of all, we were satisfied that he knew sheep. Second, than he could teach. Third, that he would safely represent the institution out in the state and, fourth, that what Coffey undertook to do would be done and well done without bothering other people about his troubles if he had any. It is needless now to say that he more than met expectations, not only as a teacher and a representative of the institution and his subject but as an associate in meeting the thousand and one problems that are bound to arise in the day by day operation of so complicated an enterprise as a college, ministering to hundreds of students and to the corresponding interests in the state outside. One year before receiving his master's degree Coffey was advanced from Instructor to Associate, an advance which carried a two-year appointment and an increase of salary. Page Twenty