Charles Y. Thompson was the son of a pioneer medical doctor and forsook his education in law education for farming. C.Y. Thompson had a large part in shaping the forces which changed the farm. He gave vigorously, independently and unselfishly of his time and effort for the betterment of Nebraska agriculture. C.Y. Thompson was a fine gentleman of good humor, great faith, immense vision, deep humility and unquestionable integrity.
It is always a pleasure for me to be present at our society meetings. It is a particular pleasure this evening since we are honoring a friend, a man who has done so much for the state of Nebraska, for the University, for agriculture and for the people as a whole.
His long service to agriculture covers a variety of services. He was a farmer, a writer on agricultural matters, he was interested in farm meetings, he promoted the old farmers institutes, the predecessor of our present extension service. He was interested in, and active in, farm organizations and served on the Board of the Nebraska Farm Bureau from 1921 to 1945. He was president several months in 1922-23 and again 1933-1945. He has served as a regent of our university for 24 years. Truly this is a record seldom, if ever, equaled.
I have known Mr. Thompson best for his agricultural interest and efforts. He was not born to agriculture. He came from a long family of medical men. His grandfather, his father and several of his brothers were practicing physicians in the state. He was not sure at first that he wanted to go into agriculture. In the language of the street he “shopped around” some and gave serious attention and effort to the legal profession. His choice of agriculture was, therefore, deliberated and the result of mature consideration. I do not know just what was the final persuasive argument that came to his mind, but at any rate, he made up his mind to enter the agricultural field. Making up his mind, as his closer friends know was usually a final decision.
Having adopted agriculture as a life work, he immediately became a student of agricultural affairs. He had a well disciplined mind; he knew the value of accurate information. He came down to the University and took a course in agriculture. He read research bulletins. He was a frequent visitor on our campus, and our older faculty will bear me out that he asked questions, pointed questions with a purpose. He talked with all of those that he thought knew agriculture. It was not long until he earned, and I mean earned, the reputation not only of being a good farmer but having a wide knowledge of agricultural affairs. His advice was sought by farmers and by agricultural workers.
My first real acquaintance with him came through his writing in the Nebraska Farmer. I read his article and notes while I was working at North Platte. When I came to the university, he was on his farm near West Point where he had built up a good farming practice and a splendid home. Farming in those days and I speak from experience, was not as remunerative as later on.
As I mentioned above, Mr. Thompson was interested and active in the promotion of agriculture and assisted in many agricultural programs. When he was president of the Nebraska Farm Bureau, I attended many of his meetings. His programs were objective and well thought out. He was interested in an equitable tax system and as Farm Bureau president, inaugurated tax studies which Mr. Marshall tells me are still carried on. Another interest was in some way to build an agricultural program which would encourage an individual farmer to use his ability in the production of crops.
In 1935 he became a regent of the University of Nebraska. He has rendered a long and worthy service to the board from which he is retiring in January. Mr. Thompson brought to the regency his wide agricultural background - farmer, writer of agricultural affairs and promoter of farm organizations and programs. He had followed closely the work of the agricultural experiment station in its search for new crops and new methods. He was interested in extension work and all college activities. He knew many of the faculty personally. To us he was “C.Y.” It was quite natural therefore that when he was elected to the Board of Regents, we at the agricultural college considered him (somewhat) as our special regent. I want to add at once, however, that he was a regent not of our college but of the university as a whole. He did not lose interest in agriculture -- he could not. It was too much a part of him, but he considered at all times the interest of the university as a whole and seldom if at all did our faculty feel that those interests interfered with our own.
As a regent he continued to visit our campus, now with the idea of administrating its affairs as a part of the university. He would come to discuss whatever questions were in his mind and especially those on which the regents were to take action. He was an independent thinker, in fact, a father independent individual. He kept an open mind up to a point, but after he made up his mind, he was not easily moved. I don’t believe that any of us tried to go beyond the point of discussion. We perhaps tried to persuade him on a subject, but not to dictate. I am told that he could not be dictated to.
It would be impossible for me to point out the particular accomplishments of Mr. Thompson as a regent. There are too many. He was interested in everything that pertained to the university and always ready to discuss whatever problem or emergency that seemed to confront us. If someone in research thought he was too much interested in extension work at sometime, it was because the urgency of the problem seemed to point in that direction at that time.
We worked with him many years. We might not in every sense have seen eye to eye on a particular problem, but we found Mr. Thompson a man entirely capable of analyzing a problem and making his own decisions. He was a man of deep integrity and of real interest in the welfare of the college, the university and the state. Our society does well to honor him tonight.
