Ralph Holzfaster has a lifetime of achievements as a leader who makes our state, nation and country a better place.
Ralph Holzfaster has a lifetime of achievements as a leader who makes our state, nation and country a better place.
Ralph received his pilot’s license and driver’s license the same day in 1946 at the age of 16. He enlisted in the Air Force as a pilot in 1951 where flying became his passion. Around 1954, Ralph was appointed as a Missile Launch Officer at Cap Canaveral, Florida.
In 1956, Ralph returned to his home south of Paxton to farm and fell in love with a Paxton schoolteacher, Beverly. They have been married for 64 years and counting and have raised five children.
Nebraska was molded by pioneers who took risks, and were ambitious, daring, and willing to put much sweat equity and passion into their livelihood. Ralph was a pioneer; he was one of those few individuals who made a huge difference in southwest Nebraska. He was an innovator in finding ways to till the soil to conserve water and nutrients. He helped transform western Nebraska from a dryland farming area to a center-pivot mecca.
In 1969, he started his center pivot dealership selling Lindsay center pivots. By 1995, Ralph sold more irrigation systems than anyone else, not just in Keith County or Nebraska or the United States, but anyone else in the entire world.
Ralph is a community leader in many organizations and boards, such a Nebraska Public Power Board, Ethanol Board, Keith Co. Economic Development, Omaha Chamber of Commerce, Mid Plains Community College Foundation, Nature Conservancy, and Platte River Advisory Committee and many more.
In 1990, Ralph received the Outstanding Business Leadership Award from the UNL College of Business Administration. In 2013, Ralph and Beverly hosted the Cattlemen's Ball, which helps fund the Eppley Cancer Research Center at the University Medical Center. Fighting cancer is also very personal to Ralph.
Ralph is a “doer”; Ralph is “vision minded, a future thinker, never a quitter”; Ralph is not content with the status quo, if it didn’t work the first time then recalculate, gather more information, make educated changes, then try again, learn a new concept, and make things happen in a positive way.
Ralph has helped transform an industry; communities, and technologies, and he did it in a way that honors his faith, his honesty, and passion towards his loving family. They too are carrying on that Holzfaster tradition.
