1974 Henry F. Klosterman

This tribute to Henry Klosterman might well be entitled, “The Great American Dream” because it tells how a young man at the age of 21 immigrated to this country from Germany – made good and is an outstanding American citizen and recognized by everyone as a great agricultural leader.

This tribute will, however, deal primarily with the career of Henry Klosterman as a man. We will attempt to tell what kind of a man Henry Klosterman is and in so doing, we may surprise some of his longtime friends with his many special and varied interests.

I found the story of Henry’s life to be most fascinating and interesting. I found, after visiting informally with him for a couple of hours, that he learned rapidly as a young man and that learning is an on-going enterprise with Henry. His story will tell about how he was discouraged on reaching New York to learn that Americans were rude to him because he could not get them to understand his orders for food – he speaking only German. There is the story of Goliath City . . . Tennessee walking horses . . . his College work at Concordia and at the University of Nebraska . . . his tutoring of George Beadle . . . his devotion to conservation and his dedication to the cause of higher education and agricultural research and education.

But let’s start at the beginning. He was born on a farm in Germany near the North Sea and the farm on which he was born has been in the family since the 30 years war. It is interesting to know the origin of the name Klosterman. Henry told me that a man by the name of Almedes was a caretaker of the property – land property which belonged to a monastery. Mr. Almedes was a sympathizer of the protestants and he went with the cause with the King of Sweden. As a reward for helping protestants, Mr. Almedes was given a patent to the land he had been administering. Then he moved onto the land and because he came from a cloister, from a monastery, they called it Klosterman and that was the origin of the name Klosterman. Later on one of the storms or high tides came along in 1772 and about three fourths of the property was submerged and only a very small part of it reclaimed. Henry has a brother living on that land and two sisters lived there until two years ago.

It was in 1924 while attending a winter course at the Institute of Agriculture at Oldenburg, Germany, that his life took a turn toward America. Henry, along with two other students, were chosen by the Director of the Institute to undergo training for underground cultivation of national socialistic ideas. A flat refusal of this honor was not the thing to do under the circumstances and so he prepared to leave Germany. Fortunately a relative who had apparently done well in Nebraska offered liberal credit for him to go to college or start in business in America. Henry at the time was thinking of studying law.

Well, it took Henry a year to get a visa to this country, remember that was in 1925. In applying for the visa, young Henry was impressed with the courtesies extended to him by the American Consulate. He had been trained you see to tip his hat to his elders and bow and click his heels. Now, he did not mind tipping his hat to the ladies but to men – that grated on him. But on going to the American Consulate, the American officers took his hat and coat and had him sit at a table opposite them to discuss his problem. Henry immediately felt that he was the equal of others on the other side of the table and he has never forgotten that courtesy.

Henry got his visa – and meantime the two others chosen for the underground training pursued their training and became leaders in Hitler’s elite guard and later met with untimely deaths.

Henry came by boat to the United States and then by train to David City and he took a job for the summer on the farm near where Henry now lives. He was paid $50 per month plus board and room. Looking back on that experience, Henry thinks now it was ideal because he learned how not to farm. His first job turned out to be a distasteful one for Henry. He was given the job of burning 100 hogs all weighing over 400 pound each that had died from hog cholera. His problem was to get the hogs to a ravine on the farm. Henry was smart enough to know he couldn’t lift the 400 pounders but as usual he was imaginative, and he put together a sled and rolled the hogs onto it and then rolled them off in the ravine. Another job Henry detested on that farm was milking of cows. He thought it was a demeaning job because cows in his native Germany were never milked by men – but always by women. I don’t know whether Henry Klosterman ever again milked cows, but I would guess if he did that, he didn’t like the job.

Then came the fall of 1925 and Henry decided he should learn to speak English and get some higher education. He enrolled at Concordia College a Seward but soon found that the students were studying for the ministry and were speaking German. So, he transferred to the University of Nebraska College of Agriculture. Here he lived originally with Dr. and Mrs. Frank Keim and he took subjects that he thought would help him in his desire to farm.

While living at Keim’s, he incidentally helped tutor George Beadle, the future Nobel prize winner, with his German. Beadle had to master German for his graduate work and so he and Henry spent many hours studying together. Often, Henry relates that Beadle would grow tired and go to sleep and Henry had to wake him up and send him home.

Henry belongs to the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity and he to this day feels indebted to the fraternity for helping him to speak better English. His fraternity brothers teased him to no end about his German brogue but that helped him to speak better English. Henry today remembers many of his professors at Ag College. He particularly remembers Prof. Howard Gramlich who one day in class made the world-shaking statement that “we now know all there is to know about nutrition.” A statement which obviously didn’t come true.

His next experience was starting to farm near Ulysses. He shipped in carloads of hogs from Arkansas to feed them out. He found he had to handle a lot of hogs to make any money because hogs ten were selling for around $3 per hundred. Henry usually drove the hogs to nearby Surprise, Nebraska, to the railroad but he soon found out the hogs would not cross the tracks. Using his imagination, he soon found a way to get them across the tracks. He covered the tracks with straw and the hogs moved across the tracks.

Well, Henry then as now was a serious man and I presume bachelorhood did not appeal to him as a way of life. The future Mrs. Klosterman was a student at the University and Henry had met and courted her when he was on campus. So he returned to the campus for various parties and the like and soon Henry and Oda were married. Her first home as a bride was on the farm at Ulysses.

But in 1932 Henry had the opportunity to move to the land where he and his son John now farm. The years of 1932, 1933 and 1936 and 1937 were not good crop years as many of you will recall. Henry says 1937 was the worst year. They raised nothing on the farm except for a real good crop of alfalfa seed.

Meantime Henry had become naturalized. He doesn’t recall any ceremony for the occasion but does recall that the Clerk of the District Court in David City issued his citizenship papers – and although Henry did not tell me I am sure that was a proud moment in his life in Nebraska.

The rest of the story is pretty well known to most of you. Mr. and Mrs. Klosterman raised a family of three daughters – Ann, Catherine and Jane – and one son, John.

Today the Klosterman’s operate 1800 acres of land in Butler County. They have eight irrigation wells, two center pivots and some 800 acres of land in Colorado. The Colorado land now has three wells and center pivots. In the late twenties, Henry became acquainted with a Scotch scientist who had retired and was living with his son then farming 20 miles north of Strasburg, Colorado. He told Henry of his theories and demonstrated his planting on his son’s farm – on summer fallow. Henry bought 800 acres of land there for $10,000 and later three center pivots were installed. Needless to say, that investment had paid off for Henry.

Today – the Klosterman’s operate two family corporations – Grass Valley Farms and the Ash Creek Ranch Company.

The Klosterman’s operations are somewhat unique. Coming as Henry did from a part of the world where making of hay is extremely difficult – usually taking one to three weeks to cure – Henry was impressed by the ease with which alfalfa cures in Nebraska. So the Klosterman’s have always had a large alfalfa acreage, up to 200 acres and they try to have as good a forage and silage program possible which Henry says serves to reduce the risks in cattle feeding.

Henry and John feed a lot of Holstein cattle. They started this practice ten years ago because Henry felt that there was no money in feeding prime cattle and he felt that more people around the world could afford hamburger than could afford choice steaks. They are not sorry they have fed Holsteins. Gains are good and they are nice to handle.

The first irrigation well on the David City farm was put down in 1955. Henry is a bit concerned over the future water supplies and feels that regulation of irrigation is bound to come soon. He went through that experience in Colorado in getting a permit for wells and where meters on wells are required. Henry also thinks that diversion of water is a coming thing in Nebraska and that it doesn’t make sense to hold off any longer.

However, he hurriedly points out correctly that diversion is more popular now because more people want the water – not because more people want to let their water go elsewhere.

The Klosterman’s are minimum tillage champions. Practically all of their corn is grown under minimum tillage which cuts down on tillage operations. The entire farm is under a good soil conservation program and parallel terraces are being installed to replace the original plowed up terraces.

Henry, as many of you know, knows his Tennessee walking horses. His interest comes from his home in Germany where they always had good horses. That term Tennessee walking horses, of course, comes from their special gait, a running walk with single foot gait where there is no motion to the rider and no jolts. However, Henry likes the flat walk gait. His daughters loved to ride the Tennessee horses and they showed them a great deal. John prefers his motorcycle to the horses.

Henry has been a pioneer in the soil conservation business. He helped originate the Butler County Soil Conservation District. He served on the Blue River Planning board for many years and is on the executive board of the Upper Big Blue Natural Resources District.

Henry is chairman of the board of the First National Bank in David City, a charter member of the David City Rotary Club. He has been honored by the University of Nebraska with the Nebraska Builders Award. In 1939, he was given the Ak-Sar-Ben Agricultural Achievement Award and in 1968 was honoree of the Block and Bridle Club. He was the president of the former David City Company which had as its objective to financially assist the development of the Nebraska Egg and Poultry Company and for a time the Henningson Foods. He is a longtime trustee of the University of Nebraska Foundation and a member of its Chancellors Club.

So you can see that Henry Klosterman has won many honors. He has been a staunch supporter of adequate funds for agricultural research and education. He talks frankly about the benefits of agricultural research. Henry Klosterman’s integrity has never been challenged although some disagree with him.

But what about his other interests. Perhaps a few of you know of his interest in the arts and music. He and Mrs. Klosterman have a fine collection of good art in their home. And, Henry appreciates art that does not have to be explained to him. His interest in art stems from his boyhood days on the farm in Germany. A number of artists visited this home village in the summer and they stimulated interest in the arts. He likes to visit art galleries in cities all over the world where he and Mrs. Klosterman have travelled. His favorite gallery is the London National Gallery.

His interest in music stems from a young cattle buyer who asked Henry to accompany cattle shipments from Henry’s fathers farm to Cologne by rail. This young man was a violinist and not at home in the cattle business. When in Cologne he took young Henry to the art galleries and symphony concerts. Henry today says this young man did him a great favor and taught him to enjoy good music – despite the fact that Henry has never played a musical instrument.

A few years ago Mr. and Mrs. Klosterman were featured in a book written by a well known German author. He visited their farm home for the story of the Klosterman’s. The title of the book is – “The Great Dream – America.” Mr. & Mrs. Klosterman are known in the book as Mr. and Mrs. Brugman from not David City but from Goliath City.

Well, Henry Klosterman’s career is indeed an interesting one. Today he speaks German but not as good as when he came to this country in 1925. He is known to most as a conservative. And many of his friend and non-friends refer to him as that “Hard Headed Henry” but that doesn’t seem to mind Henry one bit.

He has been a great benefactor of Nebraska Agriculture and richly deserves the honor bestowed upon him by the Hall of Agricultural Achievement.

And when I asked Henry if he was glad that he came to this country, he immediately replied yes, of course. And then he said he wouldn’t be alive today if he had stayed in Germany. There were 15 boys in his high school class. Seven of them perished during the 2nd World War.

Yes, Henry is glad he immigrated to this country and so are many, many friends.

So, Henry the Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement honor you tonight --

For your significant contributions to Nebraska Agriculture through your unselfish and dedicated efforts to better our basic industry, Agriculture –

For your honesty and integrity as one who never has compromised principles with decisions –

For your devotion to the cause of continued learning –

And, with admiration for your broad and varied interests in cultural and civic affairs in Nebraska.

Congratulations and best wishes.