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2 Ben Sunbury Sunbury joined the Farm Credit Administration in 1957 and rose to become executive assistant to the Farm Credit governors in Over the years, he was involved in information, speechwriting, film advising and lobbying. He retired in His book, The Fall of the Farm Credit Empire, was published in Sunbury received the Klinefelter Award CCA s highest honor in He also was a CCA Honorary Member. He died August of 1999.

3 Shirley Sullivan Employed by Southern States since 1987, Shirley had previously been senior editor for CF Industries in Long Grove, Ill. She had also done free-lance writing for several newspapers, including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Houston Post and the Nashville Tennessean. Shirley was at work every morning at 5:30, and even when she was not feeling well, a late day for her was 7 a.m., said Southern States coworker John Ryland. She was extremely dedicated. Shirley served for several years on CCA s board and also won many writing and publication awards from CCA. Many CCA members will remember Shirley for her humorous impersonation of a gangster s moll at the 1985 CCA Institute in Chicago. CCA was Shirley s favorite organization, said Jerry Kirk of Tennessee Farmers Cooperative. She never missed a CCA Institute or regional workshop.

4 Raymond Crouch Raymond was director of member publications and media relations for DFA. CCA members knew him best as a talented photographer who had collected numerous awards for his warm depictions of farm life. A master of the written word and a lover of the photographic image, Raymond devoted his entire career to communications. He was born into a Texas dairy farm family and had spent the last decade of his life advancing the cause of the American dairy farmer. He began his career in cooperative communications in 1989 with Associated Milk Producers, Inc. as director of communications southern region, a position he held for nine years. He joined DFA in 1998 when AMPI consolidated with three other dairy cooperatives to form the new co-op. In 2002, Raymond served as assistant chair of the CCA Photography Contest. He was a past member of CCA s Board of Directors and chaired the 1998 Institute in Santa Fe, N.M. He was a terrific human being and a fine man, and all of us who knew him knew of his generosity, gregarious nature and joi de vivre, noted Mark Bagby, Calcot, who served on the CCA Board with Raymond. CCA Board member Sheryl Meshke reflected on his humor as well as his dedication to the belief that CCA is an important professional development tool for the cooperative communicator. Her words: When I began working at AMPI, my boss Mark Furth sent me to Dallas to spend some time with Raymond to learn the ropes. I remember him taking me to a steak place where they cut off your tie if you wear one. He did and they did. He sat across from me in that cut tie throughout the entire meal. It was so funny I could barely eat. That was almost 11 years ago. About a year after, Raymond flew to Minnesota to spend time in our office. He took Mark and me to dinner and convinced Mark that I should attend the Institute in Monterey... and the rest is history.

5 Gene Ingalsbe Many years ago, when clearing some copy for USDA s co-op magazine, a reviewer took offense to the statement that co-ops unite producers to promote the general welfare. Sounds like communism! she huffed in a note. Gene Ingalsbe, ever calm and level-headed, responded with a copy of the source material quoted: the preamble to the U.S. Constitution! The reviewer withdrew her objection. Gene, who devoted his life to helping farmers and other rural people improve their lot through the development and improvement of cooperative businesses, died March 2, 2006 after a long fight with cancer. Because of his work, countless people in the United States and around the world today know about the cooperative business structure. Whether writing about how an effective co-op board should function or compiling an up-to-date profile of the nation s agricultural cooperative sector, Gene was often the central cog and connecting point between USDA s co-op program and the co-op sector. For many years, he held the dual position of director of information and education for USDA s Agricultural Cooperative Service (now part of USDA Rural Development). Before that, beginning in 1971, he was editor of USDA s News for Farmer Cooperatives magazine, forerunner of Rural Cooperatives. Even after retiring in 1992, he volunteered to work on overseas cooperative development and other co-op projects. A writer and editor of numerous cooperative education publications still widely used nationally and around the world, Gene was committed to articulating the principles and distinctive features that guide successful cooperatives. He saw communications and education as cornerstones of effective cooperatives. Without solid communication and education programs, he often noted, most cooperatives do not survive from one generation to the next. The cooperative communicator was a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, and started his career working for newspapers in Iowa. He worked at Farmland Industries from 1957 to 1969 as managing editor of the co-op s member newspaper, and then spent several years in Cleveland as the editor of an agricultural trade magazine before heading on to USDA. Gene had a true grasp of cooperative operations, in part because of his previous work experience with Farmland, and the ability to write clearly and concisely about them, says CCA Honorary Member Patrick Duffey, who was magazine editor under Ingalsbe. Throughout the cooperative community and within the halls of USDA, he was considered a master of the art of communications. Gene was presented the H.E. Klinefelter award in 1980, the highest honor bestowed by CCA, for his achievements and dedication to improving the communications programs of the nation s cooperatives. He referred to the award as his doctorate degree. He was president of CCA from