By KAREN MUNDY
The Press-News
MAGNOLIA" "You sure have one heck of a family tree " no pun intended."
Those were the clever but true words spoken by Dr. E. Gordon Gee, president of The Ohio State University when he visited the Pine Crest Tree Farm, owned by the Bruce Downes family of Magnolia. His comment was not so much directed at the tree farm as it was directed by the long line of Downes family members who have been true scarlet and gray Buckeyes.
Gee is known for traveling throughout the state to meet with citizens, business and industry leaders and those in the agricultural community to find out what Ohioans need and expect from their state land-grant university. However, when he visited the Downes family farm, he did not realize he was meeting a family of three generations of Ohio State graduates.
Bruce, a 1974 graduate of Ohio State University with a degree in horticultural (fruit sciences) studies, operates the tree farm. Bruce's son Grant graduated from Ohio State in 2005 with a degree in horticultural (landscaping) studies. Grant also was a member of the Buckeye Marching Band for five years.
Bruce also informed Dr. Gee that his father, George Downes, was a graduate of the university, where he also was a member of the wrestling team. George was a National College Athletic Association heavyweight champion and captain of the team. Furthermore, George's brother Arthur was a graduate of the university, where he also had been a captain for the wrestling team.
No doubt, Gee was surprised and pleased to meet a family whose lives had been so affected by the university he is leading for the second time in his life. Gee, who has previously visited every county in Ohio, is planning another tour through the state during his current stint as president.
He visited Downes farm as well as the Shamrock Vale Farms, operated by Earl and Dan McKarns of Kensington, both in Carroll County. Mike Hogan, Ohio State University Extension educator at the Carroll County office, visited with him. Gee and Hogan are committed to ensuring that all educational programs conducted by the Ohio State University are available to clientele on a nondiscriminatory basis. While visiting the Downes, he talked to them about their business, looked at their equipment, including a firewood processor used at the farm, and he talked to Bruce and others about how the university could continue to meet the needs of agriculture in the state.
Bruce, who has served as chairperson for the Carroll County Extension Office's advisory committee, has been very involved in seeing that the office has provided help, education and research for those working in agricultural endeavors in the county. Working with the extension office has not only helped Bruce as a member of the agricultural community, it has helped him find a wife. He met his wife of almost 30 years, Pat, when she was applying for a position an agent/educator with the extension office. Although Pat is a Purdue University graduate, she has now, Bruce said, become a Buckeye fan.
Bruce operates Pine Crest Tree Farm with his son, Kevin, who graduated from Hocking Valley College. The family manages 75 acres for the tree farm, which includes raising trees for landscaping and selling them wholesale. They also work in logging, firewood and forestry management.
The Downes family settled in the area in the 1830s, working in many agricultural endeavors in the area, including operating a fruit farm.
Bruce was pleased with the visit from Ohio State.
"I am impressed with the way he takes time to visit and to directly see what is going on throughout the state," Bruce said. "He is not just staying in Columbus, but making a conscious effort to get out in the agricultural community."
Later in the evening, Gee was the special guest at a program billed as "An Evening with OSU President E. Gordon Gee." The program was held at Faith Ranch in Harrison County and was open to the public. It was sponsored by The Ohio State University Alumni Club of Carroll and Harrison Counties, of which Downes and his family are members.