All Larry Germer wanted to do was take some agriculture classes at Fairbury Junior College and go back to the farm.
But something his uncle, Leonard Germer, told him changed the course of Larry’s life.
“He was Thayer County attorney at the time, and he told me, ‘if you come back and farm and get hurt, then what?’ Germer recalled. “He told me I needed something to fall back on. After Fairbury I went up to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Ironically, I never did go back to the farm.”
Germer was among five individuals who received the Nebraska Community College Association Distinguished Alumni Award Monday night during a ceremony at Northeast Community College in Norfolk.
James Temme, a 1971 graduate of Platte College in Columbus (Central Community College); Cara Catlett Putman, a 1992 graduate of Mid-Plains Community College; Cindy Morrow, a 1978 graduate of Northeast Technical Community College (now Northeast Community College); and Darwin Godemann, a 1979 graduate of Western Nebraska Technical College (now Western Nebraska Community College), also were honored.
“I’m honored to have been chosen for this award,” Germer said. “It really means a lot to me.”
Germer has spent a lifetime in education in Nebraska. The Chester High School graduate earned an associate degree from FJC in 1960, taking numerous agriculture courses from George Johnson, whom Germer praised.
“I took all of the agriculture courses FJC had,” Germer said. “Some agronomy, animal science and ag-economics courses were ones we tested out of at UNL. George did a very good job teaching us.”
Germer earned his bachelor’s degree in ag education from UNL in 1962. He said the instruction he received at FJC was outstanding.
“I had some excellent teachers,” he said. “The class sizes were small, so we got more one-on-one help. One of the things we did was test in those ag classes to get the hours transferred to UNL. There were several classes we took a year later and we still were able to pass their final, so we retained a lot of information. That spoke well of the Fairbury instructors. The instruction was comparable to what we had at the university.”
Germer’s first teaching job was at Diller High School as the vocational agriculture instructor. He spent 12 years at Diller and earned his master’s degree in ag education from UNL in 1975.
He left Diller in 1976 to teach in the Lincoln Public School system. After a two-year stint, Germer joined UNL as an extension educator in Gage County, a position he held for 30 years. In 2008, Germer retired from UNL and was awarded the position of professor emeriti. He still volunteers with various extension programs.
Germer has been involved in numerous civic organizations throughout the years, but he may be best-known for his more than 20 years of work on “Yard and Garden,” a live call-in program on KWBE and KUTT radio stations in Beatrice and Fairbury. He also was an occasional guest on Nebraska Educational Television’s “Backyard Farmer.” This summer, Germer judged horticulture and woodworking categories at eight county fairs.
Germer advised high school students who are insecure and not sure what they want to do to explore a community college.
“You’ll experience smaller classes, get a good general education, narrow down your areas of interest, and save money,” he said. “You also mature a little bit, which is something you need to do.”
Germer and his wife Sondra have six children, five of whom attended Southeast Community College’s Beatrice Campus.
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