Pork Producers honor Hall of Fame inductees
Comet staff report

Wise

County residents Linda Wise, Richard Bradshaw and Kenneth Pyle were inducted into the Agriculture Hall of Fame at the Carroll County Pork Producers annual banquet held Monday night at the 4-H Community Building in Flora. Purdue University Extension Educator Paul Marcellino led the induction ceremony.

Parrett's Meat Processing catered the banquet. A short business meeting was held before state Pork Producer representative Emily Tice spoke about statewide activities.

Nathan Trapp and Nicole Spesard were named recipients of the 2007 Pork Producers Hog Slat Memorial Scholarship. Aaron Flora and Jordan Scott, the 2006 scholarship recipients. each received $500 after successfully completing their first year of college.

Carroll County Pork Producers donated $16,844.89 locally in 2006. More than $300,000 has been donated by the organization during the past 17 years.

Profiles of the inductees follow:

Linda Wise

Linda Welk Wise, daughter of Charles and Mary Ellen Welk, was born and raised in Clay Township. She graduated f r o m R o s s v i l l e High School in 1967.

After graduation, she worked at L.S. Ayres and National Homes Corp. as a secretary until her marriage to Fred Wise. Since their marriage, she has played a very active role on their family farm. Her love for farming continues to grow while she learns more about hog production and operating large equipment.

Bradshaw

Although Wise did not have the opportunity to participate in 4-H as a child, she has enjoyed participating as an adult. She served as a 4-H leader for Madison Township for two years. She was vice president on the Extension Board for six years. At that time, she was a member of the Purdue CARET Council. In 1991, she received the Elanco Bell Ringer Award. She served on the Swine Committee and has weighed hogs at the 4-H Fair for over twenty years.

Wise and her husband hosted the 1988 Indiana Farm Management Tour. In 1992, Prairie Farmer named them Indiana Master Farmers. They have hosted several foreign visitors and farm tours and hosted the District Purdue CARET Legislative Meeting.

Mrs. Wise has served the community in many areas. She has helped Pork Producers by serving meals, sponsoring trophies and preparing Christmas baskets. She participated in the Relay for Life. She is a member of Carroll County Community Foundation.

Pyle

While attending the Pyrmont Church of the Brethren, the inductee served as a deacon and helped with many committees. She now attends the Delphi Methodist Church.

The couple was blessed with two children, Jeff and Joan. Jeff is married to Arlene Wolf Wise and they have three children, Brittany, Tyler and Emma. Joan is married to Mark Abbott and they have three children, Garrett, Braden and Marlee, greatly missed, who went to be with the Lord in 2005.

Wise said she enjoys lawn work, spending time with her grandchildren and living in Carroll County.

Richard Bradshaw

Dick Bradshaw was born in Delphi in 1942, one of ten children. He graduated from Delphi High School in 1961 and Indiana University in 1966, with bachelor's and master's degrees in education. He taught at Bloom High School in Chicago Heights for fourteen years. In 1980 he made a career change and returned to Delphi to join Delphi Body Works, a familyowned business.

Bradshaw was president of the Carroll County Community Foundation and is current president of the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of Delphi Community Development Commission, Delphi Lions Club, Carroll County at the Crossroads, Leadership Carroll County, Camp Tecumseh Trailblazers Society, Junto Club and St. Matthews Lutheran Church.

In 1988, he received the Samuel Milroy Award for promoting the economic and social well being for the city of Delphi. He received the Lions Club Melvin Jones Fellow Award for dedicated humanitarian services, the Indiana State Lions W.P. Woods Fellow Award, and in 2006 received the Lions Clubs International and Delphi Lions Club Lifetime Membership Award.

Bradshaw is married to the former Karen Janz. They have two sons, Matt Bradshaw and his wife, Tracy, of Delphi. Their son Mark Bradshaw and his wife, Tara, live in Goodlettsville, Tenn.

They have four grandchildren.

Bradshaw's hobbies include golf, fishing, farming and motorcycling.

Kenneth Pyle

Kenneth Pyle was born in 1925 near Marshall, the middle son of Clarence and Gladys Pyle. He grew up on a dairy farm and was active in the Parke County 4- H program. After graduating from Purdue in agricultural engineering, he began his career with the Soil Conservation Service at Rochester in 1949.

Pyle initiated conservation

technical assistance

programs in Carroll County in 1950, in Hamilton County in 1968 and in Marion County in 1969.

Emphasis in Carroll County included helping landowners and land-users to "put every acre to its best use and treat every acre according to its need." Walking the farm with the farmer was a frequent and enjoyable activity for the inductee.

With Carroll County being located close to Purdue, he had an opportunity to train students as summer trainees and later as soil conservation and engineering professionals. He also assisted in early stages of the Bachelor Run Watershed Program.

Pyle is active in the Delphi Methodist Church, serving in several capacities. He is a member of the Delphi Lions Club. While active in Rural Youth, he met and married Julie Smith. Together they assisted Rural Youth Chorus on a trip to Seattle to perform at the National Farm Bureau Convention, and a year later at their convention at Chicago.

His work in Hamilton and Marion counties started when urban areas recognized the need for better use and treatment of their soils. He served as a coordinator for the Eight County Central Indiana Association of the Soil and Water Conservation Districts.

In 1975, Pyle was administrator of technical conservation efforts within Northeastern Indiana. Retiring in 1980, he and his wife formed Land Inc. Their company works with state and local health departments, homeowners, builders, developers and farmers.

Pyle has continued his church activities with emphasis on evangelism. A fifty-year member of the Lions, he recently received the Melvin Jones award.

He and his wife have four children: Kenneth, a general surgeon; Larry, an architect; Linda, a recovery room nurse; and Diane, a family counselor.

The family enjoys weekly trips to their family lodge at the east edge of Delphi.