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Cecil Nickell - Modern Era

Dr. Cecil Nickell worked as a plant geneticist, performing pioneering work with soybean cultivars while working as an Assistant and later Associate Professor of Soybean Breeding and Genetics, Department of Agronomy at Kansas State University. Six soybean cultivars (a plant variety that has been produced by selective breeding) were released during Cecil’s time at KSU, and the Soybean Variety Testing Program was initiated to provide growers with information on new soybean cultivars sold in Kansas.

Interview Links

Abstract

Interview Session (Audio)


Photos

Caption:
Cecil D. Nickell with his parents, Alice Loreen and Earl in 1945. Cecil grew up on a crop and livestock farm in north-central Indiana as the younger of two boys. His parents, Earl and Loreen Nickell, traded a house with three rooms in the town of Rochester, Indiana, for eighty acres of farmland in 1932.

Where:
Indiana

When:
1945

Ownership:
Narrator's Photo

Caption:
Cecil had only one brother, Willis, who was born in 1926 in Rochester, Fulton County, Indiana. Upon graduating from Rochester Community High School in 1944, Willis enlisted in the Navy and served during World War II.

Where:
Indiana

When:
1945

Ownership:
Narrator's Photo

Caption:
Cecil’s father Earl fabricated a tractor cab from wood and glass specifically for the SC case tractor with steel wheels he had purchased. He replaced the steel wheels with rubber tires after WWII. The corn drag elevator was used to fill corncribs.

Where:
Indiana

When:
1946

Ownership:
Narrator's Photo

Caption:
Cecil and Bonnie Nickell have two sons, Andrew D and David E Nickell. Both were born in Lansing, Michigan during Cecil’s years as a graduate student in the Crop Science Department, Michigan State University.

Where:
Indiana

When:
Unknown

Ownership:
Narrator's Photo

Caption:
Graduate student education was Dr. Nickell’s primary goal while with the Department of Agronomy, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas (1967-1979) and the Departments of Agronomy and Crop Science, University of Illinois from 1979-2000. Seventeen former students who are employed in private industry (Mycogen, Monsanto, Asgrow, Syngenta, DuPont, and Pioneer) or at universities in Iowa, Louisiana, and Ohio gathered for this photo at the Funk Award Banquet in 1997.

Where:
Unknown

When:
1997

Ownership:
May be restricted. Patrons desiring to use this photograph should contact the ALPL Audio-Visual Curator.

Caption:
While attending Purdue University, Cecil met Bonita “Bonnie” K. Partridge on blind date in October 1960. They were married in 1962 and celebrated their 60th Anniversary. 

Where:
Unknown

When:
2022

Ownership:
Narrators Photo

Caption:
A photo of Cecil Nickell at the time of his interview.

Where:
Unknown

When:
2021

Ownership:
ALPL Oral History Program photo



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