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A Conversation with Mr. 4-H pt. 1
In the first of 2 parts, Cobie and John sit down with Mr. Larry Alexander to reflect on his 38 years of working in 4-H, and what his plans are in retirement.
Transcript:
Announcer: This is 4-H-4-U-2, a podcast from the Mississippi State University Extension Service promoting 4-H programs and positive youth development. Here now, your host, Dr. John Long and Cobie Rutherford.
John Long: And we are back again. Welcome to another edition, podcast if you will, broadcasting from Bost Extension Center. This is 4-H-4-U-2. I'm your host, John Long.
Cobie Rutherford: And I'm Cobie Rutherford.
John Long: And we are back at it again, Cobie.
Cobie Rutherford: Yes we are, John. It's been a crazy week here on campus.
John Long: Yeah. It's summertime.
Cobie Rutherford: The students are starting to come back for orientation. There's football camps everywhere. It's an exciting time to be on campus.
John Long: I'm excited to be here today. Of course, I'm always excited to do these podcasts. I mean, it's kind of like the highlight of my week so far. It's just like I can't wait for them to be here. So I'm pumped up about this. I'm also pumped up about our guest today. We have Mr. Larry Alexander and he's also known as Mr. 4-H. And we are going to talk to him today about his career. And Larry, tell everybody, how long have you been in 4-H?
Larry Alexander: So, I've been in 4-H exactly, this past June 1st, 38 years.
John Long: 38 years. Almost as old as I am.
Larry Alexander: That's right.
Cobie Rutherford: Wow.
John Long: No, it's not, though. It's not that long.
Larry Alexander: You're dating me, John.
John Long: No, no, no. I'm a young man. I'm a young man. So Larry, tell us a little bit about yourself, where you were born and raised and just a little bit of background about you.
Larry Alexander: Okay. So I'm really old Delta country boy. Grew up in a little small town of Ruleville, Mississippi. And of course, when I'm away from Ruleville, I have to tell everybody I'm from either Greenwood or Cleveland, because they'd never heard of Ruleville before. But got my start in, kind of on a farm. And then we finally moved to the city limits of Ruleville. But came up on the farm and Ruleville has been my stomping ground for a long time.
John Long: Yeah. Yeah. And it's, Ruleville's like you can't get to Cleveland if you don't, from the-
Larry Alexander: That's correct.
John Long: I mean, I guess you could, but you have to go through it to get to Cleveland sometimes. So that's awesome. And I got tickled once I found out where Larry lived. And where his daddy still lives.
Larry Alexander: That's correct.
John Long: I drove by his house my whole life and never even knew it and I was like, oh really, that's your house? Anyway, that's neither here nor there. So from the Delta, what's your educational background?
Larry Alexander: My undergrad degree is agriculture education with an emphasis in biological science. Then of course my master's degree is in AIS, which most of ... Started a few classes toward the PhD but didn't quite get there so. But that is my educational background.
John Long: That's awesome. And you went to school?
Larry Alexander: Alcorn State University for my undergrad and then my graduate work was here at Mississippi State University.
John Long: And that's a pretty good little ways from my home, I would say at that time, right? I mean-
Larry Alexander: Roughly about three, three and a half hours and never being away from home before going that far, it seemed like forever to get there. Yeah.
John Long: It's a little homesickness at first, probably?
Larry Alexander: Yeah, first few weeks. You know, as a matter of fact, a little bit of funny, I had a friend of mine that we majored in the same thing, went to school together and when we went for freshman orientation, we didn't go. I have a sister that lives in Vidalia, Louisiana, which is just across the bridge or Natchez. So on about, we went down on Monday and freshman orientation was Monday through Wednesday. And so by Wednesday my sister finally asked me, she said, have y'all got your classes and all of that? And we looked at each other and we didn't have a clue. So we had to beat it back to Alcorn to get registered because we didn't know any difference.
John Long: Otherwise you'd just been walking around campus having a good time.
Larry Alexander: That's right, just having a good time.
John Long: That's right, that's right. Living that college life.
Cobie Rutherford: So what are some of the things at Alcorn Mr. Larry, Or experiences you had growing up that kind of led you to a career in agriculture and in service, really?
Larry Alexander: Well, Cobie, it's funny you ask that question because when I first went to Alcorn, I did have an idea that I wanted to do something in agriculture, I just didn't know what that was at the time. So it took me a semester, or a year, to kind of decide that I wanted to do something in the Ag Education arena. But my first thought was possibly being a Vocational Agriculture teacher.
Cobie Rutherford: Oh, yeah.
Larry Alexander: Because actually the gentleman that directed me to Alcorn was Bobby Boone, was our Vocational Ag educator, and he kind of talked us into going to Alcorn sort of. But I had a sister and a brother that both went there, but then he helped me kind of decide which direction I wanted to go. But I had not heard of the Extension program within the first year being there. So that came a little later, yeah.
Cobie Rutherford: Right, right, right.
John Long: So you mentioned him or some other people that kind of influenced your educational direction, didn't it?
Larry Alexander: Well, my oldest sister, been in education forever, seems like, but over 40 years. She coached me a lot along the way. But my old dad had always thought that I would be doing something in the Ag field, just didn't know what it was. And with him not having a college degree, he didn't know all the ins and outs and details of what you could major in and all. But he kind of kept me focused on Ag because he said it seemed like I got a joy out of doing something in the Ag field, so.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: But Mr. Bobby Boone really enlightened us on the ins and outs of Ag, so.
John Long: That's cool. And then actually working on the farm-
Larry Alexander: That's correct.
John Long: I mean, you had that background, so.
Larry Alexander: That's really all we knew at the time, yeah.
John Long: Right, right.
Cobie Rutherford: Yeah, it's kind of cool looking back and thinking about the experiences that you provide to so many 4-H'ers about teaching them about careers and different STEM and agricultural areas in the career field. And you know, there's a lot of things that kids don't know about till they actually come to the university.
John Long: That's right. I didn't know what I wanted to do either.
Larry Alexander: Well, I think a lot of people are like that. And I think I took that with me as I started my career, especially in 4-H because I got to work with a lot of children in Marshall County, which is where I got my start in Extension. They would go to school every day, but they really never thought about what it was they wanted to do. And when we started talking about all of the opportunities that agriculture had to offer and the Extension Service had to offer, you kind of channel young people in at an early stage in their education to figure it out early so you don't wait till you're a sophomore in college to decide what you want to do.
John Long: That's right. And it kind of forces you to make it a lifetime career decision that's in a rush.
Larry Alexander: That's correct.
John Long: But yeah, that's great. I was always envious of people that knew what they wanted to do right off the bat. You know, but sometimes that's really, I guess, not the best. But I would have liked to have known maybe a little bit sooner. So you mentioned that, I guess your first introduction to 4-H was in Marshall County.
Larry Alexander: That is correct.
John Long: When was that?
Larry Alexander: Actually, in 1981.
John Long: Okay.
Larry Alexander: It was when I went to my first job there in Marshall County. And another little story about that, I went on June 1st, which was a Monday. And that was the start, so Ronnie Jones was the County Ag Agent there. He was supposed to take me over to meet the board and the board would approve the position and we would go forward. Well, the board didn't approve that position. So Ronnie didn't know what to do and he said, well Lar, I'll tell you what, you just go on back home and I'll get this all straightened out and we'll call you back. Well, I went home, but I was trying to get, I'm into cars a little bit and so my daddy worked with a big dealership in Illinois, so I called him and said, hey, I'm on my way. And he said, no, you just go back home. They got something mixed up. But I almost missed my calling-
John Long: Wow.
Larry Alexander: ... in the extension arena because if he had said, come on, I probably wouldn't have got a second chance-
John Long: Really?
Larry Alexander: ... to go for that job. But the job had already been approved, the board just, they paid me $25 a month.
John Long: Wow. Oh my gosh.
Larry Alexander: That was the percentage that they paid of my salary a month.
John Long: Oh, wow.
Larry Alexander: But they couldn't come to an agreement on whether they needed the position because they had not had a 4-H Youth Agent for about seven or eight years before.
John Long: Wow, that big of a gap.
Larry Alexander: It was.
John Long: Man.
Cobie Rutherford: Wow.
John Long: That is insane. So how long was it before he called you back?
Larry Alexander: Well, Mr. Leonard Turner, I'll never forget him, he was a District Agent for that region and he called me, actually Tuesday morning, and he asked me where was I at? And he said, you supposed to be in Holly Springs. He said, I don't care what the board said, you go to work.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: But he then realized, I had kind of went on a wild goose chase. He said, I tell you what, you just go back Monday. And he said, you start the work then and if the board says they're not going to pay, I'll pay you the $25 a month. So he kind of made a-
John Long: It was going to come from somewhere.
Larry Alexander: Yeah, it was going to come from somewhere. That's what he was saying, yeah.
Cobie Rutherford: Wow. That's pretty cool. So from the office in Marshall County, then kind of what path did you take to get here to the state 4-H office?
Larry Alexander: Well, it's kind of funny how my career track's landed. When I went to Marshall County, really didn't know anybody in that area. But then after I started doing some 4-H programming, the trend back then was you get into the Extension program at an entry level through 4-H. Then everybody would say, oh, you want to become a Home Economist or become an Ag Agent. Well, I had an opportunity probably five years into my 4-H Youth Agent position to take on a County Ag position in Benton County, which was the next county over. But something about the 4-H youth development work just gave me a lot of joy in helping young people. And I decided back then, that's where I wanted to make my career was in youth development.
John Long: Wow.
Larry Alexander: And so I turned that position down and stayed in Marshall County for another, for about 11 years. And a gentleman here at the state 4-H office by the name of Mr. Holly Ford was retiring and they were going to fill the position and he called me and just said, hey, would you be interested in applying for a position at the state office? And I instantly told him, no, because my wife was from Holly Springs, big family, and I knew it was going to be real hard to move her from Holly Springs to Starkville, Mississippi. But after the interview, seminar and all of that, I really just blew it off because I figured I wouldn't have a chance. Then I got that phone call.
John Long: Wow. So did you have children at that time, when y'all made that move?
Larry Alexander: We did.
John Long: Okay.
Larry Alexander: Actually, I had two children. My son was, right then, he was in the third grade and Leanne was like two or three years old.
John Long: So she really didn't have a-
Larry Alexander: No, not much in Holly Springs.
John Long: How do Trey take it when you said, we're going to Starkville.
Larry Alexander: Trey had some friends that lived right there in our little community. It was kind of, he was okay with it, but he realized he wouldn't be seeing his closest friends every day. But my biggest chore was getting my wife to say, yes.
John Long: I bet.
Cobie Rutherford: Yeah.
Larry Alexander: It put a little strain on the marriage there. But you know, her mother really talked to her and told her that, you know, being the baby girl of that family, of nine, the only way for her to really grow was to get away from her brothers and sisters for a little while.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: And that kind of resonated with her, but it took about two years or so to really make her realize that it was a good move for her, personally.
John Long: Right, right, right, right. That's always tough leaving family.
Larry Alexander: It is, it is.
John Long: For sure. Especially one that's a large one.
Cobie Rutherford: That's for sure.
Larry Alexander: Kind of uprooting and going to somewhere new. That's always tough.
Cobie Rutherford: That is so true.
Larry Alexander: For sure.
John Long: Would you, I had to ask this because I forgot to earlier, but do you remember your very first day at Marshall County? Like official, like I went to the office and actually made some phone calls?
Larry Alexander: John, I really can say that I do because the secretary that was there, Ms. Nilah Moore, I won't ever forget her. When I came in that that day, actually to work, not the first day I went and had to come back.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: But the first day I went into work, she brought two messages to me and said here, this is for you, deal with it. And it was just-
John Long: It was a disgruntled parent.
Larry Alexander: That's right. But no, it was a teacher who had called, somehow they got the word or it was put in newspaper that a person was starting in the 4-H position in the county.
John Long: Oh.
Larry Alexander: And it was actually a lady who had been a volunteer in Marshall County and she wanted to start a club in the school there.
John Long: Wow.
Larry Alexander: So it was a good experience then, for that first call and to actually talk to somebody and then how to advise them because I didn't know much.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: We hadn't even had orientation. But after about, I guess it was about four to six months on the job, we had orientation one.
John Long: Which was here?
Larry Alexander: Which was here on campus. Came back for a week, week long.
John Long: Wow.
Larry Alexander: And they gave you a lot of the, one-two-three's and A-B-C's of 4-H, which was really, really good training. And then you went back to your county and worked a few months and they brought you back for an orientation two.
John Long: Oh.
Larry Alexander: And it was about three and a half days.
John Long: So what was the part two? I can imagine part one was really ground level 4-H.
Larry Alexander: So the first part was really dealing with the paperwork that you had to do with the Extension Service.
John Long: Okay.
Larry Alexander: Like our monthly report.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: So when they're due. What the pecking order was as far as a protocol. But then the orientation two really got more into the subject matter of youth development in 4-H.
John Long: Oh, okay.
Larry Alexander: So about the clubs and different types of delivery modes and all of that. But they really had a great way of introducing new people to Extension positions back then. I think that's, as an old head now, I think that's one of the things that we could learn something from, because right now we're hiring people and we're just putting them in there to do a job and we really haven't given them all the tools that they really need.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: So if I could encourage our administration now to to look at that, that would be one thing I would encourage that would be beneficial to a lot of people.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: Especially in 4-H.
John Long: Do you remember how big your class was?
Larry Alexander: Yeah, as a matter of fact, I can just about mention the ones that were in there, but we had about 10 to 11 people.
John Long: Okay, okay.
Larry Alexander: It was not huge and they gave us a lot of personal instructions because we were not that large. But out of the group that started with me, probably three or four did not stay in Extension.
John Long: Oh really?
Larry Alexander: Yeah. They left to go do something else.
John Long: They didn't say long at all? Or they just didn't-
Larry Alexander: No, they didn't make it to orientation two.
John Long: Really, wow.
Larry Alexander: Some of it, as a matter of fact, [Sierra Brantley 00:16:27] is one young lady that I remember, she went into education, to start teaching school. So some people discovered early on that 4-H wasn't really for them.
John Long: For them. Yeah.
Larry Alexander: It required a lot of time and effort.
Cobie Rutherford: Well, I think today, looking at how busy our agents are and looking at how many different clubs and stuff to balance, it would be pretty daunting for a young person to take on that responsibility.
John Long: Right.
Cobie Rutherford: You'd have to almost share that passion for youth development that Mr. Larry mentioned earlier-
John Long: Right, absolutely.
Cobie Rutherford: ... to do a good job at it.
John Long: Of course it's easier now, you mentioned getting your master's degree. You actually had to travel to Starkville, didn't you? For-
Larry Alexander: That is exactly right.
John Long: Or Mississippi State, I'm sorry.
Larry Alexander: That's right. You could take, I think they allowed professional staff then, six hours. Three could be during the day, three hour class. And then three after five. And so they had the Ag Information Science Department kind of set up where they made it really easy, but we were two and a half hours that we had to drive, mostly on Monday nights.
John Long: Wow.
Larry Alexander: From six to nine.
John Long: Then turn around and go back.
Larry Alexander: That's right. That's exactly right.
John Long: Then get up and go to work.
Larry Alexander: That's exactly right.
Cobie Rutherford: Yeah.
Larry Alexander: And back in those days, a lot of the people that were managing the offices, they expected, they didn't care whether you worked on the weekend or you had something else, they wanted you to be there that morning.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: If you left later, they understood that.
John Long: Right, right.
Larry Alexander: But a little different values and all back then.
John Long: Boy, that makes you appreciate technology a little bit more.
Larry Alexander: It does. It really does.
John Long: For sure. That's right. Yep.
Cobie Rutherford: It would've probably been nice though, to not have been constantly dialed into your email and constantly checking email emails and texts and all that stuff.
John Long: I don't know what we would do if we didn't have email. Just think, I guess you sit there and open mail or twiddle your thumbs until something, till the phone rang, I guess. I don't know.
Larry Alexander: You know John, it's funny you mention opening mail because everything we got, back to my county days, it came in hard copy stuff.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: And you would spend, literally, when you had something going on like you had county contests or whatever, you'd have tons of mail coming in that you had to take time to just open and look at every piece.
John Long: Make sure it was all there.
Larry Alexander: That's correct.
John Long: Wow.
Cobie Rutherford: Read it from top to bottom and-
John Long: My how times have changed.
Cobie Rutherford: Probably less things were missed back then.
John Long: That's true.
Cobie Rutherford: Because there was probably a system that you had to sign off on to open the letters and who opened them and all that stuff.
Larry Alexander: You're right on target.
Cobie Rutherford: Wow, goodness.
Larry Alexander: Technology has, as you all know, it has its ups and downs. It's very easy for someone to say, well I didn't get that email or I missed it. But usually when that hard copy comes in, either a secretary or somebody was going to open that piece of mail and let you know what was going on.
John Long: Make you a little more conscientious of-
Larry Alexander: It does.
John Long: ... what you're sending out, I guess.
Cobie Rutherford: Yeah, that's true.
John Long: That's awesome. Well, go ahead, Cobie, I'm sorry.
Cobie Rutherford: Oh, I was just thinking about, somebody told me one time about writing a letter that it was always a good practice to write the letter before you go to bed and leave it on your counter to decide whether or not you wanted to mail it out the next morning. A lot of times I think people are fast behind their emails and just type something hastily and click send. I shouldn't have said that.
Larry Alexander: I've had a few instances like that.
John Long: Texts too. You better watch your texts. And predictive text is even worse.
Cobie Rutherford: Oh, I know.
John Long: You better make sure you're checking that.
Larry Alexander: That's right.
John Long: So I think that right now we're just going to stop right here and we're going to make this a two part series, I think. We've spent basically this first half talking about Mr. Larry's first part of his career. We're going to talk about the second stage of his career in part two. So y'all join us on 4-H-4-U-2. And if you want more information on the 4-H in your area, go to extension.msstate.edu and click on the 4-H tab at the top of the page. And with that, I'm John Long.
Cobie Rutherford: And I'm Cobie Rutherford.
John Long: And we'll see you next time.
Announcer: Thanks for joining us for 4-H-4-U-2. For more information, please visit extension.msstate.edu and be sure to subscribe to our podcast. 4-H-4-U-2 is produced by the Mississippi State University Extension Service, Office of Agricultural Communications.
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By Mississippi State Extension 4-HIn the first of 2 parts, Cobie and John sit down with Mr. Larry Alexander to reflect on his 38 years of working in 4-H, and what his plans are in retirement.
Transcript:
Announcer: This is 4-H-4-U-2, a podcast from the Mississippi State University Extension Service promoting 4-H programs and positive youth development. Here now, your host, Dr. John Long and Cobie Rutherford.
John Long: And we are back again. Welcome to another edition, podcast if you will, broadcasting from Bost Extension Center. This is 4-H-4-U-2. I'm your host, John Long.
Cobie Rutherford: And I'm Cobie Rutherford.
John Long: And we are back at it again, Cobie.
Cobie Rutherford: Yes we are, John. It's been a crazy week here on campus.
John Long: Yeah. It's summertime.
Cobie Rutherford: The students are starting to come back for orientation. There's football camps everywhere. It's an exciting time to be on campus.
John Long: I'm excited to be here today. Of course, I'm always excited to do these podcasts. I mean, it's kind of like the highlight of my week so far. It's just like I can't wait for them to be here. So I'm pumped up about this. I'm also pumped up about our guest today. We have Mr. Larry Alexander and he's also known as Mr. 4-H. And we are going to talk to him today about his career. And Larry, tell everybody, how long have you been in 4-H?
Larry Alexander: So, I've been in 4-H exactly, this past June 1st, 38 years.
John Long: 38 years. Almost as old as I am.
Larry Alexander: That's right.
Cobie Rutherford: Wow.
John Long: No, it's not, though. It's not that long.
Larry Alexander: You're dating me, John.
John Long: No, no, no. I'm a young man. I'm a young man. So Larry, tell us a little bit about yourself, where you were born and raised and just a little bit of background about you.
Larry Alexander: Okay. So I'm really old Delta country boy. Grew up in a little small town of Ruleville, Mississippi. And of course, when I'm away from Ruleville, I have to tell everybody I'm from either Greenwood or Cleveland, because they'd never heard of Ruleville before. But got my start in, kind of on a farm. And then we finally moved to the city limits of Ruleville. But came up on the farm and Ruleville has been my stomping ground for a long time.
John Long: Yeah. Yeah. And it's, Ruleville's like you can't get to Cleveland if you don't, from the-
Larry Alexander: That's correct.
John Long: I mean, I guess you could, but you have to go through it to get to Cleveland sometimes. So that's awesome. And I got tickled once I found out where Larry lived. And where his daddy still lives.
Larry Alexander: That's correct.
John Long: I drove by his house my whole life and never even knew it and I was like, oh really, that's your house? Anyway, that's neither here nor there. So from the Delta, what's your educational background?
Larry Alexander: My undergrad degree is agriculture education with an emphasis in biological science. Then of course my master's degree is in AIS, which most of ... Started a few classes toward the PhD but didn't quite get there so. But that is my educational background.
John Long: That's awesome. And you went to school?
Larry Alexander: Alcorn State University for my undergrad and then my graduate work was here at Mississippi State University.
John Long: And that's a pretty good little ways from my home, I would say at that time, right? I mean-
Larry Alexander: Roughly about three, three and a half hours and never being away from home before going that far, it seemed like forever to get there. Yeah.
John Long: It's a little homesickness at first, probably?
Larry Alexander: Yeah, first few weeks. You know, as a matter of fact, a little bit of funny, I had a friend of mine that we majored in the same thing, went to school together and when we went for freshman orientation, we didn't go. I have a sister that lives in Vidalia, Louisiana, which is just across the bridge or Natchez. So on about, we went down on Monday and freshman orientation was Monday through Wednesday. And so by Wednesday my sister finally asked me, she said, have y'all got your classes and all of that? And we looked at each other and we didn't have a clue. So we had to beat it back to Alcorn to get registered because we didn't know any difference.
John Long: Otherwise you'd just been walking around campus having a good time.
Larry Alexander: That's right, just having a good time.
John Long: That's right, that's right. Living that college life.
Cobie Rutherford: So what are some of the things at Alcorn Mr. Larry, Or experiences you had growing up that kind of led you to a career in agriculture and in service, really?
Larry Alexander: Well, Cobie, it's funny you ask that question because when I first went to Alcorn, I did have an idea that I wanted to do something in agriculture, I just didn't know what that was at the time. So it took me a semester, or a year, to kind of decide that I wanted to do something in the Ag Education arena. But my first thought was possibly being a Vocational Agriculture teacher.
Cobie Rutherford: Oh, yeah.
Larry Alexander: Because actually the gentleman that directed me to Alcorn was Bobby Boone, was our Vocational Ag educator, and he kind of talked us into going to Alcorn sort of. But I had a sister and a brother that both went there, but then he helped me kind of decide which direction I wanted to go. But I had not heard of the Extension program within the first year being there. So that came a little later, yeah.
Cobie Rutherford: Right, right, right.
John Long: So you mentioned him or some other people that kind of influenced your educational direction, didn't it?
Larry Alexander: Well, my oldest sister, been in education forever, seems like, but over 40 years. She coached me a lot along the way. But my old dad had always thought that I would be doing something in the Ag field, just didn't know what it was. And with him not having a college degree, he didn't know all the ins and outs and details of what you could major in and all. But he kind of kept me focused on Ag because he said it seemed like I got a joy out of doing something in the Ag field, so.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: But Mr. Bobby Boone really enlightened us on the ins and outs of Ag, so.
John Long: That's cool. And then actually working on the farm-
Larry Alexander: That's correct.
John Long: I mean, you had that background, so.
Larry Alexander: That's really all we knew at the time, yeah.
John Long: Right, right.
Cobie Rutherford: Yeah, it's kind of cool looking back and thinking about the experiences that you provide to so many 4-H'ers about teaching them about careers and different STEM and agricultural areas in the career field. And you know, there's a lot of things that kids don't know about till they actually come to the university.
John Long: That's right. I didn't know what I wanted to do either.
Larry Alexander: Well, I think a lot of people are like that. And I think I took that with me as I started my career, especially in 4-H because I got to work with a lot of children in Marshall County, which is where I got my start in Extension. They would go to school every day, but they really never thought about what it was they wanted to do. And when we started talking about all of the opportunities that agriculture had to offer and the Extension Service had to offer, you kind of channel young people in at an early stage in their education to figure it out early so you don't wait till you're a sophomore in college to decide what you want to do.
John Long: That's right. And it kind of forces you to make it a lifetime career decision that's in a rush.
Larry Alexander: That's correct.
John Long: But yeah, that's great. I was always envious of people that knew what they wanted to do right off the bat. You know, but sometimes that's really, I guess, not the best. But I would have liked to have known maybe a little bit sooner. So you mentioned that, I guess your first introduction to 4-H was in Marshall County.
Larry Alexander: That is correct.
John Long: When was that?
Larry Alexander: Actually, in 1981.
John Long: Okay.
Larry Alexander: It was when I went to my first job there in Marshall County. And another little story about that, I went on June 1st, which was a Monday. And that was the start, so Ronnie Jones was the County Ag Agent there. He was supposed to take me over to meet the board and the board would approve the position and we would go forward. Well, the board didn't approve that position. So Ronnie didn't know what to do and he said, well Lar, I'll tell you what, you just go on back home and I'll get this all straightened out and we'll call you back. Well, I went home, but I was trying to get, I'm into cars a little bit and so my daddy worked with a big dealership in Illinois, so I called him and said, hey, I'm on my way. And he said, no, you just go back home. They got something mixed up. But I almost missed my calling-
John Long: Wow.
Larry Alexander: ... in the extension arena because if he had said, come on, I probably wouldn't have got a second chance-
John Long: Really?
Larry Alexander: ... to go for that job. But the job had already been approved, the board just, they paid me $25 a month.
John Long: Wow. Oh my gosh.
Larry Alexander: That was the percentage that they paid of my salary a month.
John Long: Oh, wow.
Larry Alexander: But they couldn't come to an agreement on whether they needed the position because they had not had a 4-H Youth Agent for about seven or eight years before.
John Long: Wow, that big of a gap.
Larry Alexander: It was.
John Long: Man.
Cobie Rutherford: Wow.
John Long: That is insane. So how long was it before he called you back?
Larry Alexander: Well, Mr. Leonard Turner, I'll never forget him, he was a District Agent for that region and he called me, actually Tuesday morning, and he asked me where was I at? And he said, you supposed to be in Holly Springs. He said, I don't care what the board said, you go to work.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: But he then realized, I had kind of went on a wild goose chase. He said, I tell you what, you just go back Monday. And he said, you start the work then and if the board says they're not going to pay, I'll pay you the $25 a month. So he kind of made a-
John Long: It was going to come from somewhere.
Larry Alexander: Yeah, it was going to come from somewhere. That's what he was saying, yeah.
Cobie Rutherford: Wow. That's pretty cool. So from the office in Marshall County, then kind of what path did you take to get here to the state 4-H office?
Larry Alexander: Well, it's kind of funny how my career track's landed. When I went to Marshall County, really didn't know anybody in that area. But then after I started doing some 4-H programming, the trend back then was you get into the Extension program at an entry level through 4-H. Then everybody would say, oh, you want to become a Home Economist or become an Ag Agent. Well, I had an opportunity probably five years into my 4-H Youth Agent position to take on a County Ag position in Benton County, which was the next county over. But something about the 4-H youth development work just gave me a lot of joy in helping young people. And I decided back then, that's where I wanted to make my career was in youth development.
John Long: Wow.
Larry Alexander: And so I turned that position down and stayed in Marshall County for another, for about 11 years. And a gentleman here at the state 4-H office by the name of Mr. Holly Ford was retiring and they were going to fill the position and he called me and just said, hey, would you be interested in applying for a position at the state office? And I instantly told him, no, because my wife was from Holly Springs, big family, and I knew it was going to be real hard to move her from Holly Springs to Starkville, Mississippi. But after the interview, seminar and all of that, I really just blew it off because I figured I wouldn't have a chance. Then I got that phone call.
John Long: Wow. So did you have children at that time, when y'all made that move?
Larry Alexander: We did.
John Long: Okay.
Larry Alexander: Actually, I had two children. My son was, right then, he was in the third grade and Leanne was like two or three years old.
John Long: So she really didn't have a-
Larry Alexander: No, not much in Holly Springs.
John Long: How do Trey take it when you said, we're going to Starkville.
Larry Alexander: Trey had some friends that lived right there in our little community. It was kind of, he was okay with it, but he realized he wouldn't be seeing his closest friends every day. But my biggest chore was getting my wife to say, yes.
John Long: I bet.
Cobie Rutherford: Yeah.
Larry Alexander: It put a little strain on the marriage there. But you know, her mother really talked to her and told her that, you know, being the baby girl of that family, of nine, the only way for her to really grow was to get away from her brothers and sisters for a little while.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: And that kind of resonated with her, but it took about two years or so to really make her realize that it was a good move for her, personally.
John Long: Right, right, right, right. That's always tough leaving family.
Larry Alexander: It is, it is.
John Long: For sure. Especially one that's a large one.
Cobie Rutherford: That's for sure.
Larry Alexander: Kind of uprooting and going to somewhere new. That's always tough.
Cobie Rutherford: That is so true.
Larry Alexander: For sure.
John Long: Would you, I had to ask this because I forgot to earlier, but do you remember your very first day at Marshall County? Like official, like I went to the office and actually made some phone calls?
Larry Alexander: John, I really can say that I do because the secretary that was there, Ms. Nilah Moore, I won't ever forget her. When I came in that that day, actually to work, not the first day I went and had to come back.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: But the first day I went into work, she brought two messages to me and said here, this is for you, deal with it. And it was just-
John Long: It was a disgruntled parent.
Larry Alexander: That's right. But no, it was a teacher who had called, somehow they got the word or it was put in newspaper that a person was starting in the 4-H position in the county.
John Long: Oh.
Larry Alexander: And it was actually a lady who had been a volunteer in Marshall County and she wanted to start a club in the school there.
John Long: Wow.
Larry Alexander: So it was a good experience then, for that first call and to actually talk to somebody and then how to advise them because I didn't know much.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: We hadn't even had orientation. But after about, I guess it was about four to six months on the job, we had orientation one.
John Long: Which was here?
Larry Alexander: Which was here on campus. Came back for a week, week long.
John Long: Wow.
Larry Alexander: And they gave you a lot of the, one-two-three's and A-B-C's of 4-H, which was really, really good training. And then you went back to your county and worked a few months and they brought you back for an orientation two.
John Long: Oh.
Larry Alexander: And it was about three and a half days.
John Long: So what was the part two? I can imagine part one was really ground level 4-H.
Larry Alexander: So the first part was really dealing with the paperwork that you had to do with the Extension Service.
John Long: Okay.
Larry Alexander: Like our monthly report.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: So when they're due. What the pecking order was as far as a protocol. But then the orientation two really got more into the subject matter of youth development in 4-H.
John Long: Oh, okay.
Larry Alexander: So about the clubs and different types of delivery modes and all of that. But they really had a great way of introducing new people to Extension positions back then. I think that's, as an old head now, I think that's one of the things that we could learn something from, because right now we're hiring people and we're just putting them in there to do a job and we really haven't given them all the tools that they really need.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: So if I could encourage our administration now to to look at that, that would be one thing I would encourage that would be beneficial to a lot of people.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: Especially in 4-H.
John Long: Do you remember how big your class was?
Larry Alexander: Yeah, as a matter of fact, I can just about mention the ones that were in there, but we had about 10 to 11 people.
John Long: Okay, okay.
Larry Alexander: It was not huge and they gave us a lot of personal instructions because we were not that large. But out of the group that started with me, probably three or four did not stay in Extension.
John Long: Oh really?
Larry Alexander: Yeah. They left to go do something else.
John Long: They didn't say long at all? Or they just didn't-
Larry Alexander: No, they didn't make it to orientation two.
John Long: Really, wow.
Larry Alexander: Some of it, as a matter of fact, [Sierra Brantley 00:16:27] is one young lady that I remember, she went into education, to start teaching school. So some people discovered early on that 4-H wasn't really for them.
John Long: For them. Yeah.
Larry Alexander: It required a lot of time and effort.
Cobie Rutherford: Well, I think today, looking at how busy our agents are and looking at how many different clubs and stuff to balance, it would be pretty daunting for a young person to take on that responsibility.
John Long: Right.
Cobie Rutherford: You'd have to almost share that passion for youth development that Mr. Larry mentioned earlier-
John Long: Right, absolutely.
Cobie Rutherford: ... to do a good job at it.
John Long: Of course it's easier now, you mentioned getting your master's degree. You actually had to travel to Starkville, didn't you? For-
Larry Alexander: That is exactly right.
John Long: Or Mississippi State, I'm sorry.
Larry Alexander: That's right. You could take, I think they allowed professional staff then, six hours. Three could be during the day, three hour class. And then three after five. And so they had the Ag Information Science Department kind of set up where they made it really easy, but we were two and a half hours that we had to drive, mostly on Monday nights.
John Long: Wow.
Larry Alexander: From six to nine.
John Long: Then turn around and go back.
Larry Alexander: That's right. That's exactly right.
John Long: Then get up and go to work.
Larry Alexander: That's exactly right.
Cobie Rutherford: Yeah.
Larry Alexander: And back in those days, a lot of the people that were managing the offices, they expected, they didn't care whether you worked on the weekend or you had something else, they wanted you to be there that morning.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: If you left later, they understood that.
John Long: Right, right.
Larry Alexander: But a little different values and all back then.
John Long: Boy, that makes you appreciate technology a little bit more.
Larry Alexander: It does. It really does.
John Long: For sure. That's right. Yep.
Cobie Rutherford: It would've probably been nice though, to not have been constantly dialed into your email and constantly checking email emails and texts and all that stuff.
John Long: I don't know what we would do if we didn't have email. Just think, I guess you sit there and open mail or twiddle your thumbs until something, till the phone rang, I guess. I don't know.
Larry Alexander: You know John, it's funny you mention opening mail because everything we got, back to my county days, it came in hard copy stuff.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: And you would spend, literally, when you had something going on like you had county contests or whatever, you'd have tons of mail coming in that you had to take time to just open and look at every piece.
John Long: Make sure it was all there.
Larry Alexander: That's correct.
John Long: Wow.
Cobie Rutherford: Read it from top to bottom and-
John Long: My how times have changed.
Cobie Rutherford: Probably less things were missed back then.
John Long: That's true.
Cobie Rutherford: Because there was probably a system that you had to sign off on to open the letters and who opened them and all that stuff.
Larry Alexander: You're right on target.
Cobie Rutherford: Wow, goodness.
Larry Alexander: Technology has, as you all know, it has its ups and downs. It's very easy for someone to say, well I didn't get that email or I missed it. But usually when that hard copy comes in, either a secretary or somebody was going to open that piece of mail and let you know what was going on.
John Long: Make you a little more conscientious of-
Larry Alexander: It does.
John Long: ... what you're sending out, I guess.
Cobie Rutherford: Yeah, that's true.
John Long: That's awesome. Well, go ahead, Cobie, I'm sorry.
Cobie Rutherford: Oh, I was just thinking about, somebody told me one time about writing a letter that it was always a good practice to write the letter before you go to bed and leave it on your counter to decide whether or not you wanted to mail it out the next morning. A lot of times I think people are fast behind their emails and just type something hastily and click send. I shouldn't have said that.
Larry Alexander: I've had a few instances like that.
John Long: Texts too. You better watch your texts. And predictive text is even worse.
Cobie Rutherford: Oh, I know.
John Long: You better make sure you're checking that.
Larry Alexander: That's right.
John Long: So I think that right now we're just going to stop right here and we're going to make this a two part series, I think. We've spent basically this first half talking about Mr. Larry's first part of his career. We're going to talk about the second stage of his career in part two. So y'all join us on 4-H-4-U-2. And if you want more information on the 4-H in your area, go to extension.msstate.edu and click on the 4-H tab at the top of the page. And with that, I'm John Long.
Cobie Rutherford: And I'm Cobie Rutherford.
John Long: And we'll see you next time.
Announcer: Thanks for joining us for 4-H-4-U-2. For more information, please visit extension.msstate.edu and be sure to subscribe to our podcast. 4-H-4-U-2 is produced by the Mississippi State University Extension Service, Office of Agricultural Communications.