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A Conversation with Mr. 4-H pt. 2
In the second of two 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 are your hosts, Dr. John Long and Cobie Rutherford.
John Long: All right, we are back. This is John Long...
Cobie Rutherford: And I'm Cobie Rutherford.
John Long: ... and you are listening to the 4-H-4-U-2 podcast, courtesy of the Mississippi State Extension. With us today, we're going to have part two of our conversation with Mr. 4-H, Mr. Larry Alexander. How are you doing today, Larry?
Larry Alexander: I'm feeling really good.
John Long: Good, good.
Cobie Rutherford: Good deal.
John Long: Yeah.
Cobie Rutherford: Glad to have you.
Larry Alexander: Thank y'all for having me.
John Long: Yeah. How are you Cobie? You doing good over there?
Cobie Rutherford: We're good. It's been a good day so far.
John Long: Good. Excellent. On our last conversation that we had, we basically had led up to Larry touching on your getting into the state 4-H office and spoke about Mr. Holly Ford introducing you to that position. Now, obviously, at that time, you had had working relations with him. He knew you well enough to say, "Hey, this is maybe a pretty good candidate for the position."
Larry Alexander: Yeah. Holly and I, when I first started in the Extension Program in Marshall, he would invite agents to come and help judge record books and be a part of committees. He always somehow would seem to draw my name for things like that. So I got to know Holly very, very well. When this opportunity came available, he just kept saying, "You ought to consider this. If you're going to grow in your career," he said, "This might be a golden opportunity," because as a young man prior to then, I thought I'd be a 4-H agent the rest of my life.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: But he really opened the door and shed some light on a way to grow and still be a part of the 4-H Career Program. So he really inspired me to want to take this opportunity.
John Long: How did he explain the position as far as what your responsibilities would be and then, because that's interesting you say that, how you could still incorporate working with the youth? Because I find sometimes we get, not disassociated but we get displaced from-
Larry Alexander: Disconnected.
John Long: Right. And not even have any interaction. So, when I get an opportunity, I'm excited. Like when we have Congress or nationals, it's something to be excited about because I actually seen the results, you know what I mean? So, what was his advice on the position? and do you remember any of that as far as...
Larry Alexander: It's a little vague, but I just remember some conversations we had because when I explained to him about enjoying interacting with the young people, he said, "Now that may be one thing that would be a little struggle for me because at the state office you dealt more with the agents and volunteers more so than you did with the young people." But he said there were several programs that would afford you the opportunity to interact with the young people so that you can really stay close to that age group.
Larry Alexander: So I thought about that for a minute and I said, "I'm not sure if that's what I wanted to do," but we had lots of interaction with young people from national Congress to our state Congress events, project achievement days. That was all with the young people, which you know. So I really didn't miss that much of interacting with the kids. So I was able to feed my passion in the position by still being closely tied to the young folks in the program.
John Long: That's awesome. And I think that would be important too, just because you've got to, obviously if you're going to meet the needs of young people, you need to be interacting with them to see exactly what they're into, I guess you could say.
Cobie Rutherford: So of all the jobs you've had and little tasks you've had in the office with everything from project achievement day at Congress, what is the one thing you look forward to every single year?
Larry Alexander: Shooting sport.
John Long: 4-H S.A.F.E.T.Y. now.
Larry Alexander: Well John, you say that facetiously, but I really looked forward to those outdoor events, even though sometimes it was in the hottest part of the year. But we work closely together.
John Long: Right?
Larry Alexander: But I think Cobie, the one thing that I look forward to each year was state 4-H Congress because it was an opportunity for us to showcase Mississippi state university in the state 4-H office. Because I go back to my early years and growing up I never knew much about 4-H. Never was a 4-H member. And so I prided myself in trying to tell young people about Mississippi State and Extension because I didn't have that luxury when I was growing up. And I tell a lot of people now even. I spent 38 years with it as a career, I never spent a day as a member.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: And that was probably not a bad thing because I didn't have any preconceived notions about the program. But, Congress and the state fair, I guess, docked the boat.
John Long: Oh, you know I love State Fair.
Larry Alexander: It was probably my favorite two things to look forward to every year.
John Long: Wrecking crew.
Larry Alexander: Yes indeed.
John Long: We'll have to do another show on that when it gets a little closer to the time.
Cobie Rutherford: It's crazy how things roll around so quickly in this office. And I'm starting to see that as, I've almost been in there a year in this position, but John today I got an email about state fair.
John Long: Did you really?
Cobie Rutherford: I'm like, "What? It's not even July yet."
John Long: Doesn't matter.
Cobie Rutherford: But then started thinking, I'm like, "Well, registration opens August 1st.
John Long: Yeah.
Cobie Rutherford: The fair's in October. I mean it's right around the corner. It's just a cycle.
John Long: Next week we're rolling into July.
Cobie Rutherford: Right.
John Long: So yeah, it's crazy. Yeah. Somebody called yesterday wanting a fair book.
Cobie Rutherford: Yeah.
John Long: Yeah. That may have been what you were talking about, but I don't know.
Cobie Rutherford: It's a cycle. So whatever-
John Long: You got me excited about state fair now.
Larry Alexander: John's favorite.
John Long: You shouldn't have mentioned it.
Cobie Rutherford: I love state fair, too. So you mentioned the Congress and state fair. Anything in particular about those events, just other than watching the youth compete?
Larry Alexander: Well, Cobie, I think the big thing was, I had a chance to see kids through their project achievement days and then I see them at the senior level, and you already see them maturing as young people. But then you see them as their first year at Congress and then they come back when they are junior or senior in high school, and boy, there's a big difference in their maturity, the respect. And that just proved to me that 4-H really and truly gives young people a jumpstart in life.
Cobie Rutherford: No doubt.
Larry Alexander: Equip them with the tools that they need to go out and meet some of the most important people in the world, but then still be kid enough to have fun in the process. So I think that was the one thing that I look forward to and I appreciate it, what those events did for those young folks.
John Long: It's definitely amazing to see how they, like in the short time I've been here, to see the 4-H'ers come through and I remember them being small. I say small but younger, and then aging out and then going out and getting careers and all of a sudden it's like, "Well this so and so is in the military and this person's a game warden and this person is..." And I think that's 4-H teaching those life skills like you said, it's able to prepare them probably better than a lot of other young people the same age, for sure.
Larry Alexander: I think having my two children grow up through the 4-H ranks, I can see a very noticeable difference in Trey, who is the oldest, and Leanne, which is my youngest. Leanne actually got into 4-H at a younger age than Trey.
John Long: Okay.
Larry Alexander: Probably not a whole lot of difference, but she was exposed to some things that Trey probably didn't get the opportunity to in 4-H, and I can see it in her personality.
Cobie Rutherford: Really?
Larry Alexander: I can see it in the way she's performing in her career now. But I just knew that not having that opportunity as a person myself, really let me realize how much I may have missed-
Cobie Rutherford: Right.
Larry Alexander: ... In getting some of those tools at an earlier age.
John Long: And she's a perfect example because I remember when she was on the leadership team and now she's... where is she-
Larry Alexander: She's at MS as Director of Student Affairs.
John Long: Yeah. That's amazing.
Larry Alexander: She's enjoying it.
John Long: It makes me feel old. But we'll get back to the age thing again, don't we Larry?
Larry Alexander: That's right.
John Long: Well, so 38 years in basically from... How many years did you say you stayed in?
Larry Alexander: I was in the County for right at 11, almost 11 years.
John Long: And the remainder that has been here.
Larry Alexander: That's correct.
John Long: Can you think of how many Extension directors that you've had during that time?
Larry Alexander: Wow. So my first Extension director is the person that this building is named after, Wm. Bost I believe is his name. But I think if I look back, there's been either seven or eight directors.
John Long: Okay.
Larry Alexander: I think that's right.
John Long: Yeah.
Larry Alexander: But the thing that kind of is a funny, back about two or three years ago, a lot of the people that came on with me, the last of them were starting to retire. And I had a conversation with one of them and I said, "Well, I think this Bost Extension Building was built somewhere in the '70s," I said, "I think I'm becoming a part of the building. I go with the decor." I said, "It's time to do something."
Larry Alexander: But yeah, I've had the opportunity to experience, I believe it's been seven or eight directors.
John Long: Wow.
Larry Alexander: And each one of them had their own unique leadership styles. I couldn't pick a favorite.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: Because sometimes, people with different leadership styles, you need that as an individual to grow yourself, and I think each of them brought a very unique skill to the table.
John Long: Yeah.
Larry Alexander: But it was fun.
John Long: So Dr. Bost, was he here when you started in the state office?
Larry Alexander: He was not, he was not. Actually when I started with Extension, he was going out the same-
John Long: Oh, really?
Larry Alexander: I really never got to really even hear him speak at a function.
John Long: Well, the paint hadn't pretty much dried here when you came here then, right?
Larry Alexander: That's right.
John Long: Yeah, fairly new building.
John Long: Well that leads us up to the topic I really don't want to talk about for obvious reasons, but Larry, if decided that moving onto the next phase of life, starting at the end of June, or starting 1st of July, really.
Larry Alexander: That's correct.
John Long: So, I know that's a tough decision in some instances because 4-H has been such a big part of your life for so long, you've got things you want to do other than that. I mean, I know you still want do 4-H. I know that. Okay. But what do you see yourself doing in the future?
Larry Alexander: Well, Dr. Long, probably if I had retired five or so or more years ago, because really and truly I had a goal of retiring at 55, I probably would have looked at getting into something else that would allow me to continue what I do on my job.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: But you know, I've been probably seven years, or not quite seven years, past that time.
John Long: Don't tell your age.
Larry Alexander: That's right. Almost did. But no, we got some things that we need to do at home that we've been putting on the back burner with our old home and the place itself. So I'm hoping that I'll be able to, in the first year, get that project under way and done. But after that, I told LaTrell Stokes, I said, "I'll be in Starkville, if I can help with some of your workshops and some volunteer work, I'll certainly do that." Because I truly, truly enjoy providing service to people. So I don't want to forget that part of it. But as far as work work, I don't know if I'll be looking for anything.
John Long: I'm going to tell you something about the first time, I guess it was the first time I met you.
Larry Alexander: Okay.
John Long: I came in, and I knew Trey. I actually knew Trey way before I knew you because I would always come to the basement and I would see Trey working in the basement.
Larry Alexander: That's right.
John Long: In the print department. But anyway, so I interviewed for the job. I think it was the day that I interviewed or something, I can't remember. But I came to your office and very first time I met you, I walked into the office and he smiled at me and I said something to him and I said, "Okay, thanks Larry." And when I said that, I turned and I was like, "Oh!" I just winced because I said, "I don't even know this guy, and I'm already calling him by his first name." And I went home and told my wife and she was like, "You called him Larry?" Little did I know, for the remainder of the time we're having together, that's all I really called him, actually.
Larry Alexander: That's right.
John Long: I always get tickled, and I know I've been guilty of it too, and I know that you're probably will have heard this in your sleep, but I always call it a quick question. Everybody always has a quick question for Mr. Larry. Do you have any quick questions that come to mind? I know it's millions of them that you've probably answered throughout the years.
Cobie Rutherford: I think I asked him 15 today.
John Long: I'm telling you.
Larry Alexander: Well, you know, the way I took on questions, and this is just something been a part of me for a long time, I feel like if you're providing sometimes maybe an answer, it may not be the exact answer that you give, but it says that somebody thought enough to come to you to ask a question.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: Which I feel good about that. Which means you still feel like you're fulfilling your worth.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: But there have been some questions by some agents that sometimes, you hang up the phone, and not just agents, it could be a volunteer.
Cobie Rutherford: It could be John.
Larry Alexander: But, I guess the one thing people ask me, "Do you ever have agitations," because I always try to smile. Not really. But you think about things, you ask yourself, "Did they really think about that before they asked the question?"
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: But I never wanted to make anybody feel that a question was a insignificant question or a dumb question.
John Long: Right, no.
Larry Alexander: I mean because, if that person had enough courage to ask that question, then we give them the courtesy to give the answers back. That's right. So I tried to take every question that way and not make a person feel, "I'll never ask him a question again." And I think over the years that is why people don't hesitate to ask me any kind of question.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: Because you make their questions important because you give them the answer. But we've had a lot of questions that sometimes you don't really know the answer, but one of my prides was to try to find the best answer for that because there's no way we can know everything. And for people that's just starting in youth development, that's one of the things that you got to do is to make the caller or the person asking the question, feel like it's important enough for you to get an answer, and find that answer and give it to them. So that goes a long way with you.
Cobie Rutherford: That's a good point. I remember when I first started in this position, asking you just a million questions a day, because I didn't know what I had gotten into, what I was doing. But I remember that reaction from you always being willing to help out, to stop whatever you're doing to explain to me things thoroughly so that I would get it and understand. And that always went a long way with me.
John Long: Of course we know things move along. But anyway, it's a big loss because you've got such a wealth of information and such years of experience that when you don't have that, it's kind of like you got to be, "Here we go." You just don't have Mr. Larry to come to.
Cobie Rutherford: I know.
John Long: That's going to be missed. I can tell you that's going to be missed for sure.
Cobie Rutherford: I'll have to find resources instead of going next door and asking Mr. Larry. We'll have to actually do a Google search. We'll have to work some, John.
John Long: Exactly. It'll be okay.
Cobie Rutherford: We'll be fine.
Larry Alexander: That's the thing you have to keep in mind. I didn't learn all the things I learned overnight.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: I can tell you, experience was a great teacher. I can tell you I did not have, for maybe a year or so, when I came on the staff here at the state office, there were three other people. I think Jim Young, Joe Campbell, and Jared, and their responsibilities were so different from Holly's, which is the responsibilities I took on. But I can remember Joe Campbell being very, very polite and saying, "Well, let's just go find out." And that stuck with me because he could've just blew me off and said, "I don't have time for that."
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: Neither of them ever, ever did that. So, that's why I really tried hard to reach out to other folks and to say, "Hey, we'll go figure it out together."
John Long: Right. Right. That's awesome.
John Long: I've always thought he was cool under pressure too. I envy that.
Larry Alexander: I've had some real cusses before I want to tell you that. That was hard. That was real hard.
John Long: You get a thick skin eventually, I guess.
Larry Alexander: You will. You will.
John Long: That was one thing I was going to ask. If you got-
Cobie Rutherford: I've got a good question.
John Long: Go ahead. You ask.
Cobie Rutherford: So, favorite memory?
John Long: Oh!
Cobie Rutherford: I know there's probably a bunch of them, but-
John Long: I mean has to be favorite, favorite now.
Larry Alexander: Oh wow. That's a tough question.
John Long: We should have prompted him with it, now I wish we had.
Larry Alexander: I need a chance to think about that one, because I've had several, but I don't know if it was such a fun memories, the one that's coming to me right now. But Dr. Evelyn Johnson was on board as a clothing specialist, and it's a fair related item, and we were in Jackson for the state fair and we had a fashion show as a part of the fair.
Larry Alexander: And so we had spent Friday night and some lady from the Gulf Coast had come there to see her child's, seven year old, exhibit on display. And so she got to Evelyn Johnson before she got to me. And when I walked through the back door, Evelyn was trying to keep her from discovering that I had gotten there. But somebody said, "Well there he is right there." And so she beelined to me and she proceeded to give me this-
John Long: What for?
Larry Alexander: ... Spiel about, they traveled all the way from the coast, "And my baby's exhibit is not on display, and y'all should be ashamed," yada yada, yada. And I just stood there with this, well everybody says I just stood there with a smile on my face because I really didn't know what to do, but I finally asked her what County she was from and who was her agent. Sharon Watkins was the agent.
John Long: Wow.
Larry Alexander: Fairly new.
John Long: Wow.
Larry Alexander: And we did an exhibit, five to seven year olds, at the fair. Her exhibit was there, but not on display.
John Long: Oh.
Larry Alexander: But she gave me a few choice words. But, I guess that was a real learning opportunity for me as well because we tried to explain more to those new agents what to tell their volunteers so we didn't have that again. I won't ever forget that, but it wasn't too fun.
Cobie Rutherford: So not necessarily the favorite, but one that stuck with you.
John Long: Sticks in your brain.
Cobie Rutherford: Oh man.
John Long: Oh. So speaking of that, do you have any advice - A, to us, and those that are left behind and agents out there?
Larry Alexander: Well, the tidbit of advice that I would give for those who are working in the 4-H arena and the youth development arena, one of the things that I encourage people not to do, and that's to assume. Sometimes we go about our work assuming that everybody knows the same thing that you know, and there are some young agents out there, young volunteers, young to the 4-H youth department. And I just think that we have to keep that in mind,, is that you have to reverse the situation and put yourself in their shoes. And I think by doing that, that'll allow you the opportunity to service people in a glad way or in a happy way that they look forward to having opportunities to dialogue with you.
Larry Alexander: Because if you ever make a person feel small, they will avoid you the rest of your career. They won't want to have anything to do with you. So we have to have a welcoming attitude and you have to let people know that you care. Not always have the right answer, but know that you care.
John Long: Right?
Larry Alexander: Yeah.
Cobie Rutherford: That's really good.
John Long: Well, as we close this podcast, there's a little bit of sadness. I'm not going to lie, I've enjoyed working with you these past... I don't do goodbyes too well, so this is about as good as it's going to get.
Larry Alexander: I understand.
John Long: But I have enjoyed working with you and we appreciate you coming in today and we wish you nothing but the best of health, wealth and luck, and enjoy working on your cars and answer your phone because I've got tractor issues or something I need help with.
Cobie Rutherford: Yeah, don't go and change your number without telling us.
Larry Alexander: I look forward to the opportunity to continue friendships, and anything that I can provide to help along the way, y'all know that I'm more than willing to do that.
John Long: Have you got any plans for July one? Like what you're going to do that day? Because I asked somebody else that the other day, another retiree.
Larry Alexander: You know it's funny, I had a conversation with my wife and she said, "What are you going to do on July 1st?" I said, "I'm going to stay in the bed past eight o'clock," and I said, "If the phone rings, it'll just ring because I'm not going to answer it." I said, "Because I won't know what to do with myself." So you know, July one, my old dad is still living and we're blessed to have him, so I'm sure I will be either headed in that direction, or doing something with him.
John Long: Wow.
Larry Alexander: That's my intent.
John Long: Somebody told me that it feels like a vacation for about a week or so, and then it sets in that you don't have the office to go to.
Larry Alexander: That's right.
John Long: Well, we wish you nothing but the best thing, and thank you for 38 years of service to the youth of our great state and we wish you all the best. So, thank you.
John Long: We've been speaking with Mr. Larry Alexander and Mr. 4-H and this is 4-H-4-U-2, and we hope that if you are interested in 4-H, you would go to the website and Cobie, what's that website?
Cobie Rutherford: That's extension.msstate.edu.
John Long: Y'all have a great day. Thank you very much for listening.
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 second of two 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 are your hosts, Dr. John Long and Cobie Rutherford.
John Long: All right, we are back. This is John Long...
Cobie Rutherford: And I'm Cobie Rutherford.
John Long: ... and you are listening to the 4-H-4-U-2 podcast, courtesy of the Mississippi State Extension. With us today, we're going to have part two of our conversation with Mr. 4-H, Mr. Larry Alexander. How are you doing today, Larry?
Larry Alexander: I'm feeling really good.
John Long: Good, good.
Cobie Rutherford: Good deal.
John Long: Yeah.
Cobie Rutherford: Glad to have you.
Larry Alexander: Thank y'all for having me.
John Long: Yeah. How are you Cobie? You doing good over there?
Cobie Rutherford: We're good. It's been a good day so far.
John Long: Good. Excellent. On our last conversation that we had, we basically had led up to Larry touching on your getting into the state 4-H office and spoke about Mr. Holly Ford introducing you to that position. Now, obviously, at that time, you had had working relations with him. He knew you well enough to say, "Hey, this is maybe a pretty good candidate for the position."
Larry Alexander: Yeah. Holly and I, when I first started in the Extension Program in Marshall, he would invite agents to come and help judge record books and be a part of committees. He always somehow would seem to draw my name for things like that. So I got to know Holly very, very well. When this opportunity came available, he just kept saying, "You ought to consider this. If you're going to grow in your career," he said, "This might be a golden opportunity," because as a young man prior to then, I thought I'd be a 4-H agent the rest of my life.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: But he really opened the door and shed some light on a way to grow and still be a part of the 4-H Career Program. So he really inspired me to want to take this opportunity.
John Long: How did he explain the position as far as what your responsibilities would be and then, because that's interesting you say that, how you could still incorporate working with the youth? Because I find sometimes we get, not disassociated but we get displaced from-
Larry Alexander: Disconnected.
John Long: Right. And not even have any interaction. So, when I get an opportunity, I'm excited. Like when we have Congress or nationals, it's something to be excited about because I actually seen the results, you know what I mean? So, what was his advice on the position? and do you remember any of that as far as...
Larry Alexander: It's a little vague, but I just remember some conversations we had because when I explained to him about enjoying interacting with the young people, he said, "Now that may be one thing that would be a little struggle for me because at the state office you dealt more with the agents and volunteers more so than you did with the young people." But he said there were several programs that would afford you the opportunity to interact with the young people so that you can really stay close to that age group.
Larry Alexander: So I thought about that for a minute and I said, "I'm not sure if that's what I wanted to do," but we had lots of interaction with young people from national Congress to our state Congress events, project achievement days. That was all with the young people, which you know. So I really didn't miss that much of interacting with the kids. So I was able to feed my passion in the position by still being closely tied to the young folks in the program.
John Long: That's awesome. And I think that would be important too, just because you've got to, obviously if you're going to meet the needs of young people, you need to be interacting with them to see exactly what they're into, I guess you could say.
Cobie Rutherford: So of all the jobs you've had and little tasks you've had in the office with everything from project achievement day at Congress, what is the one thing you look forward to every single year?
Larry Alexander: Shooting sport.
John Long: 4-H S.A.F.E.T.Y. now.
Larry Alexander: Well John, you say that facetiously, but I really looked forward to those outdoor events, even though sometimes it was in the hottest part of the year. But we work closely together.
John Long: Right?
Larry Alexander: But I think Cobie, the one thing that I look forward to each year was state 4-H Congress because it was an opportunity for us to showcase Mississippi state university in the state 4-H office. Because I go back to my early years and growing up I never knew much about 4-H. Never was a 4-H member. And so I prided myself in trying to tell young people about Mississippi State and Extension because I didn't have that luxury when I was growing up. And I tell a lot of people now even. I spent 38 years with it as a career, I never spent a day as a member.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: And that was probably not a bad thing because I didn't have any preconceived notions about the program. But, Congress and the state fair, I guess, docked the boat.
John Long: Oh, you know I love State Fair.
Larry Alexander: It was probably my favorite two things to look forward to every year.
John Long: Wrecking crew.
Larry Alexander: Yes indeed.
John Long: We'll have to do another show on that when it gets a little closer to the time.
Cobie Rutherford: It's crazy how things roll around so quickly in this office. And I'm starting to see that as, I've almost been in there a year in this position, but John today I got an email about state fair.
John Long: Did you really?
Cobie Rutherford: I'm like, "What? It's not even July yet."
John Long: Doesn't matter.
Cobie Rutherford: But then started thinking, I'm like, "Well, registration opens August 1st.
John Long: Yeah.
Cobie Rutherford: The fair's in October. I mean it's right around the corner. It's just a cycle.
John Long: Next week we're rolling into July.
Cobie Rutherford: Right.
John Long: So yeah, it's crazy. Yeah. Somebody called yesterday wanting a fair book.
Cobie Rutherford: Yeah.
John Long: Yeah. That may have been what you were talking about, but I don't know.
Cobie Rutherford: It's a cycle. So whatever-
John Long: You got me excited about state fair now.
Larry Alexander: John's favorite.
John Long: You shouldn't have mentioned it.
Cobie Rutherford: I love state fair, too. So you mentioned the Congress and state fair. Anything in particular about those events, just other than watching the youth compete?
Larry Alexander: Well, Cobie, I think the big thing was, I had a chance to see kids through their project achievement days and then I see them at the senior level, and you already see them maturing as young people. But then you see them as their first year at Congress and then they come back when they are junior or senior in high school, and boy, there's a big difference in their maturity, the respect. And that just proved to me that 4-H really and truly gives young people a jumpstart in life.
Cobie Rutherford: No doubt.
Larry Alexander: Equip them with the tools that they need to go out and meet some of the most important people in the world, but then still be kid enough to have fun in the process. So I think that was the one thing that I look forward to and I appreciate it, what those events did for those young folks.
John Long: It's definitely amazing to see how they, like in the short time I've been here, to see the 4-H'ers come through and I remember them being small. I say small but younger, and then aging out and then going out and getting careers and all of a sudden it's like, "Well this so and so is in the military and this person's a game warden and this person is..." And I think that's 4-H teaching those life skills like you said, it's able to prepare them probably better than a lot of other young people the same age, for sure.
Larry Alexander: I think having my two children grow up through the 4-H ranks, I can see a very noticeable difference in Trey, who is the oldest, and Leanne, which is my youngest. Leanne actually got into 4-H at a younger age than Trey.
John Long: Okay.
Larry Alexander: Probably not a whole lot of difference, but she was exposed to some things that Trey probably didn't get the opportunity to in 4-H, and I can see it in her personality.
Cobie Rutherford: Really?
Larry Alexander: I can see it in the way she's performing in her career now. But I just knew that not having that opportunity as a person myself, really let me realize how much I may have missed-
Cobie Rutherford: Right.
Larry Alexander: ... In getting some of those tools at an earlier age.
John Long: And she's a perfect example because I remember when she was on the leadership team and now she's... where is she-
Larry Alexander: She's at MS as Director of Student Affairs.
John Long: Yeah. That's amazing.
Larry Alexander: She's enjoying it.
John Long: It makes me feel old. But we'll get back to the age thing again, don't we Larry?
Larry Alexander: That's right.
John Long: Well, so 38 years in basically from... How many years did you say you stayed in?
Larry Alexander: I was in the County for right at 11, almost 11 years.
John Long: And the remainder that has been here.
Larry Alexander: That's correct.
John Long: Can you think of how many Extension directors that you've had during that time?
Larry Alexander: Wow. So my first Extension director is the person that this building is named after, Wm. Bost I believe is his name. But I think if I look back, there's been either seven or eight directors.
John Long: Okay.
Larry Alexander: I think that's right.
John Long: Yeah.
Larry Alexander: But the thing that kind of is a funny, back about two or three years ago, a lot of the people that came on with me, the last of them were starting to retire. And I had a conversation with one of them and I said, "Well, I think this Bost Extension Building was built somewhere in the '70s," I said, "I think I'm becoming a part of the building. I go with the decor." I said, "It's time to do something."
Larry Alexander: But yeah, I've had the opportunity to experience, I believe it's been seven or eight directors.
John Long: Wow.
Larry Alexander: And each one of them had their own unique leadership styles. I couldn't pick a favorite.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: Because sometimes, people with different leadership styles, you need that as an individual to grow yourself, and I think each of them brought a very unique skill to the table.
John Long: Yeah.
Larry Alexander: But it was fun.
John Long: So Dr. Bost, was he here when you started in the state office?
Larry Alexander: He was not, he was not. Actually when I started with Extension, he was going out the same-
John Long: Oh, really?
Larry Alexander: I really never got to really even hear him speak at a function.
John Long: Well, the paint hadn't pretty much dried here when you came here then, right?
Larry Alexander: That's right.
John Long: Yeah, fairly new building.
John Long: Well that leads us up to the topic I really don't want to talk about for obvious reasons, but Larry, if decided that moving onto the next phase of life, starting at the end of June, or starting 1st of July, really.
Larry Alexander: That's correct.
John Long: So, I know that's a tough decision in some instances because 4-H has been such a big part of your life for so long, you've got things you want to do other than that. I mean, I know you still want do 4-H. I know that. Okay. But what do you see yourself doing in the future?
Larry Alexander: Well, Dr. Long, probably if I had retired five or so or more years ago, because really and truly I had a goal of retiring at 55, I probably would have looked at getting into something else that would allow me to continue what I do on my job.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: But you know, I've been probably seven years, or not quite seven years, past that time.
John Long: Don't tell your age.
Larry Alexander: That's right. Almost did. But no, we got some things that we need to do at home that we've been putting on the back burner with our old home and the place itself. So I'm hoping that I'll be able to, in the first year, get that project under way and done. But after that, I told LaTrell Stokes, I said, "I'll be in Starkville, if I can help with some of your workshops and some volunteer work, I'll certainly do that." Because I truly, truly enjoy providing service to people. So I don't want to forget that part of it. But as far as work work, I don't know if I'll be looking for anything.
John Long: I'm going to tell you something about the first time, I guess it was the first time I met you.
Larry Alexander: Okay.
John Long: I came in, and I knew Trey. I actually knew Trey way before I knew you because I would always come to the basement and I would see Trey working in the basement.
Larry Alexander: That's right.
John Long: In the print department. But anyway, so I interviewed for the job. I think it was the day that I interviewed or something, I can't remember. But I came to your office and very first time I met you, I walked into the office and he smiled at me and I said something to him and I said, "Okay, thanks Larry." And when I said that, I turned and I was like, "Oh!" I just winced because I said, "I don't even know this guy, and I'm already calling him by his first name." And I went home and told my wife and she was like, "You called him Larry?" Little did I know, for the remainder of the time we're having together, that's all I really called him, actually.
Larry Alexander: That's right.
John Long: I always get tickled, and I know I've been guilty of it too, and I know that you're probably will have heard this in your sleep, but I always call it a quick question. Everybody always has a quick question for Mr. Larry. Do you have any quick questions that come to mind? I know it's millions of them that you've probably answered throughout the years.
Cobie Rutherford: I think I asked him 15 today.
John Long: I'm telling you.
Larry Alexander: Well, you know, the way I took on questions, and this is just something been a part of me for a long time, I feel like if you're providing sometimes maybe an answer, it may not be the exact answer that you give, but it says that somebody thought enough to come to you to ask a question.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: Which I feel good about that. Which means you still feel like you're fulfilling your worth.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: But there have been some questions by some agents that sometimes, you hang up the phone, and not just agents, it could be a volunteer.
Cobie Rutherford: It could be John.
Larry Alexander: But, I guess the one thing people ask me, "Do you ever have agitations," because I always try to smile. Not really. But you think about things, you ask yourself, "Did they really think about that before they asked the question?"
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: But I never wanted to make anybody feel that a question was a insignificant question or a dumb question.
John Long: Right, no.
Larry Alexander: I mean because, if that person had enough courage to ask that question, then we give them the courtesy to give the answers back. That's right. So I tried to take every question that way and not make a person feel, "I'll never ask him a question again." And I think over the years that is why people don't hesitate to ask me any kind of question.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: Because you make their questions important because you give them the answer. But we've had a lot of questions that sometimes you don't really know the answer, but one of my prides was to try to find the best answer for that because there's no way we can know everything. And for people that's just starting in youth development, that's one of the things that you got to do is to make the caller or the person asking the question, feel like it's important enough for you to get an answer, and find that answer and give it to them. So that goes a long way with you.
Cobie Rutherford: That's a good point. I remember when I first started in this position, asking you just a million questions a day, because I didn't know what I had gotten into, what I was doing. But I remember that reaction from you always being willing to help out, to stop whatever you're doing to explain to me things thoroughly so that I would get it and understand. And that always went a long way with me.
John Long: Of course we know things move along. But anyway, it's a big loss because you've got such a wealth of information and such years of experience that when you don't have that, it's kind of like you got to be, "Here we go." You just don't have Mr. Larry to come to.
Cobie Rutherford: I know.
John Long: That's going to be missed. I can tell you that's going to be missed for sure.
Cobie Rutherford: I'll have to find resources instead of going next door and asking Mr. Larry. We'll have to actually do a Google search. We'll have to work some, John.
John Long: Exactly. It'll be okay.
Cobie Rutherford: We'll be fine.
Larry Alexander: That's the thing you have to keep in mind. I didn't learn all the things I learned overnight.
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: I can tell you, experience was a great teacher. I can tell you I did not have, for maybe a year or so, when I came on the staff here at the state office, there were three other people. I think Jim Young, Joe Campbell, and Jared, and their responsibilities were so different from Holly's, which is the responsibilities I took on. But I can remember Joe Campbell being very, very polite and saying, "Well, let's just go find out." And that stuck with me because he could've just blew me off and said, "I don't have time for that."
John Long: Right.
Larry Alexander: Neither of them ever, ever did that. So, that's why I really tried hard to reach out to other folks and to say, "Hey, we'll go figure it out together."
John Long: Right. Right. That's awesome.
John Long: I've always thought he was cool under pressure too. I envy that.
Larry Alexander: I've had some real cusses before I want to tell you that. That was hard. That was real hard.
John Long: You get a thick skin eventually, I guess.
Larry Alexander: You will. You will.
John Long: That was one thing I was going to ask. If you got-
Cobie Rutherford: I've got a good question.
John Long: Go ahead. You ask.
Cobie Rutherford: So, favorite memory?
John Long: Oh!
Cobie Rutherford: I know there's probably a bunch of them, but-
John Long: I mean has to be favorite, favorite now.
Larry Alexander: Oh wow. That's a tough question.
John Long: We should have prompted him with it, now I wish we had.
Larry Alexander: I need a chance to think about that one, because I've had several, but I don't know if it was such a fun memories, the one that's coming to me right now. But Dr. Evelyn Johnson was on board as a clothing specialist, and it's a fair related item, and we were in Jackson for the state fair and we had a fashion show as a part of the fair.
Larry Alexander: And so we had spent Friday night and some lady from the Gulf Coast had come there to see her child's, seven year old, exhibit on display. And so she got to Evelyn Johnson before she got to me. And when I walked through the back door, Evelyn was trying to keep her from discovering that I had gotten there. But somebody said, "Well there he is right there." And so she beelined to me and she proceeded to give me this-
John Long: What for?
Larry Alexander: ... Spiel about, they traveled all the way from the coast, "And my baby's exhibit is not on display, and y'all should be ashamed," yada yada, yada. And I just stood there with this, well everybody says I just stood there with a smile on my face because I really didn't know what to do, but I finally asked her what County she was from and who was her agent. Sharon Watkins was the agent.
John Long: Wow.
Larry Alexander: Fairly new.
John Long: Wow.
Larry Alexander: And we did an exhibit, five to seven year olds, at the fair. Her exhibit was there, but not on display.
John Long: Oh.
Larry Alexander: But she gave me a few choice words. But, I guess that was a real learning opportunity for me as well because we tried to explain more to those new agents what to tell their volunteers so we didn't have that again. I won't ever forget that, but it wasn't too fun.
Cobie Rutherford: So not necessarily the favorite, but one that stuck with you.
John Long: Sticks in your brain.
Cobie Rutherford: Oh man.
John Long: Oh. So speaking of that, do you have any advice - A, to us, and those that are left behind and agents out there?
Larry Alexander: Well, the tidbit of advice that I would give for those who are working in the 4-H arena and the youth development arena, one of the things that I encourage people not to do, and that's to assume. Sometimes we go about our work assuming that everybody knows the same thing that you know, and there are some young agents out there, young volunteers, young to the 4-H youth department. And I just think that we have to keep that in mind,, is that you have to reverse the situation and put yourself in their shoes. And I think by doing that, that'll allow you the opportunity to service people in a glad way or in a happy way that they look forward to having opportunities to dialogue with you.
Larry Alexander: Because if you ever make a person feel small, they will avoid you the rest of your career. They won't want to have anything to do with you. So we have to have a welcoming attitude and you have to let people know that you care. Not always have the right answer, but know that you care.
John Long: Right?
Larry Alexander: Yeah.
Cobie Rutherford: That's really good.
John Long: Well, as we close this podcast, there's a little bit of sadness. I'm not going to lie, I've enjoyed working with you these past... I don't do goodbyes too well, so this is about as good as it's going to get.
Larry Alexander: I understand.
John Long: But I have enjoyed working with you and we appreciate you coming in today and we wish you nothing but the best of health, wealth and luck, and enjoy working on your cars and answer your phone because I've got tractor issues or something I need help with.
Cobie Rutherford: Yeah, don't go and change your number without telling us.
Larry Alexander: I look forward to the opportunity to continue friendships, and anything that I can provide to help along the way, y'all know that I'm more than willing to do that.
John Long: Have you got any plans for July one? Like what you're going to do that day? Because I asked somebody else that the other day, another retiree.
Larry Alexander: You know it's funny, I had a conversation with my wife and she said, "What are you going to do on July 1st?" I said, "I'm going to stay in the bed past eight o'clock," and I said, "If the phone rings, it'll just ring because I'm not going to answer it." I said, "Because I won't know what to do with myself." So you know, July one, my old dad is still living and we're blessed to have him, so I'm sure I will be either headed in that direction, or doing something with him.
John Long: Wow.
Larry Alexander: That's my intent.
John Long: Somebody told me that it feels like a vacation for about a week or so, and then it sets in that you don't have the office to go to.
Larry Alexander: That's right.
John Long: Well, we wish you nothing but the best thing, and thank you for 38 years of service to the youth of our great state and we wish you all the best. So, thank you.
John Long: We've been speaking with Mr. Larry Alexander and Mr. 4-H and this is 4-H-4-U-2, and we hope that if you are interested in 4-H, you would go to the website and Cobie, what's that website?
Cobie Rutherford: That's extension.msstate.edu.
John Long: Y'all have a great day. Thank you very much for listening.
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.