Eminent Farmer
County: Sanborn
Merlyn VanWalleghen is an energetic, helpful and respected leader. He has served on the local Vocational Agriculture Department, Advisory Committee of the Agricultural Technology Program at Mitchell Technical Institute and was a perpetual host to livestock evaluation classes and practice sessions for the Livestock Judging Teams at Mitchell Technical Institute.
After graduating from Letcher High School, VanWalleghen graduated from South Dakota State University in 1958 with a degree in Animal Science. He served on the SDSU Livestock Judging Team and was also the Little I Manager in the College of Agriculture.
Graduating from SDSU wasn't enough to keep VanWalleghen away. In fact, he directed $10,000 from Heartland Technologies, Inc. establishing the Merlyn VanWalleghen Family Scholarship in the Department of Animal and Range Sciences, encouraged two other Heartland Consumer Power District board members to establish scholarship endowments for $10,000 each and has been donating funds to the Animal Science Judging Travel Fund at SDSU since 1999. VanWalleghen has been contributing to the College of Agriculture and Biology since 1980 and has supported the Leaders for Tomorrow Scholarship Fund.
Along with all of his other commitments, VanWalleghen still manages to own 1000 acres of farmland and he and his son Todd plant corn and soybeans on a total of 1400 acres.
VanWalleghen and his wife Pat have two children, both with degrees from SDSU.