Jerry Lynn Zahl

Longtime agronomist, Jerry Lynn Zahl, died on August 18, 2024, at Providence St. Vincent’s Medical Center, Portland, OR, after a short illness. It was entirely appropriate for Jerry to leave us during harvest—he was inquiring about the wheat price on his last day.

Jerry was born in Walla Walla, WA, on March 18, 1944, to Clinton Herman and Stella Inder Zahl, the second of seven children. He grew up on Five Mile Road and attended Maxson School, a two-room eight grade country school with no hot water or telephone. Some kids rode their horses to school and others brought their family dogs to sit near the school stove. Jerry moved to Pioneer Junior High School in the ninth grade, and then attended the old Walla Walla High School on Park Street, where he graduated in 1962. In high school, Jerry was active in many FFA activities, including Public Speaking, Parliamentary Procedure and Livestock Judging. He served as Student Body Vice President, President of the FFA chapter, and was voted to be a Homecoming Prince, the Friendliest Senior, as well as the senior with the neatest smile and most outstanding personality.

Jerry took the train to Stillwater, OK, to attend Oklahoma State University in the fall of 1962. His associations with his Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity brothers, who called him “Jolly Green,” have lasted his entire life. He majored in Agriculture Economics and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1966. While at OSU, he served as President of Aggie-X (the college Ag Econ club) and was on the executive council of Alpha Gamma Rho.

Jerry enrolled in Army ROTC at OSU to help pay for college. After graduation, he served as an Army officer and was lucky to be assigned to the U.S. Army Adjutant General Corps (personnel and finance division) during the Vietnam War. He had fond memories of being attached to Kansas City and traveling to colleges and universities in Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas and western Missouri to tell students about Officer Candidate School. He received the U.S. Army Commendation Medal at the end of his active-duty service as a 1st Lieutenant in 1968.

He returned to Walla Walla and became the Farm Manager for the Copeland Farm off Cottonwood Road, where he had spent many summers from the age of 11. This continued a lifelong friendship with former state senator, Tom Copeland, and his family. During this time, he served as the Walla Walla County President of the Association of Wheat Growers, was on the WAWG State Board, and was active in the Oregon-Washington Pea Growers Association. In the 1970s, Jerry tried his hand at selling Big Bud Tractors in Haver, Mont., and then began a long career at the Walla Walla Farmers Co-op as a Certified Crop Advisor. Jerry was well-known and sought out throughout Washington, Oregon and Idaho for his knowledge about weed and soil science. In 2011, he was recognized as the “Oregon State Weed Warrior of the Year” by the Oregon State Weed Science Society. In 2020, he was added to the Oregon State University’s Diamond Pioneer Agricultural Career Achievement Registry Finally, he was honored with Oregon Wheat’s “Above and Beyond Award” at the annual tri-state wheat growers convention in 2022. After partial retirement in 2010, Jerry continued his interest in ag research and spent many hours mentoring and consulting with young farmers. He served as the President of the Liaison Committee for the OSU/USDA Columbia Basin Agricultural Research Center in Pendleton, OR, and enjoyed many years sharing his expertise to benefit the Whitman College Farm Committee.

Jerry married Kathryn Eubanks in 1988 at the age of 44. They had met at her parents’ Christmas Eve party which he attended with Tom Copeland in 1970. In 1995, they were blessed by the birth of their son, Andrew. He always had the greatest appreciation for those who coach and lead, as well as teachers and parents who give freely of their time and talent to nurture kids along the way.

Education was very important to Jerry. In his second “career,” he fulfilled his personal mission of leading a community effort to form the Walla Walla Public High Schools Scholarship Fund in 2012. The fund was initially seeded by his Wa-Hi Class of 1962 as a 50th reunion project. It was his hope that the fund would serve Wa-Hi graduates for centuries to come. He spent several years on the Walla Walla Public Schools’ Facilities Advisory Committee and was on the search committee for our current superintendent. For a life well-lived, the school district recognized him as a 2016 Graduate of Distinction.

It is nearly impossible to describe Jerry’s big, positive personality or his immense love for all of his friends, colleagues and mentors. He always had a cheery smile, a firm handshake and a double thumbs-up for everyone he met. He has been described often as a beacon of light. We are sure that Jerry would appreciate your remembrance of him by going out for a drive in the country, admiring a great stand of wheat, and counting your blessings in this life. He would also recommend striking up a conversation with a stranger who might become your best friend.

Jerry is survived by his wife, Kathryn, College Place, WA; son, Andrew, (Devyn Meilleur) Walla Walla, WA; sisters Patty Reid, Walla Walla, WA, and Kathy Young (Bill) of Pasco, WA; and brothers John Zahl (Cindy) and David Zahl (Nancy Boudreaux), all of Walla Walla, WA; and countless nephews and nieces. He was predeceased by his parents and two brothers, Robert and Carl.

His celebration of life will take place on Saturday, September 21, 2024, at 1 pm at the Walla Walla 1st Presbyterian Church (he was a member since 1951). A “goodbye party” will follow at the Young Ballroom, Reid Center, Whitman College, from 3-5 pm.

Naturally, in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in Jerry’s name may be made to the Walla Walla Public High Schools Scholarship Fund, c/o Blue Mountain Community Foundation, P.O. Box 603, Walla Walla, WA 99362. Online donations: http://www.wwpsfoundationorg/scholarship

AGRICULTURAL CAREER OF JERRY ZAHL

Written in 2020 by Dr. Richard Smiley, Professor Emeritus (Oregon State University) and Former Director of the Columbia Basin Agricultural Research Station, Pendleton, Oregon

Jerry began his agricultural career with the Del Monte Corporation. However, shortly thereafter, he was asked to serve as Farm Manager for the Copeland Farm, on which he had spent his childhood. Jerry began administering and refining production practices for winter wheat and green processing peas on the Copeland Farm. He also became active in commodity associations such as the Washington Association of Wheat Growers and the Oregon-Washington Pea Growers Association. Jerry became President of the Walla Walla County Association of Wheat Growers.

After nine years as Farm Manager at the Copeland Farm, Jerry became an Agronomic Crop Consultant for the Walla Walla Farmers Co-op, a position he held for 32 years, until 2010. His clients produced 20,000 acres of crops annually, of which more than 90 percent was located in Oregon. He provided agronomic advice and services to farmers as far south as Pendleton. Following retirement from the Cooperative, Jerry worked as an independent crop consultant for eight years, continuing to serve clients located mostly in Oregon.

Jerry Zahl’s greatest pleasure has been to establish working relationships between farmers, scientists, crop consultants, extension agents and administrators. His zealous pursuit of that goal has led him to become the best-recognized advocate for uniting growers with scientists at institutions in all three Pacific Northwest states. He helps individuals to come together to challenge a new or common problem. Jerry often states “We have never met a problem we have not been able to conquer.” He recently also stated “I just can’t stop.”

Jerry has always been an active opponent of agricultural field burning. He places strong emphasis on promoting research showing that crop residues contribute a high level of value for improving soil quality and the sustainability of agricultural productivity. His on-going theme has been to “turn raindrops into dollars” by promoting sustainable practices. He frequently visualizes and establishes a course of action to address problems that have been identified in agricultural enterprises. He has provided testimony before state agencies to lobby for policy changes to improve the environment. For instance, in appearing before the Washington State Department of Agriculture, Jerry was quoted as stating that field burning was “a sin against the land, the air and the water.” He urged that the practice be eliminated. For his expertise in managing weeds, Jerry was once named the ‘Oregon State Weed Warrior of the Year’ by the Oregon State Weed Science Society.

There are many examples of Jerry’s leadership in addressing problems in Oregon and Washington. He recognized that patches of yellow-colored wheat seedlings were unlikely to be caused by nutrient deficiency or any diseases for which Jerry was familiar. He asked Dr. Richard Smiley, the OSU Plant Pathologist at the Columbia Basin Agricultural Research Center, to evaluate the situation. They collected plant and soil samples and sent the samples to a diagnostic laboratory at Washington State University. Since most of the affected fields were in Washington, Smiley and Zahl determined it to be important to invite pathologists from Washington State University to become involved. The diseased plants were found to be infected by the wheat soilborne mosaic virus, which had previously not been known to occur in dryland wheat fields of eastern Oregon or Washington. Zahl took leadership in assembling a select group of growers, crop consultants, scientists and extension agents to examine the situation. At that meeting, in the field, it was determined most appropriate for further research to be conducted by Washington State University, in cooperation with Kansas State University and Cornell University. At the present time, testing of wheat varieties for resistance to the virus disease is once again centered at Pendleton, under the leadership of Dr. Christina Hagerty, the OSU Plant Pathologist at Pendleton. There are many other examples in which Jerry Zahl made an observation in the field and conveyed that observation to state or federal scientists at Pendleton. Those observations frequently became incorporated into education programs and sometimes also the research programs.

Jerry’s work as a crop consultant did not avail him the time to become heavily involved in organizations where he would be expected to attend frequent meetings or travel to distant locations. But there were notable exceptions. Jerry Zahl was a member of the Pendleton Station Liaison Committee for at least 25 years and served as Chairman of that Committee for about 10 years. He provided great leadership and vision by providing a grower’s commercial perspective for all facets of research and extension activities by state and federal scientists at the research center. Jerry testified to state and local agencies many times, in writing and verbally, to advocate for research funding necessities. He served on numerous search committees convened when the research center was seeking to employ a new director, scientist or research assistant. Moreover, Jerry was also a very active and insightful participant during local interviews of prospective administrators for the College of Agricultural Sciences at Oregon State University, and of other OSU scientists such as wheat breeders and coordinators of statewide cereal testing programs.

Jerry Zahl also served for more than 10 years on the Whitman College Farm Advisory Committee, which is charged with administering management of agricultural lands donated to Whitman College. Those donations encompass more than 20,000 acres in four counties of Oregon and Washington. Jerry has excelled in his promotion of sustainable farming practices for the production leases that the Committee administers.

Jerry provided strong and sustained support for the effort to establish the Pendleton Station Endowment Fund. This is a role for which he had previous experience, as he had already established a scholarship fund to benefit future graduates of public schools in Walla Walla.

In 2015, in his capacity as Chair of the Pendleton Station Liaison Committee, Jerry Zahl provided testimony to Senator Ron Wyden, regarding a proposed 50 percent reduction in funding for USDA-Agricultural Research Service programs at Pendleton. Zahl’s testimony became part of Wyden’s effort to overturn that decision by lobbying the Secretary of Agriculture. Zahl stated that the Pendleton center had been studying reduced tillage and no-till practices for many years. He advocated that these new production systems will save farmers money and improve soil health. Zahl stated that “he cannot think of a greater return on taxpayer dollars than finding new ways to increase the region’s farm production.” The reduction in funds was removed from the President’s proposed budget.

Mr. Jerry Zahl is highly deserving of recognition on the OSU College of Agriculture’s Diamond Pioneer Agricultural Career Achievement Registry, (which he received in 2020).