93
Let’s hear the story of Nebraska, its communities, its number one industry Agriculture, and the people who make it happen. Sponsored by Nebraska's Law Firm® - Rembolt Ludtke.
93
Glen Becker & Scott Becker--Giving Back the Harvard (Nebraska) Way
In this episode our guests are Glen Becker and his son Scott Becker, Managing Partner of HBE accounting and consulting firm with offices across Nebraska.
Glen Becker has spent his lifetime serving his neighbors and strengthening his community of Harvard through his service on the school board, city council, Mayor of Harvard and now as a member of the Clay County Board of Supervisors. We’re also visiting with his son Scott, who saw firsthand what it means to be rooted in the Nebraska values and is now living out those principles himself.
Nebraska is not just a place, but a way of life. It's 93 counties that are home to innovative individuals caring to do have a spirit that runs deeper than its purple story. It's a story that's going to be told. Welcome to 93, the podcast.
SPEAKER_02:Welcome to 93, the podcast, where we talk about Nebraska, its communities, its number one industry agriculture, and the people who make it happen. I'm Mark Folson, your host for today's episode, brought to you by Nebraska's law firm, Rimble Utte. In this episode, we're heading to Harvard. Harvard, Nebraska, that is, to visit with someone who has spent a lifetime serving his neighbors and strengthening his community. We're also visiting with his son. He saw firsthand what it means to be rooted in the Nebraska values we all recognize: hard work, humility, and a commitment to something bigger than ourselves. And now he's living those principles himself. We'll talk about what motivates a life of service, the lessons they've learned along the way, and why giving back is at the heart of strong communities here in Nebraska. Today's guests are Glenn Becker and his son, Scott Becker. Gentlemen, thanks for joining us. Thank you.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks, Mark. Great to be here.
SPEAKER_02:So, Glenn, you have an interesting history. Uh tell folks, uh, give us your background. Pretend we've never met.
SPEAKER_03:I grew up in a single family, single-parent family. Where at? That was at Sutton. We lived in a number of communities. I went to college. We're first generation college. Had an older brother, eight years older. He went to college. Where'd you go? Carney. It was at Carney State College at that time. Okay. Um, and it's kind of you know, not the thing you expected to do. But it was also during the Vietnam War, the and but it was the right thing to do. And I was very fortunate. I had a a lot of experiences growing up that gave me an opportunity to get a great work ethic. As a young kid, you know, uh, you know, we didn't have much, but we didn't think about it. It was just the way we were. And we weren't missing anything that when I look back at it. The we had my brother and I had a younger brother who has passed away now, but we would have um paper outs, one in the morning, one at night. We mowed yards. When we got a little older, we worked in a uh grocery store, we worked on a farm. And farm's probably where I picked up as much work ethic as, but all of that really kind of fell together, to be honest with you. The um I I remember one little incident when when I was first working, and this happened to be the farm that was my grandparents' farm at one time. And this guy, he was he's busy, took off, and my brother and I were working cleaning out a hog shed. Wonderful job. But he he doesn't come back and we're done. So we're standing around, we finally decided, okay, well, let's clean up these weeds around this building. He came back and he was so excited, he'd give us a pay raise right on the spot. He said, Hey, you guys, that's exactly what they ought to be doing. So I worked for him in high school, uh, some in college, but I also worked in a factory, I worked in a filling station. And so I was fortunate. I put myself through school, but you could do it back then. Um and basically had almost no debt. Uh along the way, um the one of our friends lined me up on a blind date. We end up uh getting married, and we're gonna be married here 57 years before we know it.
SPEAKER_02:Congratulations.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, it's been we've been fortunate, and our whole family's been that way, really. Um, we got great kids, we've got three kids that have all gone to college. They're all Harvard graduates, by the way.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, Harvard, Nebraska.
SPEAKER_03:And so is my wife. And it's kind of a story how we ended up there was I joined the National Guard when I was a senior in college. So I was a lot older than that. Most of the people that were going to basic training. But I um figured we might as well, I didn't know where I was gonna work because jobs were tight in 1970. I graduated in 1970 from uh Carnage State College and with a business degree. And so we moved back to Harvard, which was where she was from. And I was only gone six months, but six months at that age seems like eternity. Came back and I was just delighted to be back. Uh, we went to Hastings and uh which is 20 miles from from Harvard, went to to see this. It was like the first week back, and I really wasn't worried about a job at that point. I was just delighted to be home. This went to employment agency and this woman, and when you know you're a fresh college graduate, you think you're gonna get a position. Well, she wanted to get me a job, you know, very practical. So, but I wasn't dressed for that interview, and I came, we went downtown and there's a state employment office. I go in there. The first thing this guy that met me at the door says, Well, we don't normally have jobs for college graduates. And I thought, oh, well, this is a great start. I have a young wife and a young son. First lady I talked to after I filled out the form says, you know, there's this gentleman at the Meat Animal Research Center that has been looking for someone with kind of your background for several for a couple years. And this was really early on in the research center. Um, I went out there the same day, my wife was in the car with Scott, and I come out and had a flat tire. Uh but a week later I was working and the place grew dramatically. Uh we when I would cut across through the research center. It's a if you're not familiar with the research center, it's 35,000 acres, so it's a large facility. It's a former naval ammunition depot.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, where is it located?
SPEAKER_03:Uh it's actually got an address at Clay Center, but it's and it's mainly in Clay County. It's almost all in Clay County, so it'd be just like about three miles west of Clay Center.
SPEAKER_02:And do you still live in Clay County?
SPEAKER_03:I live in Harvard, which is in Clay County.
SPEAKER_02:And what's your license plate prefix?
SPEAKER_03:30.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you. Another one I get to take credit for. Yeah. So Meet Animal Research Center. Uh you started working there. Describe for our listeners who've never seen it or have no idea what it is. What is it?
SPEAKER_03:Well, so 35,000 acres, if you can't really relate to how big that is, the east boundary of the research center is 10 miles. And the north boundary is close to 10 miles, but it kind of cuts off because he didn't get all of it. And the south side is a is like a triangle, the railroad tracks across there. So it was used. The the Meadow Research Center is a beef cattle, sheep, and swine uh research center. When I started, we probably had uh two scientists. Uh the It was just you and two scientists? Uh a lot of people taking care of cattle and sheep. Okay. Uh at some point we were probably 300 employees. We probably had in there, we had probably 40 scientists and 20 postdocs. Uh so it and I'm not sure what the numbers like now. I I know all the things with the current budget situation has had its impacts, but um seven research units, and it started out with basically one or two people in two different categories when I started. And so uh I had a great opportunity to grow with it. Um so then I was living in a small community and uh really didn't know many people, so I joined the fire department. I was in the for the wrong reasons in some ways to meet people, but also it was really hard because that wrong reason I don't know.
SPEAKER_02:I some ways I think that's missing today. That um the sense of community and using those opportunities not only for serving others but also just just get to meet people.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and it really was that, and then and the Lions Club, joining the Lions Club, but then uh then once you start people finding out who you are, uh probably the first thing related to public service was a planning and zoning committee. And I was on that for a while, and then there was a vacancy on the city council, and I was on city council for a couple years, and then the mayor didn't rerun, and a friend, I say it loosely, encouraged me to do a write-in. And but I was on the ballot, and so I served as mayor for 20 years.
SPEAKER_02:Of Harvard?
SPEAKER_03:Yes, and it's a great experience. I mean that uh we had this minister that said Harvard is not like a lot of small towns, it's like a big city, small town, because you got people come and go, you're near an a larger uh community, there's not as many uh businesses there, it's more of a uh living place. I mean, there are businesses, but it's not as many, never was. Years and years ago, there was a uh Clay County was heavily impacted by World War II. There was an uh Army air base that was there, quite large. Uh they had a living uh uh I'm not sure how many acres it was, but then you had the Naval Emanation Depot, so they got about 45,000 acres. And that's also there's a lot of those memories that never really went away because they took land from people. And that's part of at first, you know, being in a community and saying you I work at the Meat Animal Research Center, and they say, Well, my family had land out there, which was taken. And it's shocking when you think about what happened in World War II that from the time they took the land in a year they were shipping bombs. It's just hard to imagine. You couldn't even begin to think about that today.
SPEAKER_02:Scott, let's let's segue to you a little bit. You did you grow up in Harvard? Uh yeah, I grew up in Harvard.
SPEAKER_00:And uh, where'd you go after that? So I grew up in Harvard, just I just real quick on Harvard, there were 23 people in my high school class. So uh C2 at the time. Were you valedictorian? Uh I actually was. Congratulations.
SPEAKER_02:You're the first person I've asked that actually answered that.
SPEAKER_00:Uh yeah, you can edit that one out. No, no, I'm very proud of that. I had got a great education there, and really part of the reason why I got a great education there is because of my parents and you know, they're caring about my education and my sister's education. And um, so after graduation, I actually went, had the opportunity to go to the Air Force Academy, and that was a big decision in my life. And I decided, okay, went out there, stayed overnight, was really really thought that's what I was going to do. Ended up not deciding not to do that. Uh turned down the appointment to the academy and uh went to the University of Kansas for just a semester, thought I would stay stay in the Air Force ROTC there. And uh I was an engineering major at the time, determined really quickly that engineering wasn't my thing. Came back to Nebraska.
SPEAKER_02:I agree with you on that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I came back to Nebraska where I where I would not have a scholarship eventually, um, changed my major back to uh changed my major to business and accounting. And so I went to school with university, graduated, um, met my wife there at the university in the business college, and um just been in Lincoln ever since.
SPEAKER_02:And what do you do?
SPEAKER_00:I'm the managing partner at HBE. Uh, we're full service accounting and tax firm.
SPEAKER_02:You have offices across the state.
SPEAKER_00:We do, yeah. Offices in Lincoln, Omaha, and Norfolk, and clients across the state.
SPEAKER_02:So growing up in your household in Harvard, Nebraska, did you have an opportunity to observe your dad and his career of public service?
SPEAKER_00:I definitely did. He had a tremendous work ethic for one, he talked about, uh, with not only his position at the research center, but then public service, you know, going observing how running for mayor, being mayor. He didn't talk about some of the other things that he that he other opportunities that he took advantage of, like the school board and and currently on the county board. Just constant service, not only that, Lions Club, a lot of different things.
SPEAKER_02:Did you ever brag that my dad's the mayor?
SPEAKER_00:That's a great question.
SPEAKER_02:Did you get like into was there a swimming pool, city swimming pool you got in if you're the mayor's kid? I don't know that I got any benefits, really.
SPEAKER_03:It's probably a detriment because you don't want to have the police department messing with your kid because they did something stupid. So I was blessed. It's kind of like being a pastor's kid, right?
SPEAKER_02:So you had to be in your best behavior. Right, right, exactly. Glenn, your career in public service, I I I want to try to catalog this. So you served on the city council of Harvard, correct? You were mayor of Harvard, correct? Yes. Uh you were on the school board. Which school district? Harvard Public School. Okay. And you currently serve on the Clay County Board of Supervisors?
SPEAKER_03:Correct.
SPEAKER_02:Uh what else have you done?
SPEAKER_03:Well, so it once when you're a small community, uh, I figured along the way that I didn't know how to say no. And so, look, I'm here today. So I also uh we have a community foundation, I'm the president of that. Uh we have a uh there's a a person back in 1883 left money to the city of Harvard and established what was called the Debier Farmer Trust. And so we we manage that. I'm a trustee on that with the land and the money all goes to the city of Harvard. We after we pay property taxes, but then most of the money goes to the city for streets. It was dictated in his will. Um been the on the nursing home board for I'm trying to get out of that over time here right now. But I probably did that for 15 years. And maintaining a nursing home in a small community is a real challenge. It's important.
SPEAKER_02:Very important.
SPEAKER_03:So what's the population of Harvard approximately to Harvard is a little under a thousand, but you know, it's really kind of surprisingly, it hasn't changed a lot. It's a little smaller, it might have been up to 1100, but it's been in the neighborhood of a thousand for as long as I can remember.
SPEAKER_02:Where's the name come from? Do you know?
SPEAKER_03:It do uh the railroad was coming through, and the railroad had a practice of go like taking the first letter of, and so down the road was Grafton. Sutton must have not been on the list at the time because they're in between us. Uh that's actually where I went to high school. But Harvard was uh the one of the railroad engineers. He went to school at Harvard. And so he named it for his his alma launder.
SPEAKER_02:So how far away is Harvard from, say, Hastings? Uh about 20 miles. To the east?
SPEAKER_03:West. West. We're on Highway Six.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. Um I asked both of you this question. Uh a lot of what we're talking about here today is community. Glenn, let's start with you. When you think of the word community, what's it mean to you personally?
SPEAKER_03:Well, it's a place where you hang your hat and you raise your family, and you you want to have a safe place and um you want to have a school system that you're proud of. And and I am very proud of Harvard's because I've always felt kids that are disadvantaged have as great an opportunity to make it as anybody. And sometimes that's not always the case. Uh I think that school's done a great job for that. And it's a small school too, and and it's smaller than than when Scott was there. Um so it's it's part of your family, and it's part of all the people your friends are are so involved, and it gets to be a small group of people that are doing a lot of things.
SPEAKER_00:Scott, what's community mean to you? Community means a lot of things. I guess one thing that means to me is like responsibility and a responsibility of the people around you, whether they're family or friends, um, not-for-profit organizations. Like at my firm, we we we think being involved in the community is like is one of our core values. And that wasn't just because of me, and it's because what what we really believe. You know, can support things that you're passionate about, and a lot of it's important to be passionate about your community, whether it's church or civic organizations or anything. It's it's giving back and being a servant and a leader in in a way and supporting the community.
SPEAKER_02:What are uh what are some of the organizations you're involved in from a community standpoint?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, currently, uh in in the past and and currently uh involved with my my uh church uh parish council, not now, but I have been. Uh the Madonna Board was involved with that. Um local art center, um, uh the Pius Foundation, very various community and and church activities.
SPEAKER_02:And raising a family.
SPEAKER_00:And raising a family. Yeah, three children. Um my daughter, um, fortunate that she gets to work in my office. She's a financial advisor in our wealth management area. Uh, I have a son, Alex, who is just starting dental school at the University of Nebraska. And then my youngest is Sam, and Sam's a sophomore at UNL, sitting at accounting.
SPEAKER_02:Glenn, let's go back to uh the Meat Animal Research Center. How many years did you work for uh the Meat Animal Research Center?
SPEAKER_03:I was there for 38 years. When did you retire? 2009.
SPEAKER_02:And are you actually retired?
SPEAKER_03:Well, from there I am.
SPEAKER_02:Right. I I I know I know your type. Uh it's it's uh you're always working, you're always giving back, you're always finding ways to keep busy. Uh right now I understand it's the county board of supervisors, right?
SPEAKER_03:That's right.
SPEAKER_02:So what what what are the interesting issues that uh the Clay County Board of Supervisors is working on?
SPEAKER_03:Well, so it's like this last year uh we just are in the process of paving all of the hard surface roads again. Part of what I bring to the board, in my opinion, was so I model my experience from from standpoint of personnel and budget, especially budget, but and procurement is I can bring some skills that some of the other people just haven't done those things. So you get stuck with some working with budget, for instance, uh and I think everybody wants their taxes to be minimum minimal and understand you know what really causes it, isn't the mill levy. The mill levy is just the result of what you decided to spend, and so you bring a perspective.
SPEAKER_02:Pretend you are recruiting folks to come move to Clay County, Nebraska. Give us your one-minute uh sales pitch as to why someone should consider moving to Clay County, Nebraska.
SPEAKER_03:Well, I think first of all, it's quality of life. I look back and I think we couldn't have had our kids go to a better school to get an education. They were very successful in high school. They all graduated with honors, they had uh plenty of scholarship opportunities. Um it it is it is an opportunity to make what you want to do. You have it you have a choice and you can really make it work. And and sometimes people, quite frankly, will let you do it because they don't want to.
SPEAKER_02:Right, right. Scott, what uh what value did you find or have you seen throughout time growing up in Harvard and growing up in Clay County? What what was the value to you?
SPEAKER_00:I think it it really comes down to the people and the opportunity to learn, um, be around family, uh knowing that uh I had to s like I said, a smaller class, but those people were um people that were friends. From kindergarten to 12th grade. Growing up in the small town just gave me an opportunity to just really be around people that could cared, I guess. And I can I think back to some of the things that that I watched my dad do in the community and things that I helped him with. Like there's there was always a spring cleanup day that he was involved in. He got me involved with those things when I was in high school.
SPEAKER_02:And how did you get involved?
SPEAKER_00:Uh by getting involved by putting on some getting in a truck and helping him clean things up. Yeah. So it was it was always it was always good.
SPEAKER_02:Again, you're very community-minded. You've given a significant amount of your time and your life, frankly, to giving back to others, to serving. Where's that come from? I I I when I see people like you and Scott and I hear all the things that you do, it's got to come from somewhere. What do you what do you think the source of that is? Were your parents that way?
SPEAKER_03:Well, my mother worked very hard, you know. I mean, and when you're a single parent, especially in that time, um, I'm I'm sure a lot of it came from my mom, but also, you know, uh I must have married well. Congratulations. And and a lot of a lot of good encouragement uh from her, and also putting up with me being gone to a lot of meetings, sometimes to at the disadvantage of our family, because it just took time. It still takes time. But um I think you see it, it's just part of growing up and uh taking you see what needs to be done and you do it, and you see that if you take a leadership role, other people will get involved and help, and they you inspire people to to do it also. So I know it's kind of evolution.
SPEAKER_00:How about Scott, what do you think? Yeah, I I I think one of the current challenges is definitely finding somebody to step up and and take on those roles, like like he was saying. Um it's not so easy just to delegate if there's sometimes not someone to delegate to. And one thing, again, one thing we talk about at my at my office is getting the work to the right people. And um it's it's somewhat difficult to do sometimes in smaller communities, but even in Lincoln, you know, getting people involved is is is huge. And and I think taking it having companies take advantage and promote things like young professionals, groups, um, whatever other organization there might be, and just get the promotion from the businesses because there's a business reason to do it too. It's it's it's business development, but it's community service. And those things just if there's a reason to do it, it's it's to serving others, but there's also some side benefits for businesses to promote it. And so that's one one reason why why we promote it as well.
SPEAKER_02:I would like to think Nebraska is unique because even though uh certainly there's declining participation, even in Nebraska, I still think we're better than most states.
SPEAKER_03:Do you guys agree? Yeah, I think so.
SPEAKER_02:Why and why is that?
SPEAKER_03:You know, does it go call back to that pioneer spirit and a lot of the farm background? You know, we a lot of people originated from a farm, and there was just a work ethic that just happened. And you know, you were expected. It wasn't like wasn't you were never really asked. You knew what you had to do.
SPEAKER_02:So I don't know. I always think of the Paul Harvey Super Bowl. You know, he had the speech, which actually was a national FFA convention, but he was it turned into a Super Bowl ad. He talks about the you know the the what it means to be a farmer, and you know, he's been to the school board meeting, been to this, been to the town hall, did all this stuff, and worked a full day on the farm. You know, that that that's what it means to be a farmer. And I I think you're right. I think that's part of where that comes from.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. I'm just still totally amazed when you drive down the road and you think about what these people did crossing this country. I can't hardly imagine it. The walking and not being able to see a tree in the distance. And uh how did they do that? And yet they and they stopped along the way and developed what we've got. So it's pretty it's pretty amazing.
SPEAKER_02:Glenn, out of all your years of public service, what are you most proud of?
SPEAKER_03:Well, see, kind of it's kind of funny, it's really family because you see what your kids have all become, they've all been successful. Uh our kids all went to college. You don't have to go to college to be successful, but they did. They were their kids are all going to school. We've got uh we've got a doctor, we've got RNs, we've got gonna have a dentist, we've got a financial specialist, we've got all kinds of that's a community. That's a community right there. Yeah, yeah. And uh it makes you very proud. Very proud. And and they're they all uh wanted to do a good job. Makes you very proud.
SPEAKER_02:Scott, what lessons did you learn from your dad through his years, decades, if you will, of public service that you still carry with you?
SPEAKER_00:Well, definitely the hard work, dedication, always looking to make things better. Um when I was thinking about uh about getting together for this one one thing that he's uh he always brings up this poem. Uh it's a it's a Kipling poem, if, and um it talks about keeping your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, um, working hard without complaint. It's just it really signifies what he's tried to teach us.
SPEAKER_02:Glenn, have you memorized that?
SPEAKER_03:Uh pretty much. Actually, they all had copies that were given to him along the way.
SPEAKER_02:More than one time? Did you repeatedly have multiple copies at a particular moment? Would you hey need you to read this again? Well, they're pretty good about picking up.
SPEAKER_03:It just has to mention the the poem, basically. Yeah. Even used it once at a at a high school speech, but Veterans Day.
SPEAKER_02:And how would you explain the poem, at least what you can recall? Well, I'm putting you on the spot, so that's okay.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, if you can keep your head about you when others are losing it, blame it on you. That's pretty much the bottom line when you get there. That I mean, and I I think when I was talking about the veterans program, our veterans that served, if they wouldn't have done it, what would have happened? It was up to them. And that's kind of where it's up to us. So it I could almost recite it, but not quite.
SPEAKER_02:Give it a try.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, if you can it started out really pretty. If you can keep I I'll just embarrass myself. No, you're right. But if you could keep your head when all about you're losing theirs and blaming it on you, if you can I mean and then at the end about something about being if you could do all this and you'll be a man one day, my son, or something like that. It's fairly long, but actually uh and I haven't looked at it for quite a while now.
SPEAKER_02:Do you have that posted on your refrigerator around your house somewhere?
SPEAKER_03:I had it on my office wall that I'd point to people. And I did give them all copies.
SPEAKER_02:They could they come in to complain, you just point at the wall? Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Well, and then I've given it to a few other people, basically trying to tell them, look, when you lose your head, you're no, you're no longer in control. Okay. That's pretty much the bottom line. And so uh I've tried to practice that in a lot of situations where it was a heated conversation, and you just kind of have to make sure that you don't respond in the same way, and it usually works.
SPEAKER_02:Gentlemen, there's uh one question that everyone who comes on gets asked, and you get one word. What is the one word to you? And you get to both answer. What's your one word that best describes and explains this great place in which you were born and raised, and where you both lived in Harvard, Nebraska, and where you both have given significant time and effort back to our state and to its communities. What's your one word for Nebraska?
SPEAKER_03:Well, we've talked about it, and so we're sharing the same word. Oh, you Q cheated. We did, we did Q cheated. Opportunity, and I've heard other people use it, but I I've been thinking about the a version of that several times. And I mean, work ethic is it's two words, but it's really one. Uh opportunity is what you make of it, and you we have a lot of opportunities in Nebraska. Anybody can succeed, anybody can, and Nebraska is a great place to be. I I I think back about when Scott was between his uh freshman and sophomore year in college. He went to spent the summer in California. So here he is, 19 years old. Yeah, he had a little more hair.
SPEAKER_00:A lot more hair. But it was never long.
SPEAKER_03:He would he he was never long. He had a he was always a military cut. Um that he got out there and he was he was uh worked for this temp company, and so he worked in a lot of different places, and they were making computer discs, which we didn't really know what a computer disc was at that time. And here he is, 19 years old. Pretty soon he's leading somebody that's you know maybe 10 years older than him. They liked hired Nebraska kids because they know how to work and they have great attitude, and uh that's the way I see it today, every day.
SPEAKER_02:Scott, how would you explain uh your word, which is opportunity as well?
SPEAKER_00:It's opportunity as well. Yeah, we were talking about this last night, and um we both said that's probably the the one thing we were both thinking about, actually. It was it's and separately thinking about it. It's just opportunity, the opportunity to get better, opportunity to grow, opportunity for advancement, opportunity to raise a family, be in a state where uh you you can be excited about where you're from and and a good place to raise raise your family.
SPEAKER_02:Glenn Scott, thank you for taking the time to visit with this great story. Appreciate all of your respective service to your communities and to this great state. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. If you enjoyed this episode, consider subscribing, whether that be on Apple, Spotify, or whatever your favorite podcast app is, and be certain to share it with someone who might find it of interest. And please keep on listening as we release additional episodes on Nebraska. It's great communities, Nebraska's number one industry, agriculture, and the folks who make it happen.
SPEAKER_01:Thanks. This has been Nighty Three, the podcast, sponsored by Nebraska's law firm, Rumbold Lucky.
