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Retired educators and Jackrabbits alums Lon and Mary Moeller of Brookings have been named South Dakota State University family of the year by the SDSU Alumni & Foundation.

The family will be honored at a Feb. 21 awards luncheon at the Lohr Building and then at the men’s basketball game versus the University of North Dakota that afternoon. Joining in the celebration will be Lon and Mary’s three children, eight grandchildren (four of whom attended SDSU with another to enroll) and about 15 other family members plus work colleagues.

Lon, who taught at SDSU from 1981 to 2012, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in ag education in 1970 and 1976, respectively. Mary taught at SDSU from 2007 to 2017 after earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English in 1988 and 1993, respectively.

Their children followed in succession — Steve, ’94/’96; Michael, ’97; and Sheri ’00/’04. Two of their spouses also are SDSU grads.

Moellers took different routes to State

Lon was not only the first Moeller to graduate from SDSU, he also was the first one on either side of his family to go to college. However, his family recognized his academic aptitude early on. His grandpa called him Little Professor as a young boy. Lon went on to be valedictorian of his Garretson High School class.

Being a farm boy who wanted to teach ag education, Lon didn’t need to sort through college brochures to make his selection.

Mary, on the other hand, actually started college life at Augustana. They married June 23, 1970. With Steve, Michael and Sheri arriving in 1971, 1974 and 1977, respectively, Mary stayed busy at home. By the time she returned to college part time in the early 1980s, Lon was on the faculty at SDSU.

Taking a class or two per semester, Mary flourished under “brilliant” English faculty members like Chuck Woodard, Mary Haug and John Taylor and teacher/mentors like Sue Hegg and Becky Ekeland.

So, the Moeller children soaked in a lot of Jackrabbits spirit while growing up. Steve, who earned a degree in food and biological materials engineering, did consider Purdue and even went on a campus visit. He determined the program was no better than what he had seen at SDSU and opted to follow his father’s footsteps. He also received a prestigious Briggs Scholarship.

Michael followed his dad’s footsteps even closer.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in ag education and was in Army ROTC. (Lon also was in ROTC, where he was in the initial group of Coteau Rangers, and thought he would make a career of Army life. But after three years in Germany — 1970-73 — the Moellers decided they didn’t want the nomadic life that military service brings.)

Michael served four years in the Army, taught high school ag ed, farmed with his father-in-law and now teaches online ag classes at Western Iowa Tech in Sioux City, Iowa.

Sheri was a state officer in FFA, so that also made SDSU a natural college pick. With her degrees in ag ed, dairy manufacturing and dairy production, she enjoys occasionally returning to campus as a guest lecturer in food science and mentoring student interns at her work.

Started teaching high schoolers

In addition to his college experience, Lon spent six years teaching ag ed at Beresford and was a teaching assistant at Iowa State for two years while pursuing his doctorate. Hilding Gadda, who taught ag ed at SDSU, told Lon that he would be retiring in a couple of years. Lon used that time to prepare to teach at the college level.

The job was open when he left Iowa State. Lon taught ag ed for 31 years at SDSU and served 10 years (2000-10) as head of teacher education.

Mary taught English at Rutland High School (1988-94) and Brookings High School (1994-2007) before joining SDSU in the teacher education department. While pursuing her master’s degree, SDSU faculty encouraged her to get her doctorate. About that time, the University of South Dakota created a cohort for education leaders with classes offered in Brookings.

“Opportunity and interest came together,” said Mary, who completed her doctorate in adult and higher education in 2004.

Mastering visual thinking strategies

Asked what made SDSU a good place to be a faculty member, both Lon and Mary responded in unison “colleagues.” Lon said, “I appreciated working with fellow ag professor Clark Hanson and state FFA Executive Director Robert Bell. I was also in contact with colleagues of the 22 different content areas where people could get a teaching certificate.”

Lon continues to work with the South Dakota FFA as the superintendent of the farm and agribusiness career development contest and represents SDSU on this same national event.

Mary’s interest in activities outside the classroom drew the Moellers into a couple of interests they are still active in — visual thinking strategies and a school in Belize.

Visual thinking strategies utilizes art to teach communicate skills. The curriculum was drafted in 1991 and promoted at SDSU by then-South Dakota Art Museum Director Lynn Verschoor. The Moellers and faculty member Kay Cutler eventually went to Boston to study the concept under a Harvard University researcher.

They promoted the concept at workshops around the country and supported its implementation at Camelot Intermediate School in Brookings in 2009-12. This eventually led to an invitation for Mary to present visual thinking strategies at an education conference in China in 2019.

Committed to helping in Belize

In 2012, the Moellers’ daughter, Sheri Kahnke, went on a mission trip to Belize. Upon returning, Sheri told her parents that they needed to go as well.

Mary said that fall, “I opened my class up by saying teachers need to open themselves up to different experiences. I said I was a little nervous about it, but I think I am going to go on a trip to Belize. If anyone wants to come with me, let me know. Afterward, a student came up to me and said, ‘I will go along, and can I bring my dad?’

During spring break 2013, three students, Lon and Mary and some fellow First Lutheran Church members went on an exploratory trip to the small parochial school in the village of San Jose Succotz near the Guatemalan border.  
It became a study abroad service-learning course while Mary was on the SDSU faculty, with about 10 to 15 students going annually. They taught English, biology and agriculture to high school students and delivered teaching materials.

The school principal also tapped into Lon’s ag background. At her request, he helped develop a school farm through the years. That involved constructing raised-bed gardens (as the soil at the school is poor) and building a sheep pen, a chicken coop and a greenhouse. He even found an electric chicken plucker to eliminate the students’ tedious hand work during the annual harvest.

The Moellers are going to Belize again in March with family and other members of First Lutheran Church of Brookings.

An early Christmas surprise

That trip is about two weeks after the family will be honored by the SDSU Alumni & Foundation. Lon and Mary have already been honored — and surprised — by their family for their Jackrabbits legacy.

Their children nominated their parents. Two weeks before Christmas, Sheri learned that the Moellers had been chosen as family of the year. She had not shared that with them when the family met for a Dec. 20 Christmas gathering at the Moellers’ house southwest of Brookings. Before the meal, everyone was directed to the family room where a plaque was revealed — “2026 South Dakota State University Family of the Year — The Lonell and Mary Moeller Family.”

“It was a fun way to do it. Everybody knew but us,” Lon said. “We are grateful for all the opportunities our whole family has enjoyed at SDSU.”