JOHN RICE RIPPEY. 



Born in Schujier County, Missouri, November 25, 1843. 



Educated in the public shools of his county. 



Married to Elizabeth Dickerson, of Macon County, October 10, 1867. 



Member of the Constitutional Convention in 1875. 



Member of the Thirty-first General Assembly of Missouri, 1881. 



Member of the State Board of Agriculture from 1883 to 1893. 



Member of the Board of Curators of the University of Missouri from 1891 to 



1897. 



Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture from Jim e, 1893, to January, 1901. 



Secretary of the Missouri State Fair, January, 1901, to January, 1908. 



A successful farmer and breeder of registered Shorthorn cattle and trotting 

 horses. 



Editor of "The Lancaster Excelsior" from 1898 to 1909. 



Died at his home in Lancaster, Schuyler County, January 17, 1909. 



Such, in brief, is the story of the life of a man who has left a lasting impress 

 upon the State. These honors, numerous and rich as they are, came to him without 

 solicitation and without effort on his part. He was a man who could always be 

 relied upon to plead the cause of a friend, but never his own. 



Colonel Rippey believed in Missouri and considered no labor too arduous that 

 would promote here interests 



While Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture, he prepared for distribu- 

 tion at the Omaha Exposition, in 1898, a statement of the State's resources, which 

 has become a classic. It was he who coined tlie phrase, "Missouri, Imperial Mistress 

 of States," a title so appropriate as to be at once adopted. 



He was a member of the Board of Curators of the University at the time of 

 the great fire in 1892, and helped to guide the institution through the stormy period 

 of its relocation in Columbia and through the days of the reconstruction of its build- 

 ings. On a tablet in the main corridor of the Academic Hall at the University, 

 carved in enduring marble, is an expression of the recognition of his services to 

 this, the foremost educational institution of the commonwealth. 



While Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture, he brought this important 

 work of the State into much closer touch with the people and developed it along 

 lines of greater usefulness. The Annual Reports and bulletins he edited were filled 

 with practical information and were widely sought. 



When called to the position of Secretary of the State Fair, that institution 

 had just been established and was without buildings, or other equipment. In the 

 seven years of his administration as Secretary, this institution became one of the 

 foremost of its kind in the country. 



One of the most characteristic traits of Colonel Rippey even unto his death 

 was his interest in and fondness for young people. He was a man who faced the 

 future and had faith in what it would bring. 



H. J. WATERS, 



Dean of the College of Agi-iculture. 

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