Inductees

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Ken Holum

Ken Holum

Inducted:1993

Ken Holum has devoted most of his life to organizing and supporting the development of various types of cooperatives. Since the early 1940s Holum has been a leader in rural electrification nationally and in his home state of South Dakota. He founded the East River Rural Electric Cooperative in Madison, South Dakota, to supply power to local distribution cooperatives. He founded the James Valley Telephone Cooperative, to help bring telephone service to his fellow South Dakotans. Nationally, Holum formed the nation’s first fuel supply cooperative, Western Fuels Association, to which he brought his knowledge of and dedication to cooperative principles. As the Assistant Secretary for Water and Power Development in the U.S. Department of the Interior from 1961-1969, Holum consistently stressed the importance of cooperatives to consumers and the nation. For a half century Holum was one of the nation’s most vigorous advocates of the cooperative idea of doing business, both as a private citizen and public servant. His tireless efforts and innovative leadership certainly enhanced the cooperative movement nationwide.

Orville L. Freeman

Orville L. Freeman

Inducted:1993

Orville L. Freeman has been a dynamic force in cooperatives in the United States for more than 40 years. Freeman served for three terms as Governor of Minnesota, and served as Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture from 1961 to 1969. As Governor, Freeman worked endlessly to develop cooperatives in Minnesota, and was a pioneer in proclaiming October a Co-op Month. As Secretary, he was determined to make cooperative development a priority for the entire Department. He urged Congress to increase substantially its commitment to cooperative development, and was responsible for it’s more than doubling the Farmer Cooperative Service budget between fiscal 1968 and 1970. He also prevailed on President Johnson to tape a Co-op Month message for radio broadcast.

Since then, Freeman has served on many boards and committees in leadership positions, including the Presidential Commission of Public Affairs, Agriculture Council of America, and the United Nations Association. In these positions, as well as in his work as president of Business International and as a lawyer, he has always been a strong advocate for cooperatives. As a political and agricultural leader, he has been respected for the breadth of his understanding, pragmatism, and courage in promoting ways to develop sustainable agriculture worldwide and alleviate hunger.

Lloyd and Mary Anderson

Lloyd and Mary Anderson

Inducted:1993

Lloyd and Mary Anderson are the embodiment of leadership, foresight, and cooperative spirit.In 1938, seeing a need for quality climbing gear at fair prices in the Northwest, the couple formed the Recreational Equipment Cooperative, now knownas REI.In the Co-op’s early years, the Andersons ran the business from their home for no salary.  The basement of their West Seattle house became a factory for ice axes, tents, and freeze dried food. In lean times, they would advance the Co-op interest-free loans to keep it going. Over 50 years later, REI remains committed to the cooperative form of business, and has grown to over 3 million members.  REI is a successful national retailer of outdoor products, and an example of how a well-managed cooperative can be a competitive and successful business.These successes can be credited to the Andersons’ vision and personal sacrifice, as well as their steadfast dedication to cooperative ideals.

C.E. “Doc” Toland

C.E. ‘Doc’ Toland

Inducted:1992

C.E. ‘Doc’ Toland devoted most of his business career to serving the independent retailer in Arkansas and made invaluable contributions to the retailer-owned segment of the food industry. Having guided Affiliated Foods Southwest, Inc. from a three person operation to one of the state’s premier companies, Toland established himself as one of the nation’s most respected leaders in the field.

He entered the retail grocery business in 1936 when, at the age of 20, he purchased his own grocery store. He left the business to serve in the Army Air Corps during World War II, but in 1947 returned to work for Model Markets, a small group of independent grocers. In 1957, he became general manager of Associated Grocers, with annual sales of $1,500,000. In 1966, he was named president and by 1990, Associated Grocers (now Affiliated Foods Southwest) realized annual sales of over $560,000,000.

Toland‘s committed belief that by working cooperatively members could remain independent and still grow, made him a great champion of the cooperative form of business.

Dwight Oberschlake

Dwight Oberschlake

Inducted:1992

In more than four decades of cooperative service, Dwight Oberschlake’s contributions to cooperative practice touched many lives. His guidance, selfless effort and leadership – given so graciously and unsparingly over many years – played a major role in the success of numerous cooperative endeavors and has made cooperative development truly an integral component in his life’s work. Oberschlake’s early experience in the cooperative sector included leadership in farm-supply and marketing cooperatives in his native Brown County, Ohio. As the longtime owner and operator of a 180-acre dairy farm, he knew first-hand of the challenges farmers encounter in producing and marketing their products.

Broadening his positive influence to the state, national and global levels, Dwight was a trustee of the Ohio Farm Bureau, president of the Ohio Council of Farmer Cooperatives, and in 1971 was elected a director of the National Cooperative Business Association. He became a board member of the Nationwide Insurance Companies in 1972, and board chairman of the parent Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company in 1989.

Ralph Hofstad

Ralph Hofstad

Inducted:1992

Ralph Hofstad is noted nationally and internationally for his visionary commitment to cooperative development. For more than 40 years he devoted his energies to building and enhancing the value of cooperatives to farmer-members throughout the Midwest. He began his career at the Illinois Farm Supply Company (now GROWMARK) and in 1965 was appointed president of the Farmer’s Regional Cooperative (FELCO). Following the 1970 merger of FELCO and Land O’Lakes, he became head of Agricultural Service for the combined organization and then served as president and CEO from 1974 until his retirement in 1989.

As a food and agricultural business executive, he has earned the respect of leaders throughout the world for his far-sighted commitment to economic development of all people, the strengthening of world trade opportunities for U.S. farmers, and his emphasis and encouragement of cooperation among cooperatives worldwide. Throughout his career, his belief in cooperatives and wholehearted support for their aims and purposes was always evident. In retirement, he continues to espouse and encourage striving toward a new cooperative horizon, urging all cooperatives to embrace the future and excel.

Samuel E. Bunker

Samuel Bunker

Inducted:1992

Sam Bunker’s long career with the Ford Foundation and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) has led him to the far corners of he world. Throughout his many years of service to the international cooperative community, Bunker is credited with applying a consistent and reliable wisdom, thoughtfulness and practicality to all of his work. In 1990, he retired after 12 years as administrator of the NRECA’S International Programs Division. During his tenure, the International Programs Division achieved a decade-long, $40 million project to provide electricity to more than three million people in Bangladesh, a $25 million Central American initiative for new and innovative approaches to rural electrification, and creation of the NRECA International Foundation to help the poor and needy gain electric service.

Bunker’s commitment to the cooperative movement and his sincere personal desire to help poor, rural populations was also reflected in his exemplary leadership on the boards of several cooperative and international development organizations. He served on the board of CARE as vice chairman, chairman of the Cooperative Housing Foundation, secretary of CARE International, president of the Philippine-American Foundation, and was a director of Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance. Bunker brings to each of his official roles a sound, experienced, and worldly perspective on the vital role of cooperatives in meeting the needs of rural communities worldwide.

Gonze Lee Twitty

Gonze Lee Twitty

Inducted:1991

Gonze Lee Twitty has been active for more than four decades in promoting the cooperative movement among black and poor people in the South. Starting in the civil rights movement, Twitty helped to organize several cooperatives in South Carolina. He was a founder of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives in 1967, as well as the Southern Cooperative Development Fund.

Twitty has provided insightful guidance and leadership to cooperative development nationwide, as well as in the South. He has served continuously since 1967 on the Federation’s Board of Directors and has been Board Chair of the Southern Cooperative Development Fund. His contributions on the national level include serving as director of both the National Cooperative Business Association and the National Cooperative Bank Development Corporation, and chairman of the National Congress for Community Economic Development. Twitty, in his many years of cooperative service, has brought hope and help to the many people whose lives he has touched.

Jack and Connie McLanahan

Jack and Connie McLanahan

Inducted:1991

Jack and Connie McLanahan demonstrate a personal commitment to the cooperative way of life. They worked as a team to build and merge cooperative structures into a cooperative society. Jack, as educator, organizer, communicator and manager, made significant contributions to the advancement of cooperatives. In his work with Midland Cooperatives he organized a network of study clubs across Minnesota and Wisconsin. As education director of the Cooperative League of the USA he strengthened regional cooperative education departments nationwide. At the Michigan Credit Union League, Jack developed departments of communication, education, training and research, a Code of Ethics for Credit Unions, and a credit union foundation, all of which served as models for CUNA and other Leagues. In 1937, in recognition of Jack’s contributions to cooperative education, President Truman appointed him to represent the U.S. cooperative/credit union movement on the national commission for UNESCO. In 1951 he was joined by Connie Ablett. Ever since then they have focused their considerable energies and skills promoting cooperatives and credit unions in Appalachia. Working through the Human Economic Appalachian Development (HEAD) Corporation, they helped organize and build the Central Appalachian Peoples Federal Credit Union and the Federation of Appalachian Housing Enterprises. They were also co-founders of the Cooperative Alumni Association.

Their mark of excellence, perseverance and scholarship has been further demonstrated in the co-editing and publishing in 1990 of the Cooperative/Credit Union Dictionary and Reference, which has been hailed as an ‘encyclopedia of the many-faceted cooperative world.’

Aubrey Davis

Aubrey Davis

Inducted:1991

Aubrey Davis is the embodiment of leadership, foresight and cooperative spirit. For 40 years he served Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound, the nation’s largest cooperative health maintenance organization. He held every elected position, including seven terms as chair of the cooperative. In 1988, he was appointed president and chief executive officer of the nearly 500,000-member cooperative, a position he held with great distinction. In 1991, he was named Group Health’s first president emeritus. In addition, Davis made significant contributions to the cooperative health care system in the country. In the words of Seattle Mayor Norman Rice: “Aubrey’s idea of a cooperative is a commitment to helping other people.”

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