Claude W. Gifford, of Muscatine, died at his home on Sunday, February 17, 2019.
Claude William Gifford was born at home, in Drury Township, Rock Island County, Illinois, on April 13, 1919. He was the son of Harvey and Minnie Droll Gifford. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a flight instructor during World War II. Claude was a graduate of Muscatine High School (1937), Muscatine Junior College (1939), and Iowa State University (1946).
Claude was married to Helen F. Woolsey, in Waterloo, Iowa, on November 30, 1947.
Claude was Associate Editor of Farm Journal magazine for 23 years. He was active in professional organizations and received the 2008 lifetime achievement award from the American Agricultural Editors Association. He also held various executive positions for 23 years at the U. S. Department of Agriculture, primarily as Director of Information and Assistant Secretary. He was a member of the USDA team that negotiated the 1972 sale of wheat to the Soviet Union; that sale was the first opening of the Iron Curtain after WWII.
He was a long-time member of Cherrydale Methodist Church in Arlington, VA, serving on the board as well as writing a book and teaching an extensive course titled “Revelation Today.”
Claude was preceded in death by his parents, four siblings, his beloved wife Helen in 2007, and his dear friend Roberta Eichelberger in 2018.
His immediate survivor is his son, Steven G. Gifford, of Annandale, VA. Other family members in the Muscatine and Illinois City areas include his niece Shirley (Ralph) Hoag, grand-nieces Mary Watson and Janet (Mark) Clark, grand-nephew Thomas A. (Katie) Watson; great-grand-nieces and -nephews Kari and Marci Clark and Mitchell, Logan, and Ciara Watson.
Online condolences may be left for the Gifford family at www.lewisfuneralhomes.com.
Claude gave much to the profession and to the AAEA. He figured into my professional life in an unusual circumstance that was to eventually affect every present and future AAEA member. That came about as a result of me writing a letter in early 1967 to Bob Rupp, who was AAEA president at the time. I told Bob it was time the AAEA brought in people from outside the ag press during its annual meeting to give us a wider view of the communications environment in which we were operating. I reminded him such a program would not only be a “first” during an annual meeting, but also would be the AAEA’s first serious commitment to professional improvement. Bob agreed with my idea and forwarded my letter to Claude who was vice president, president elect. He also agreed, but cautioned that the board might not be in favor of staging such an event. Wisely, Claude scheduled a presentation for the upcoming annual meeting in which four AAEA members, including me, were to address the subject “What the AAEA should be doing that it’s not doing.” I expressed the same idea about which I had written Bob several months earlier. That evening, the board held its usual meeting. As a result of urgings from Bob and Claude, the board reluctantly gave me an afternoon and $500 with which to stage the event that eventually would be called the Communication Clinic. I was to chair the event with Gene Meyer of Hoards Dairyman serving as co-chair. Despite only about fifty people attending, the reaction was so strongly positive that the board agreed to continue with the event. That, in turn, caused the forming of a professional improvement committee that I chaired for its first years, and resulted in several other prominent and related efforts. The Communication Clinic, ultimately eclipsed by the AMS, was the AAEA’s centerpiece for more than 30 years and figured prominently in the AAEA’s growth. This strong emphasis on professional improvement would have undoubtedly occurred , but thanks to Bob and Claude giving the green light to that first pioneering effort, it came sooner.