David Miller Van Doren Jr.
obituaries
David Miller Van Doren Jr. passed away on May 17, 2017, after 84 years of a joyous life filled with family, friends, community, plenty of sweet corn and his ever-ready dry sense of humor.
Dave was the husband of Janet Bradford Van Doren, whom he married in the middle of an unexpected snowstorm on March 26, 1955 in Champaign, Ill.
Dave was born on Aug. 16, 1932 in Urbana, Ill., the oldest child and son of David Miller Van Doren Sr. and Ruth Walters Van Doren.
Dave attended the University of Illinois, where he met Jan, and graduated in 1954. He then attended graduate school at Michigan State University, where he earned his doctorate in soil science in 1958. He, Jan and their oldest child then moved to Wooster, Ohio, where he took up research at The Ohio State University’s Agricultural Experiment Station (now the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center), and launched the career that was to eventually turn a 1930s farming oddity into a completely mainstream agricultural practice today.
Joining his Michigan classmate, Glover Triplett, Dave began in-depth research into no-till farming, in which the remains of the previous year’s corn crop was left to molder in the field, instead of being plowed under. Although it had been tried experimentally as a means of preventing soil erosion during the Dust Bowl era, it took the two young researchers with their scientific method and determination to ignore the naysayers, to make no-till farming a respectable and widely-accepted method of growing crops. This method delivered lower labor and energy costs, a reduction in soil erosion, enhancement of soil quality and, ultimately, greater crop yields.
Today, the fields where Dave conducted his long-term research are considered the longest continuously maintained no-till plots in the world. They have been protected against future plowing by their endowment in 2003 and have been officially named the Triplett-Van Doren No-Tillage Experimental Plots.
Dave’s family grew during this time to include three more children, all born in Wooster. His devotion to his family led him into many new worlds outside of his work, such as serving as co-president with Jan of the Layton Elementary School PTA; participation in Wooster’s fair housing program; serving as district commissioner for Boy Scouts for six years; and serving as an elder of Wooster's First Presbyterian Church and Clerk of Session from 1980 to 1989.
Also, with all four children engaged in competitive swimming, Dave became one of the founding swim parents of Wooster’s hugely popular youth competitive swimming program. He wielded a starter’s pistol in the early years as a swim official, and later he and Jan were co-presidents of Wooster Swim Club. Dave was also Clerk of Course for the famous Freedlander AAU Swim Meet (which is still run today) for 12 years.
Dave retired from the OARDC in 1985, and later moved to an 81-acre parcel of land in Lodi in 1987, where he engaged in agronomy experiments of various kinds. Also during his retirement, he and Jan researched the entire genealogy of both of their families, along with those of his various children-in-law.
Dave is survived by Jan, of Medina; daughters, Mary of North Port, Fla. and Lisa of Baltimore, Ohio; sons, Clayton of Lodi and his wife, Carolyn (Stallsmith) and Vance of Lafayette, Ind. and his wife, Nancy (McHenry). He is also survived by his grandson, Adam Van Doren, of Houston, Texas; and granddaughter, Emily Van Doren of New Orleans, La.; Alden Ackerman of Boston, Mass. and Evan Ackerman of North Port, Fla.; and by his sister, Karen Lilleleht, of Charlottesville, Va. and her husband, Lembit; his niece, Erica Huber of Seattle, Wash. and nephew, Mark Lilleleht of Madison, Wis.; as well as one great-niece and one great-nephew.
A private family service will be held at a later date.
Waite and Son Funeral Home handled the arrangements.
Dave was the husband of Janet Bradford Van Doren, whom he married in the middle of an unexpected snowstorm on March 26, 1955 in Champaign, Ill.
Dave was born on Aug. 16, 1932 in Urbana, Ill., the oldest child and son of David Miller Van Doren Sr. and Ruth Walters Van Doren.
Dave attended the University of Illinois, where he met Jan, and graduated in 1954. He then attended graduate school at Michigan State University, where he earned his doctorate in soil science in 1958. He, Jan and their oldest child then moved to Wooster, Ohio, where he took up research at The Ohio State University’s Agricultural Experiment Station (now the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center), and launched the career that was to eventually turn a 1930s farming oddity into a completely mainstream agricultural practice today.
Joining his Michigan classmate, Glover Triplett, Dave began in-depth research into no-till farming, in which the remains of the previous year’s corn crop was left to molder in the field, instead of being plowed under. Although it had been tried experimentally as a means of preventing soil erosion during the Dust Bowl era, it took the two young researchers with their scientific method and determination to ignore the naysayers, to make no-till farming a respectable and widely-accepted method of growing crops. This method delivered lower labor and energy costs, a reduction in soil erosion, enhancement of soil quality and, ultimately, greater crop yields.
Today, the fields where Dave conducted his long-term research are considered the longest continuously maintained no-till plots in the world. They have been protected against future plowing by their endowment in 2003 and have been officially named the Triplett-Van Doren No-Tillage Experimental Plots.
Dave’s family grew during this time to include three more children, all born in Wooster. His devotion to his family led him into many new worlds outside of his work, such as serving as co-president with Jan of the Layton Elementary School PTA; participation in Wooster’s fair housing program; serving as district commissioner for Boy Scouts for six years; and serving as an elder of Wooster's First Presbyterian Church and Clerk of Session from 1980 to 1989.
Also, with all four children engaged in competitive swimming, Dave became one of the founding swim parents of Wooster’s hugely popular youth competitive swimming program. He wielded a starter’s pistol in the early years as a swim official, and later he and Jan were co-presidents of Wooster Swim Club. Dave was also Clerk of Course for the famous Freedlander AAU Swim Meet (which is still run today) for 12 years.
Dave retired from the OARDC in 1985, and later moved to an 81-acre parcel of land in Lodi in 1987, where he engaged in agronomy experiments of various kinds. Also during his retirement, he and Jan researched the entire genealogy of both of their families, along with those of his various children-in-law.
Dave is survived by Jan, of Medina; daughters, Mary of North Port, Fla. and Lisa of Baltimore, Ohio; sons, Clayton of Lodi and his wife, Carolyn (Stallsmith) and Vance of Lafayette, Ind. and his wife, Nancy (McHenry). He is also survived by his grandson, Adam Van Doren, of Houston, Texas; and granddaughter, Emily Van Doren of New Orleans, La.; Alden Ackerman of Boston, Mass. and Evan Ackerman of North Port, Fla.; and by his sister, Karen Lilleleht, of Charlottesville, Va. and her husband, Lembit; his niece, Erica Huber of Seattle, Wash. and nephew, Mark Lilleleht of Madison, Wis.; as well as one great-niece and one great-nephew.
A private family service will be held at a later date.
Waite and Son Funeral Home handled the arrangements.