Written by: Seth Gordon, Newberg Graphic 

The legendary ag teacher and FFA advisor lauded during banquet

The walls of the agriculture and FFA room at Newberg High School can’t talk, but contrary to the notion behind the cliché joke premise, they don’t really have to.

From the practically countless number of FFA championship banners that circle the room to the tried and true words of wisdom posted here and there, they already speak volumes about the kind of teacher Bob Beckner has been over the past 40 years.

Equally loud, however, were the dozens of former students that returned to the high school last month to sing his praises and celebrate his retirement at the FFA year-end banquet.

“I think we all had that moment where Mr. Beckner said, ‘You can do this,’ and we did it,” Christy George said. “I don’t think many of us remember much from math class. I certainly don’t. But I’ll never forget all the things you taught us, the skills that people use every day of their lives.”

The banquet also drew former colleague Ron Stebbins, who arrived at NHS one year ahead of Beckner in 1975 and co-piloted the FFA program with him for 25 years before retiring himself.

Stebbins relayed a story that the walls of Beckner’s classroom remember well, as some of the older championship banners still bear the stains as evidence.

One student had been running an experiment to collect methane gas by placing a soda bottle over some manure. Apparently, the student had let the manure “cook” for far too long, so when another student unscrewed the cap, a particularly smelly eruption ensued.

“It looked like Mt. Vesuvius coming out of the top of that bottle -- natural gas,” Stebbins said. “He cleared the shop, cleared the building. It was bad. But there was never a dull moment and students really learned a lot from Mr. Beckner.”

Stories like that were common at the banquet and just about ubiquitous with Beckner, who is a strong proponent of hands-on learning. For many years he had direct access to a bus that allowed him to whisk students off to farms in the area in order to get their hands dirty.

It was on those side trips that many of the most colorful and long-lasting stories, like learning to artificially inseminate a cow or realizing that Beckner isn’t lying when he says the traditional way farmers castrate a lamb is with their teeth, took place.

“We had to get these slimy little testicles out of this lamb and he let us do it,” 1993 graduate Willie Bovard said.

Just as memorable are the bevy of characters Beckner has dressed up to play over the years in order to teach a particularly important lesson, from “Big Deal Bob” the car salesman to “Gary Ganger,” which saw Beckner dress like a hooligan in order to impart how critical a first impression is.

Beckner even took his “Gary Ganger” show on the road, teaching the lesson to parents and youngsters by showing up in costume to judge an animal contest.

“Kids remember those things, or the characters, more than Mr. Beckner’s class and the sheep unit or whatever,” Beckner said. “When you survey teachers about what they remember about high school, it’s not Mr. Smith’s math class, it’s something out of classroom time, usually. The best education, usually, doesn’t take place in the classroom.”

Beckner said he and Stebbins collaborated together well to build the FFA program into a winner. After four decades, not only is Beckner known and respected across the state, he has helped Newberg become as synonymous with FFA as it is with wrestling or water polo.

Raised by a single mother, Bovard told the crowd at the banquet that Beckner had been the father figure he needed and credits him for his successful career as a cattle feeder.

“Beckner has the talent of being able to see potential in kids and then draw that potential out of them,” Bovard said. “He built this program, but in the process, he built up kids.”

Former state senator Larry George said his company, George Packing Company, has become the largest hazelnut processor in the country because Beckner pushed him and his brother to succeed.

Beckner has been talking about retirement for many years, but could never pull himself away from his students. Now he finally feels mentally prepared.

“I’ve been very blessed,” Beckner said. “I never would have been able to do all of this on my own. I discovered a gift. I farm kids, students. I see potential and I try to take care of that seed that they have inside them.”