Our past president, Dr. Peter Poss (U. of M. class of 1957), recently celebrated his 87th birthday. Poss was involved in a bicycling accident last year resulting in five broken ribs, a heart attack and irregular heart rhythms. So an intimate group gathered at the Green Mill in Willmar On September 23, 2021, to celebrate his recovery and commemorate his many years of service to the museum. We were joined at lunch by his wife, Emily.
We took the opportunity to try some newly-purchased recording equipment in order to ask Dr. Poss some questions about his career, so four microphones and lots of wires ranged among the lunch plates and silverware. The MVHM has a long history of recording interviews with notable veterinarians, including 54 interviews done mainly by Dr. Paul Cox, Dr. Walt Mackey and Dr. John Arnold from 1986 to 1996, with another series by Dr. Teresa Hershey conducted from 2011 to 2015.
During the 100 minute interview Poss described his first connections to animals on his family’s 20-acre farm; his work with his mentor, Dr. Ben Pomeroy; turkey nutrition; and his 30 year career at Jennie-O Turkeys.
The highlight of the interview was a description of efforts to save the College of Veterinary Medicine and the College of Dentistry from closing in 1985. The proposed closure was part of U of M president Kenneth Keller’s “Commitment to Focus,” a scheme to reduce costs in response to legislative funding cuts. Poss led an effort to gather interested citizens – including farmers – to meet with Governor Rudy Perpich. They were able to gain the governor’s support by making a connection to local kids going to a local school. Rudy Perpich was a dentist before being a governor but had failed to gain admission to the University of Minnesota – his school of choice.
Poss guided the MVHM for the last 11 years as president. With his colleague, Dr. Carl Jessen, the two attracted an impressive series of financial donations for the museum, putting it on a sound footing as an organization.
Bennett Porter and Paul Maravelas
