Max KimmerlingMax Kimmerling

Family: Wife: Viola

Children: Phillip (deceased), Linda Kopp, Kent (deceased), Kathy Strouf, Paul, Kevin.

A dairyman from Beatrice, NE, Max Kimmerling has given much of his time during the last 25 years to ensure Nebraska's dairy producers have a market for their milk. He was born June 5, 1927, attended school in Beatrice and graduated from Beatrice High School. He attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he was a member of the Block and Bridle Club and served as secretary/treasure of the Varsity Dairy Club. He also was a member of Alpha Gamma Rho and Alpha Zeta. He received a B.S. degree in Agriculture with majors in Dairy and Animal Husbandry. He and his wife Viola were married while Max was attending college.

After graduating from UNL, Max and Viola returned to the family farm in Gage County. They have been milking cows ever since. By today's standards, their herd is relatively small, 60 to 100 Holstein and Milking Shorthorn cows. But it is truly a family farm. Even today, on days when he is not involved in board meetings, Max is usually at the farm doing a significant amount of the milking and farm chores along with his son Paul and Paul's family. It is evident that Max and Viola place high value on involving the entire family in the farming activities. Their children and grandchildren have been very active in 4-H and Max and Viola readily share pictures of their family showing the prize Milking Shorthorns at county and state fairs and national shows.

Max was very involved in the activation of the Nebraska Dairy Industry Development Board. LB 275, a bill that provided an operative provision for the board, was passed into law in 1992. Through Max's leadership the board was activated in 1998 and Max served as Chairman from its inception to 2001. Max, a Corporate Board Member of Mid American Dairymen, Inc., was involved in the decision to merge Mid American with three other cooperatives to form Dairy Farmers of America in 1998. He served in the reorganization of DFA as one of its first corporate board members from 1998 until 2001. His fellow dairymen consider this service to be how he helped them the most. The work culminated in the largest cooperative in the U.S. More than 22,000 dairy farmers participate, marketing some 38 billion lbs. of milk annually with a value of approximately $8 billion.

Max has been described as a "take charge" person, a leader, but in a quiet and unassuming way. He is a strong promoter of agriculture and youth activities in the Beatrice community, in Nebraska, and nationally. As a fellow dairyman wrote, "Max has exemplified meeting the daily challenges of operating a successful dairy farm and of spending a large amount of time away from the farm fighting the battles for his fellow dairy farmers as they do the necessary things to have a profitable existence."

Back to Honoree Archives