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(sent to all contacts)
 Fond Remembrances of Former Illinois Agriculture Director and State Representative Gordon Ropp. Our thoughts and prayers are sent to his family.
A giant of Illinois agriculture has died. Former state representative, state agriculture director and longtime 4-H booster Gordon Ropp was 87 years old.
“Gordon Ropp never knew a stranger." Almost everyone talked to for this story said those words.
“Everyone, when they think of Gordy Ropp, thinks of an energetic individual with his ever-present smile and his warm personality and his laughter and his storytelling," said state Rep. Keith Sommer, R-Morton. "Anyone who ever came across Gordy Ropp will remember him for that, and how he treated them and made them feel warm, also.”
Ropp, who died Tuesday, was raised on his parents’ dairy farm in Normal Township and milked cows by hand starting at age 6, he told the McLean County Museum of History in 2016. After a few years of that, his dad bought a milking machine. Read full obituary and the Normal Rotary newsletter
Gordon was very helpful to the Illinois Leadership Council for Agricultural Education(ILCAE) and the Illinois Committee for Agricultural Education(ICAE) in the 1980's and 1990's in developing the public act for Illinois agricultural education, improving the structure for Illinois agricultural education, and the Illinois agricultural education line item in the ISBE budget.
A private family burial will occur this week with a pubic memorial later when the shelter in place is lifted.
Condolences can be sent to:
Family of Gordon Ropp
2418 Ropp Road
Normal, IL 61761
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Dean Dittmar
Facilitating Coordination in Ag Education (FCAE)
Phone: 217-893-0091 Cell: 618-604-1622
Email: ddittmar@ILAgEd.org
Address: 3358 Big Pine Trail , Champaign, IL 61822
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