CHENANGO COUNTY – In life, Dan Marshman exemplified leadership in the local agricultural community. For him, the saying, “Being a leader is not what they call you, it’s what they see you do,” was more than just a catch phrase. They were words to live by.
According to those who knew him best, the Oxford native was a role model to others, both within the realm of agriculture and beyond. Since his untimely death in 2001, his friends have endeavored to carry on his work by recognizing others who exhibit those same characteristics.
“It really is a legacy we want to continue,” said Judie Wright, who worked alongside Dave Emerson and Dick Dansingburg in the months following Marshman’s death to create the Dan Marshman Agricultural Leadership Award in his honor. The committee is now accepting nominations for the 2010 award, which will be given this June.
“This whole award is a labor of love,” she said. “We knew this was the right thing to do.”
For the group, defining the criteria for the award was the easy part. They knew the ideal recipient needed to be an embodiment of all of Marshman’s best qualities: a visionary with high ethical standards, able to inspire others to take on leadership roles, work with other local leaders to address the needs of the local agricultural and have a positive impact on the community.
The hard part, was designing the award itself.
For months, the group searched for the perfect medium. But nothing - not the polished marble or granite, nor the Steuben glass - seemed to fit with the man they had known and loved.
“It just wasn’t Dan,” Emerson said, explaining that Marshman had been most at home working on his family’s farm. In the end, it was on the farm that the trio found the perfect raw materials.
They took a day and went to Marshman Farms, located on East River Road south of the Village of Oxford, Marshman’s long time friend explained. There, in a back field, they gathered native field stones.
“(Dan) wasn’t a polished stone,” Wright said. “He was exactly what we took out of that field.”
In a barn located on the property, they also discovered some oak boards, which had been hewn from trees on the farm.
The wood was used to create two display cases, both containing pieces of field stone and portraits of Marshman, painted by Irad Ingraham.
One of the cases permanently resides at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Chenango County. The other is displayed at NBT Bank’s main branch in Norwich, where Marshman served on the board of directors.
While they had the opportunity to move one of the displays to Cornell University in Ithaca, the institution from which Marshman graduated in 1968, Emerson said they have chosen to keep both on display locally in the hopes that the visibility will inspire others to follow in his footsteps.
“We want ... to continue recognizing and remembering Dan,” he explained.
Marshman, who was given the award posthumously in 2002, was the first recipient of the award. Since that time, Assemblyman Bill Magee, John Mitchell of Blue Seal Feeds, Afton Town Supervisor Bob Briggs and South New Berlin Dairyman and Ag Advocate Ken Dibbell have also been honored with receipt of the award. It is traditionally awarded biennially, at the culmination of the Leadership Chenango program.
Both individuals and organizations are eligible to receive the Dan Marshman Ag Leadership Award, according to Emerson. Nomination forms may be obtained by contacting Ken Smith at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Chenango County by phone at 334-5841.
Nominations are due no later than April 1. The award will be presented at the Leadership Chenango graduation dinner, to be held on June 3 at The Silo Restaurant in Coventry.