Feature Story

Member Spotlight on VTC Board Member Ray Funkhouser

VTC Board Member Ray Funkhouser has been a great asset to the turfgrass industry for many years. He may be retired, but his years of serving and advocating for turf professionals continue through his work with the VTC Board. We sat down with Ray to talk about work, life, and family – you’re sure to learn something from this stalwart member of our organization!

Virginia Turfgrass Journal: Can you share a little bit about your career path?

Ray Funkhouser: I came into the turf industry about halfway through my professional career. My entire career has been involved with the crop protection chemical side of the business. I started off on the agricultural side, working with a number of crops, starting with the fruit crops here in Virginia and moving over to a lot of the agronomic crops. Then I had the opportunity to move over to the specialty side, which included turf, which was always an area of interest for me.

VTJ: How big of a change was that to go from the agricultural side and move into turfgrass?

RF: Very easy to do – it’s kind of a natural transition because there’s so many similarities between the two. We’re dealing with plants, we’re dealing with a lot of botany and how plants grow, how they function, how they thrive and the threats that can attack them. So it’s really dealing with just a little bit of a different crop of the end result of what you’re trying to accomplish, but many of the techniques are very similar.

VTJ: Where did you start with your education? What made you decide to go into this field and what route did you take from there?

RF: When I was coming out of high school, I knew I wanted to have a job where I could use science on a daily basis, and particularly on the plant side. Growing up, I was one generation removed from the farm that my father grew up on, but my family went back to that farm often. So I was surrounded by a lot of agriculture, and I liked that field.

I decided to go to Delaware Valley College, which is now Delaware Valley University. I was originally accepted as a horticulture major, but I knew I needed to go on and get an advanced degree. Specifically, I wanted to get into the agricultural crop protection area. I was very fortunate to get an internship at American Cyanamid at the end of my freshman year in college. They had a big agricultural research farm in Princeton, New Jersey. I interned that summer in the insecticide screening department. It was exciting because I was in the industry and saw some numbered compounds there that years later, actually I saw make it to the marketplace as commercial products. Then another summer I was with the US Forest Service working on a gypsy moth research project that was a USDA project, based out of Cornell University, and I was stationed in the field. We were gathering tremendous amounts of data on the gypsy moth. I was very fortunate coming out of college to have had some experience in the industry.

VTJ: How would you advise new turfgrass managers on how to get their feet wet in all of the areas that are necessary to be in this field?

RF: Don’t limit yourself to one particular idea or image that you may have of what you want to do. Be open for opportunities that may arise to learn about all different aspects of it. I’ve run across many people, in fact most people, when they settle into the main part of their career where they spend most of their years, that was not where they started. That was not where they thought they wanted to be, but they looked at opportunities and learned as much as they could about the different aspects of it, whether it’s the agronomic end of it, whether it’s the equipment end of it, whether it’s just even weather conditions – there are many different areas. You never know what door may open for you that can be very, very gratifying to you.

VTJ: You’ve spent a lot of time volunteering your expertise and your time for industry associations like VTC. Why is that so important to you?

RF: I don’t necessarily look at it as ‘volunteering,’ but rather investing. I think it’s an investment in your career, and it’s also an investment for the industry. There are a lot of things that need to happen for an industry to grow and survive, and it’s when people come together and invest their time, efforts and talents for the good of everyone, is how an industry grows and moves ahead.

VTJ: Now that you’re retired, what are you doing with your time?

RF: Well it seems now I’m as busy as I’ve ever been. You get involved supporting a number of things in your life that are important to you. I’m still involved very actively with the alumni association at Delaware Valley University, I think they keep me around to help them remember some of the history. I served as president of the alumni association and one of the very rewarding things was serving on the board of trustees of the school for a number of years.

Church always takes a fair amount of time and commitment, trying to do things there. My wife and I teach Sunday school and every once in a while they need somebody to fill in to deliver a message and I’m happy to be able to help out with that when it comes up.

But a lot of my time is spent with track and field. I’ve been involved in track and field continuously since 1965 when I was a freshman in high school. I went out for the track team and never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that all these years later I would still be as active as I am as an athlete, an official, and an administrator. It has brought a lot to my life, I think it’s helped with my professional career as well. I guess being an athlete it helps you direct your time. You set goals, you have a certain time to do it, schedule it, so you don’t have a lot of time to waste to be able to get everything done. I’ve been fortunate enough that track and field has taken me around the world to a number of places I know that I would have never been able to go on my own. As a result, just like with the industry, you meet a lot of people and friends. I’ve met a lot of people from different countries that are involved in track and field and they have become lifelong friends as well.

VTJ: I see that you and your wife are celebrating your 49th wedding anniversary this summer?

RF: June 3rd it’ll be 49 years. We got married two weeks after I graduated, undergrad, before I started as a full-time graduate student, going for my master’s degrees. I certainly owe her a lot with the things I’ve been able to accomplish with my job. I was on the road a lot and she has always been very supportive of what I’ve done, what has been important to me. It wasn’t a job I had, it was a lifestyle. It’s all wrapped in – you’re never off the clock, so to speak. There’s always people that call that have issues and problems, whether it’s with a clogged sprayer or whatever. You take that time – it’s a lifestyle, and I’ve been very fortunate that way. I am officially retired from that, but I still think I’m able to contribute to the industry and hopefully others will continue to do the same because we have some very brilliant people involved in the turfgrass industry.

VTJ: Knowing that you’ve lived this lifestyle and been in the industry and really embraced all the parts of it, while maintaining your family life, what would your advice be for younger turfgrass managers or professionals about being involved in the industry, but also having a little balance there with family and outside interests?

RF: I think it’s very important to have balance, to have outlets, to have something so you’re just not totally, totally focused on one thing all of the time. I have seen people that have gotten into that, and you can get burned out. You have to look at what life is all about, certainly family is very important. A lot of what we do is so that we can provide for our family. Again, I’ll go back to my very first boss that hired me into the industry. He said this involves the whole family. He not only interviewed me, but interviewed my wife so that she had an understanding of what this career was going to be and what it could be, and that it was a decision that we made as a family and I think that’s very important.

I’m a big proponent of staying active, which helps you with your health. And when you’re healthier, you have more energy, you can accomplish more. So that’s where the track and field has always been very important to me, fitting that in. Sometimes people say that, “Well, I just don’t have time in the day to work out.” Or “I can’t do that because it takes time away from my family.” The way I always put it to them, that time you take each day, whether it’s to exercise or work out or whatever, that’s an investment in yourself, BUT it’s your family that’s going to benefit from the interest that’s generated, the energy that you get—you’re going to have more time, more energy with them to be active. So they’re the ones that are going to benefit by that investment that you’re making in yourself on a regular basis.

VTC would like to thank Ray Funkhouser for his years of dedication to the industry and the Council.

To hear our full conversation with Ray, check out our podcast on THETURFZONE.COM. You can subscribe at Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.