John R. “Johnnie” Holmes

John R. “Johnnie” Holmes was a 4-H member as a youngster in the Rio Grand Valley north of El Paso, Texas He went on to graduate from Texas A&M with a B.S. degree in Agricultural Education. As a student, he worked at the college-owned radio station, where he produced and aired farm programs, collegiate FFA programs and assisted the Extension radio editor in airing regular farm and home network programs. As farm editor of WMT, an agriculturally-oriented radio station in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he wrote and broadcast radio programs. At this time, Johnnie also became actively involved in the 1949 and 1950 All- Iowa Fairs, providing coverage for many local fairs, the Iowa State Fair and National Dairy Cattle Congress. He continued his broadcast career in Little Rock, serving first as farm service director for KLRA-AM, where he was the first full-time radio broadcaster in Arkansas devoted to gathering and reporting agriculture news, then as farm service director for television station KATV. At KATV, Johnnie was responsible for a daily 30-minute television program featuring crop and livestock news, agricultural personality features and reports on special farm events. He also broadcast live reports with livestock exhibitors from the Arkansas State Fairgrounds—a first in Arkansas television. In 1956, Johnnie became secretary-manager of the American Dairy Association of Arkansas. He continued working in the dairy industry for nearly 20 years, serving first as market coordinator for the American Dairy Association of Milk Producers Inc. and in the promotion division of the Associated Milk Producers Inc. Mr. Holmes served as Arkansas State Fair general manager and secretarytreasurer of the Arkansas Livestock Show Association and was named executive vice president in 1982. In this position, he worked extensively with the Department of Education, vocational agriculture teachers and 4-H and FFA members to increase educational activities and involvement at the State Fair. In 1992, Mr. Holmes received the National Future Farmers of America’s “Honorary American FFA Degree,” the highest award presented by the FFA.