Published: March 22, 2009 11:25 pm      

Dykes retiring after 25 years

Carolyn Forrest believes there’s not a question related to agriculture Louis Dykes couldn’t answer.

“You call him about big things or little things, but he’s never upset about it,” said Forrest, who has known Dykes for more than 20 years. “He’s free with his knowledge. He’s there to help everybody. If your tomato plants are dying, you call Louis. He knows what’s wrong.”

Dykes, Murray County’s cooperative extension coordinator, is retiring at the end of this month after 30 years of service with the University of Georgia’s cooperative extension program.

“I help anyone who needs it, anything from growing corn to how to get rid of wild skunks coming in the back door at night,” Dykes said. “Every day is different. I have a different interesting question all the time... Making a difference in someone’s life is what it’s all about.”

Dykes, who is originally from Tallahassee, Fla., has been at the Murray County extension office for 25 years — serving in Towns County and Decatur before relocating to Murray with his wife Joan. He will continue to work part time until a replacement is hired.

“The university, like everything in the state, is going through hard times” financially, Dykes said. “They had to come up with a 10 percent budget cut. They asked those with 30 years to go ahead and retire. There are 35 of us (across the state). That’s over 1,000 years of experience going out at one time.”

Forrest says he is going to be “gravely missed in his job” because he helps so many people in the community with agricultural needs. She, and her husband Charles, are in the Master Gardener program in Murray County with Dykes and have attended church with him at the First Baptist Church of Chatsworth for many years.

“He is a rock in our church,” Carolyn Forrest said. “He is a deacon and helped do the landscaping here. He is working constantly with the shut-ins. He’s totally involved in the church and in the community.”

Through the Master Gardeners, Dykes helped landscape the memorial garden at Northwest Elementary School, for the students who died when the bus they were riding was struck by a train in 2000, Forrest said. He has also helped on many other landscaping projects around the county, she said.

Dykes said he has “done a little bit of everything” in the community. He has been president of the Chamber of Commerce, been active in the American Cancer Society, is the chairman of the Chatsworth tree board, is chairman of the Keep Chatsworth-Murray Beautiful board, is involved in the Cattelman’s Association and other organizations.

“I’m still going to be involved with all the volunteer activities,” he said. “I’m not going to be out of it, just going to be doing it a different way.”

Dykes didn’t plan to become an expert in agriculture. He planned to become a music teacher. It wasn’t until his third year of college that he went from being a music education major at the University of Florida to being a agronomic pest management major at Florida State.

“My parents were in education,” Dykes said. “I knew I needed to go somewhere else. At the end of the Vietnam War, just like what’s happening now, there were no jobs for teachers anywhere. I was always into gardening. I worked on a farm every summer growing up.”

Though Dykes didn’t become a teacher, he was able to educate children through the 4-H program in Murray County for more than 20 years.

“I loved it,” he said. “I love working with the kids. That’s where you see a difference being made. Adults don’t listen as well, so you don’t have the same impact on them.”

Dykes plans to stay in Murray County and continue helping his son, Matthew with his landscaping business, Southern Scapes.

“I appreciate the opportunity to work with the people of Murray County for the last 25 years,” Dykes said. “I’m hoping for great things in the future.”