By NANCY LYBARGER
Indiana Correspondent

DUBOIS, Ind. — Dr. Merrill Ranck was the first director of the Southern Indiana Purdue Agriculture Center (SIPAC). He opened the station in 1969, coming to the hills of Dubois County after a stint at a diagnostic lab in Florida and as the campus lab chief at Texas A&M.

An OSU alumnus, he earned his masters degree and taught at the Texas school.

When he started the diagnostic lab at SIPAC, it consisted of a couple of technicians, himself and a secretary.

Its purpose at the time was to work with poultry producers in the south and eastern parts of the state.

Veterinarian Denny Wallace arrived in 1970, Ranck recalled at the 40th anniversary celebration of the diagnostic lab, which in 1999 was named for the late Dennis Heeke, a state legislator who helped get it established near Dubois.

Wallace, a Purdue alumnus, stayed about one year, Ranck said, then ended up working for Eli Lilly.

Ranck is credited with reporting, in 1974, the first occurrence of Dactylaria infection in chickens. He also drew up the plans for the expansion that was completed in 1977 that opened up a new area for mammalian studies.

Ranck retired in 1981 and opened an ice cream shop in his adopted hometown of Dubois. He enjoyed the time he spent there, he said.

However, Perdue Farms tapped him to build and run its lab in Washington, Ind. the poultry giant’s Indiana headquarters. He retired from there in 1988.

He returned to the ADDL facility once after he retired, just to earn some continuing education credits. He said he opens the ice cream shop only once a year now, on Halloween, when they give away ice cream cones to area residents. Last year, he said some 300 cones were licked away.