By Courtney Cole/ Delta Staff Writer 

Missouri Valley College recently mourned the passing of former president Dr. Earl Reeves who served as the 10th president of the college. 

Reeves served his time at the college from 1983 to 1994. He was originally born in Muskogee, Oklahoma and spent his career in education.

Tiffany Bergman, associate professor of history at Missouri Valley College, has known Dr. Reeves before she even stepped foot on the campus. She had received the chance to attend MVC for an American Humanics scholarship, which is now known as the Non-Profit Leadership Alliance at the college. That offer was just too good to say no to Dr. Reeves and that is when her career at MVC officially started. 

“He cared about the students and had a passion for the history of the college,” Bergman said.

She said he was not one of those typical presidents who are invisible to the student body; everyone would always see him around the MVC campus. He would even visit Bergman after her career as a professor had taken off. He would come visit her classroom to talk to her students about the history of Missouri Valley College.

Reeves was also the first president to bring rodeo to college. Three young individuals came to him stating that they would like for a rodeo club to be available to students on campus. Reeves was able to make that happen, and now rodeo is no longer a club, but an official team on campus.

Dr. Bonnie Humphrey, who is the current president of the college, said she and Reeves had a very cordial relationship, even though Humphrey did not start her presidency until January 2005. She said whenever they had an opportunity for lunch, Reeves preferred Olive Garden because he enjoyed their unlimited breadsticks. 

Humphrey described Reeves as a sweet man when it came to everyone being around him and someone who was always the person that people would look forward to seeing. If he knew someone, he would always give that person a hug. His humanity is what made him such a wonderful person. He was the type of man that looked for solutions to help people. 

Given the opportunity to say one last thing, Humphrey knew what her message to Reeves would be.

“I appreciate the ground work you laid for those of us who followed you,” she said.