Orval A. Knox
Orval Knox, 1928
Chandler- Maricopa County
Inducted in 2009
Orval A Knox was a hard-working man of integrity. He was proud of his family, firmly committed to Chandler and Arizona, and dedicated to agriculture. Orval's history began with his father, Thompson Alexander Knox, known as Alex, in Glasgow, Scotland. Alex, his brother, and his sisters were orphaned in the mid-1880s. Before her death, Alex's mother reluctantly permitted the younger children to be sent to an orphanage near Glasgow and then transferred to a sister orphanage in Canada. She believed they would have more significant opportunities for a good life there. Alex was one of those children. Once in Canada, 13-year-old Alex was placed with an Ontario farming family, the Percivals.
Alex lived, went to school, and worked there for the next ten years, learning the basics of farming. Alex became close friends with John Dobson, a cousin of the Percivals. In 1896, Alex and John followed John's brother, Wesley Dobson, to the Arizona Territory, where they were employed on Dobson's farm. Both young men returned to Ontario in March 1900 to marry their sweethearts. Alex and his bride, Martha James, returned to Arizona that November to work for Wesley Dobson again.
A year later, Alex was hired by the Utah Canal Company as a zanjero (ditch rider). He and Martha made their home in a tent house near the head of the Utah Canal, where their first child, Eva Bell, was born and died two months later. Orval was the third of five children born in that tent house, which was portable enough to be moved.
In 1903, Alex and Martha moved their tent house to 80 acres they purchased at Dobson and Guadalupe Roads, where Orval's sister, Florence, was born. Three years later, the family purchased 40 acres on Baseline Road just west of Dobson and moved the tent house there where, in 1907, Orval was born. Sometime later, the family sold the 40 acres and moved their tent house back to the Dobson and Guadalupe farm, where Orval's two younger brothers, Stanley and Kenneth, were born.
The family continued to farm that property for the next ten years. As the children got old enough, they rode to Jordan Elementary School on horseback.
In 1917, Orval's father purchased property near the fledgling town of Chandler, east of Arizona Ave., on what would eventually be named Knox Road. Their first "real" house replaced the tent house that had been home for many years. Alex and Martha insisted that their children be well educated, so they all attended Chandler High School, which is nearby.
Orval's father died of typhoid fever during the worldwide epidemic that ravaged Arizona in 1921, and his mother, Martha, was left with four children to raise and a farm to run. At age 14, Orval and the other children took on responsibilities at home and on the farm while still attending school. It was a hard life, but every one of the children graduated from Chandler High School. Orval served as student body president his senior year and graduated as salutatorian in 1924. Although he felt a responsibility to stay home and help with the farm, his mother insisted that he follow his sister, Florence, to the University of Arizona, where he began his studies in animal husbandry and graduated in 1928.
While excelling as a student at the UofA, Orval was a member of the Aggie Club and a staff member and contributor to The Arizona Agriculturist, a Department of Agriculture magazine. One of Orval's significant accomplishments during his university years was being selected as a member of the UofA's first Intercollegiate Livestock Judging Team by the team's coach, E.B Stanley. The team judged everything from chickens to draft horses. The team was chosen to compete in the American Royal Stock Show in Kansas City and the International Livestock Show in Chicago, earning them recognition as one of the best judging teams in the country. After graduating from the UofA, Orval returned home and took over the family farm operation in partnership with his mother. In 1929, Orval and his mother purchased additional land and expanded their operation. Eventually, Orval was farming three hundred sixty acres of his land and three hundred forty acres of his mother's.
In 1932, Orval married his sweetheart Leota Neely of Gilbert, whom he had met at the UofA., and moved to a 2-room house on the west side of Arizona Ave., but still on Knox Road. It became the headquarters for the farming operation and home to the couple's three children: Norman, Muriel, and Barbara. The depression years were tough for the young family, so besides working the farm, Orval worked as a field man for Agricultural Credit Finance Co. His experience with that organization made him the right choice to help site Luke Air Force Base in the West Valley. The City of Phoenix hired Orval to appraise farmland the Army Air Corps was considering for a training base. On his say-so, Phoenix bought 1,440 acres of land, which they leased to the government for $1 a year, effective March 24, 1941, and the Litchfield Park Air Field came into being. The name was later changed to Luke Air Force Base.
Orval freely gave his time and expertise to many. He hosted numerous classes of agricultural students from the UofA and Arizona State College (later Arizona State Univesity) at his farm to experience the "in-the-field" innovations he employed. He was also a regular advisor for FFA., 4-H, and the Chandler High Ag. Dept.
Unarguably, Orval's most significant contribution to the field of agriculture was bringing Calcot, Ltd., the world's largest cotton marketing cooperative in California, to Arizona. Orval had to convince Calcot that it would be worthwhile to take on the Arizona producers while, at the same time, convincing the Arizona cotton producers that it was in their best interest to sell through Calcot. Calcot agreed to the proposal only if Orval could guarantee a minimum of ten thousand bales the first year. That was ten percent of the entire state's crop. By the end of harvest in 1955, through many hours of meetings across the state and untold numbers of phone conversations with growers, Orval had convinced eighteen Arizona growers to join Calcot, bringing forty thousand bales of cotton with them. His dedication to this project ensured that the Arizona growers now had a large, experienced marketing group with worldwide contracts to market their cotton. Orval served on Calcot's Board of Directors for 25 years.
While most of Orval's years were spent farming near the Knox Road "home place," when the population growth of Chandler encroached on agricultural land, the family moved their farming operation farther south and east of the city.
Throughout his adult life, Orval was concerned about the state's agriculture and the bigger picture. He will always be remembered as an essential leader in Arizona agriculture.
Affiliations
Agricultural Credit Finance Co- field inspector
Phoenix Federal Land Bank- Board of Directors, 43 years
United Producers and Consumers Cooperative
National Association of Cooperative- National Director and Vice-President
University of Arizona Agriculture Department- Associate
Salt River Project (Water User's Association)- Member
Chandler Cotton Gin- Board Member
Calcot, Ltd.- Board of Directors, 25 years, Vice-President, 1957 to 1974
Arizona Cotton Growers, Member
Arizona Crop Improvement Association, Board of Directors, Vice-President, and President
Arizona State Univesity- Established the Agricultural Advisory Board for the Agricultural Department
Arizona State Univesity Foundation- establish a Board of Directors, Treasurer, Secretary, and Vice-President
Awards
University of Arizona- Alpha Zeta Agricultural Honorary
Arizona FFA.- Man of the Year in Arizona Agriculture, 1960
Arizona Crop Improvement Association Award
University of Arizona College of Agriculture-Medallion of Merit, 1970
Arizona Bankers Association-Certificate of Award
