Ron Wilson wrote popular Kansas Profile column for more than 30 years
MANHATTAN, Kan. – A Kansas man who popularized the phrase ‘Now, That’s Rural’ while advocating for community development across the state for nearly 40 years has reached a finish line.
Ron Wilson, the director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development since its inception in 1990, will retire this week from Kansas State University. For more than 30 years, he wrote a weekly column titled Kansas Profile in which he told the stories of Kansas residents and entrepreneurs – highlighting ideas of what’s possible in rural Kansas.
“The idea of this column was not to preach to people about what they ought to do, but to share examples of what really good people were actually doing in a rural setting,” Wilson said. “Our goal was to encourage entrepreneurs and community leaders, stimulating ideas of what’s possible in rural Kansas and to build pride in our state.”
“We didn’t know if that idea would go for six weeks or six months or even six years, but you know, 30 years later, we’re finally wrapping up that program.”
In fact, by Wilson’s count, he wrote 1,791 Kansas Profile columns that became a weekly staple on the editorial and lifestyle pages of numerous small- and mid-sized Kansas newspapers.
“When we started this, I certainly had no idea that we would continue to find great people doing great things in small town Kansas, but we have,” Wilson said.
“The first profile was about Huck Boyd, a small town newspaper guy who was influential nationally and a great advocate for rural America. I described his hometown of Phillipsburg and used the phrase, ‘Now, That’s Rural,’ and that caught on and stayed with us ever since.”
In the early years, Wilson remembers keeping a map in which he would place a dot on a community that was featured in Kansas Profile. Before long, “we stopped adding dots because we had every corner in every county filled – and multiple times.”
“It’s just remarkable when you really open your eyes how much you can find good people launching businesses and doing interesting things from their small towns,” Wilson said. “They may be small, may be large, may be growing or maybe they offer just one or two jobs in that community. But that can make a difference in our smallest communities.”
Many of Wilson’s stories featured entrepreneurs from towns with a population of a few thousand, but he remembers one column that featured Freeport, Kansas in Harper County, which has since been unincorporated but at the time reported a population of six people.
“Now, That’s Rural,” Wilson said, on cue.
The Kansas Profile column, though, was just one of many efforts Wilson led as director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development. In partnership with Kansas State University, the office has helped to lead efforts in such areas as remote work, community leadership, international trade, diversity, and more.
Wilson also initiated a program to recognize the Huck Boyd Leaders of the Year, in which K-State students helped to pick the top rural entrepreneurs based on stories told in Kansas Profile.
“It was a win-win experience because our K-State students…were able to learn firsthand about people in the state of Kansas that were using their skills back home,” Wilson said. “We honored some outstanding people, as well as helped with the education of our students.”
Wilson’s final Kansas Profile column will be published through the K-State Radio Network and K-State Extension communications on Oct. 21. It will mark a full-circle moment for Wilson, who will again write about Huck Boyd and the special relationship the two shared.
Wilson said he will retire to the family ranch, where his wife has an agritourism business. “There’s a whole lot of work to be done there, so maybe I can catch up on some things,” he said.
“A friend who just retired said she was told to have something to do, something to look forward to, and someone to love. I think that’s really good advice. And I’ve been blessed that way, too.”
