Ed Tunnell of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System (ACES) family retired after 26 years of service. The Millport native received a B.S. in agricultural education from Auburn University and an M.S. from Auburn University in Montgomery.
Tunnell began his teaching career in agriculture shortly after he received his B.S. in 1968. In December of 1972, Tunnell decided to become an Extension agent for his hometown of Baldwin County, where he worked until he retired in 1999. Tunnell started out as a 4-H agent, then a horticultural agent and finally finished his career with Extension as the coordinator for Baldwin County. “I’ve worked in every area of agriculture, but my specialty is horticulture,” he says. “I think it’s extremely important to stay involved. Wherever you’re working, just try to stay involved with the community and people that you work with,” is the best advice Tunnell received as a young county agent, and he still gives that advice today. He and his family always enjoyed going to county agents’ meetings and national meetings. “We became a family,” he says. Tunnell claims as his mentors Ralph Thompson, county agent-coordinator for Baldwin County, the late Donald Dunn and Tom Burnside. “Most of us young agents looked up to these men, and they encouraged us in everything we did,” he says. In recounting his proudest work accomplishments, Tunnell says, “Helping young 4-H members succeed later in life in farming or in agriculture was a really successful moment.” |
Another gratifying achievement was the creation of the Master Gardener Program in Baldwin County in 1990. “The Master Gardener Program was in a lot of large cities but one of the first rural areas was Baldwin County,” he says. The gardener program has continued to grow, and even though Tunnell is no longer involved, starting that program was a proud moment for him.
Tunnell notes that one of the most difficult transitions during his time with Extension was the change of counties going from rural to urban. “Seeing agriculture disappear almost was very sad. Things were changing from the type of farming to the number of farmers,” he says. Tunnell says the use of GPS was a significant technological advance that changed the game of farming. “I had the opportunity before I retired in 1999 to see many advances. I didn’t have a whole lot to do with the change but seeing helpful advances improve crop production was great,” he says. After retirement, Tunnell helped a former student open a feed store, where he went to work for him in 2001. He also ran a call-in radio program for many years where people would call in and ask him horticulture-related questions. In 2010, Ed’s wife passed away after an extended bout with Alzheimer’s. He and his wife had one daughter and one son together. He is also the proud grandparent of 2 grandsons. |