News

Officials at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College announced the Ingersoll family as the 2022 Award of Merit recipient.

NEO will formally honor the Ingersoll family during the Outstanding Alumni Banquet on Saturday, Oct 1, 2022, at 11 a.m. in the Calcagno Family Ballroom.

All alumni and friends of the college are invited to attend the event. Tickets are $25 and $15 for children 12 and under. Purchase tickets at the door or through neo.edu/homecoming. NEO homecoming festivities will take place Sept 30 through Oct 1, 2022.

Winthrop “Win” Ingersoll was raised in rural Rogers County, east of Claremore. Growing up, his family owned several ranches, and his father trained English pilots in Miami for the United States government.

Ingersoll attended NEO from 1961 to 1962. He transferred to Oklahoma State University and reconnected with his wife, Kay. They married in 1965 and had two daughters, Joleta and Wendy. Joleta also attended NEO.

Ingersoll and Kay settled on the historic McFarlin Ranch, where Ingersoll worked during childhood. He would come to own and operate the ranch where he and Kay decided to raise their family.

Ingersoll was a member of numerous organizations, such as the Inola Lions Club, Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association, and the National Cattlemen’s Association, and served as president of the Oklahoma Horseman’s Association. He was one of the original organizers of First Federal Savings and Loan, known today as BancFirst in Claremore.

Philanthropists at heart, the Ingersolls sponsored numerous community events to help raise money for various organizations. The most popular was Old Walt’s Haunted Hayride, which raised thousands of dollars.

Wildlife conservation was also important to Ingersoll. He sponsored a habitat study performed by OSU held on the McFarlin Ranch. In 2012, he was the recipient of the Nature Works Stewardship Award for his contribution to wildlife conservation, and in 2016, he and Kay received the Private Land Management Award. The life-sized bronze monument, “Shinnery Oak Bobwhites,” located at LaFortune Park in Tulsa is in honor of Ingersoll.

Both Ingersoll daughters reside on the McFarlin Ranch with their families. Joleta has two boys, Walt and Bryce. Wendy also has two boys, Razz and Radley. Ingersoll was the fourth generation to own the ranch, making his daughters and their kids the fifth and sixth generations.

“NEO is a beautiful campus with an outstanding agriculture department,” wrote the Ingersoll family in a statement. “It is a great opportunity for students who come from small agricultural families to attend a small school and feel like they are part of a family.”

The Ingersoll family established an endowment at NEO in memory of Win Ingersoll, who passed away in 2020. This scholarship benefits NEO students who are pursuing an agriculture degree. The Ingersoll family also established endowments with the OSU Ferguson College of Agriculture and Rogers State University and was a cornerstone donor for the New Frontiers Agricultural Hall at OSU.

For more information, contact NEO alumni coordinator Eric Iverson at eiverson@neo.edu