Veteran ranger, at 81, on verge of retirement

WAPPAPELLO, Mo. -- The dedication of Wappapello Dam in July 1941 drew a large crowd, at least to 9-year-old Ira Tucker. His family drove over from Puxico, Mo., on the hot day, cutting across gravel roads and a few fields, the way locals did then, when roads to the dam were rough and few.

"This was just rocks and dirt," the oldest park ranger in the Corps' 28,000 square-mile St. Louis District said last week, as he maneuvered a work truck through the parking lot of Bill Emerson Memorial Visitor Center. "The only thing here was the gatehouse."

Today, Tucker is on the verge of retirement, despite the reluctance of his co-workers to let him go.

His presence and his knowledge will be missed, according to Project Manager Cindy Jackson.

Tucker has been at Wappapello for 26 years, nearly as long as he taught fifth grade in his hometown.

Teacher and park ranger were, in his words, jobs that came his way. He just did his best.

For the former students turned co-workers who still call him "Mr. Tucker," and many others, he is someone who took on hard work with dedication and a positive attitude.

The staff sees him as a man who supported his family, a wife and three children, by finding work when work was needed.

Farmer, insurance salesman, tax preparer, park ranger, teacher, magazine salesman and U.S. Army veteran are just a few of the titles he held, sometimes three and four at a time.

"I'm a farmer at heart. It's what I was raised as," said Tucker, who worked his family farm until the early 1980s. He still owns the 1945 tractor his father purchased new, although the family parted with it briefly.

There were days when Tucker would leave his classroom to spend a couple hours in the afternoon filling out tax returns before patrolling the lake in the evening. Tucker, who has never taken a planned vacation, from any of his jobs, remembers going as long as a 100 days without a day off.

Plans for retirement are simple, spend time with his wife, Parlee.

The Tuckers married in 1965 and started at Puxico Elementary in 1968, with Parlee managing the cafeteria. Tucker retired in 1998 after teaching 28 of his 30 years in the same classroom. Parlee retired shortly before that.

The couple has two daughters, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Their oldest daughter is a bookkeeper at Oak Dale Care Center and the youngest works as an accountant in Mississippi. They lost their son to cancer last year.

As a park ranger, Tucker worked part time in the evenings and on weekends during school, picking up a full schedule through the summer.

His duties have varied, from managing traffic at Eagle Point for 10 days after the flood of 2011 washed out Highway T to clearing brush in his younger days to create the Redman East campground.

On a warm Monday afternoon before the busy Labor Day holiday, Tucker patrolled campgrounds and recreation areas near the project office before heading farther out.

The west Redman campground only had 20 spots when he started as a temporary ranger. The two campgrounds have 109 now, all of which Tucker expected to be filled by the weekend. Simple tents have been replaced by expensive motor homes that require heavy duty electrical hookups and sewer access.

"The electric then might have run a fan, an electric skillet, maybe a few lights. ... It has changed so much," Tucker said as he drove, watching campsites for anything that might violate recreation area rules. "The forecast is hot and dry. We'll probably have a large visitation this weekend."

If he finds an infraction, Tucker will stop and have a conversation with campers. There are families whose children and now grandchildren have grown up camping at Wappapello under Tucker's watchful eye.

"I'm here to assist visitors in whatever way they need, whether it be camper or beach user. That's my job," he said, stopping later to speak with a woman who flagged him down to say she had contacted the owners of two dogs loose near the tennis courts below the visitor's center. "I just make myself available."

Part of his job is also being a visible presence, Tucker said while winding his way through the streets of Rockwood Point, with its close-packed houses, pointing out the homes of friends and co-workers.

As a child, his family visited the lake a few times a year. He still remembers the boat races held at Redman beach the day of the dedication.

He brought classes to the lake later as a teacher, to study leaves and bugs.

No matter how young his students were, Tucker always emphasized the importance of college.

"You have to have education in this society. I told my students, you have to go to school some place, whether it's a major university or a community college," said Tucker. "It is not impossible to go. You have to have the right mindset and go after it."

Tucker received a bachelor's degree in agriculture from the University of Missouri in 1957. His education was interrupted for two years, after being drafted into the army. Tucker served from 1954 to 1956, ending up as a clerk at a base in Stuttgart, Germany.

While Tucker denies his job was important, he kept track of pilots and planes for his section.

"He was Radar," Jackson teased, although with his slight frame and direct manner, Tucker could pass for the M.A.S.H. 4077 company clerk at 81. "He was supposed to know where everyone was."

"Ira has seen a lot of changes in how we operate," Jackson said later, including construction of the project office and the visitor's center.

He sees a lot on his rounds, according to Jackson, noticing details at the office, beaches and campgrounds that make things better at the Wappapello Project.

He is still "Mr. Tucker" to the other staff members, said assistant project manager James Gracey.

"The same sense of respect for him from his former students is evident when he sees them in the parks," Gracey said. "Ira is a great asset to this team, and we will certainly miss his contributions here."