Jim Marcks, a former Luxemburg-Casco agriculture teacher, was inducted into the Wisconsin FFA Hall of Fame at the 86th annual Wisconsin FFA convention June 17 in Madison.
Marcks passed away in 2003 at the age of 73.
Accepting the award on Marcks’ behalf were his children: Donna Curley, of Milton, Cathy Lytie, of Green Bay, Sue Colle, of Luxemburg, Barb Giachino, of Luxemburg, Joan Koehne, of Abrams, Ann Goubeaux, of Green Bay, and Brian Marcks, of Whitefish Bay.
Marcks was born in 1930 the second of 10 children. He was raised on a dairy farm near Black Creek. After graduation from Seymour High School, he planned to farm, but that changed when he contracted polio in 1950. Once Marcks recovered, he walked with crutches and later used a wheel chair. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in agricultural education and later returned for a master’s degree.
In 1957, he married Janet Scheckel, who was the home economics teacher at Luxemburg-Casco High School. They had six daughters. In 1977, Janet passed away from cancer. Marcks married Elizabeth (Bette) Schuller in 1981, and they had one son.
The family lived on a 2 1/2-acre farm in Luxemburg and raised sheep, pigs and chickens.
Marcks taught vocational agriculture at Luxemburg-Casco High School for 32 years. During that time, his students earned 72 state FFA degrees. Five students were first-place FFA proficiency winners. FFA members and his children won many champions at the Northeast Junior Livestock Show and the county fair. In his retirement, he took photos for the local newspaper.
