Paul Marcellino
Paul Marcellino, the son of George and Virginia Marcellino, was born and raised in Washington Township, Carroll County. Paul graduated from Carroll High School in 1972, and graduated from Purdue in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science in Farm Management. While at Purdue, Paul participated in the Purdue Christian Campus House and was member of FarmHouse Fraternity, Student Seating Committee for Purdue Athletics, and treasurer of Ag Econ Club. He was also awarded the Outstanding Junior in the School of Agriculture Economics.
Paul married Terri Barber of Burlington and returned to Washington Township after they graduated. They have three daughters; Katie Van Sloten (Dustin), Lara Chase (Daniel), and Dana McKinnis (Neil), and two grandsons, Oscar and Asher McKinnis.
Paul farmed with his father twenty-four years and Maurice Robeson for eight years. He served as a Sunday School teacher, youth group leader, deacon and elder at the Burlington Church of Christ and Onward Christian Church. He decided to return to school and received a Master of Arts in Ministry from Indiana Wesleyan University. Paul and Terri were called to serve at the Camden Baptist Church, where he served for five years. Paul also became the Purdue Extension Educator for Agriculture and Natural Resources in Carroll County at that time, and later served in Howard County as an educator and County Extension Director for eight years. During his time as an educator, he served on the founding committee for the Carroll County Ag Association and provided educational programming in Farm Bill economics, served on the Land Lease, and Succession Planning teams. The Land Lease and Succession Planning teams were recognized as outstanding teams by Purdue Extension. Paul also received the Paul B. Crooks award as the outstanding Extension Educator in the entire state in 2016. Paul was a member of the 2018 National Extension Leadership Development class where he spent four weeks traveling to Chicago, Minneapolis, Washington D.C, and Costa Rica with colleagues learning about leadership, diversity, and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. In 2018 he received the Conservationist Award from Howard County SWCD for his work in conserving natural resources.
In 2017 Paul chosen to serve as District Director for the East District for Purdue University Extension. He oversaw the programming of sixty educators in twenty counties. He also was a member of the Extension Leadership Team. Paul retired in September 2019 for two months but was quickly asked to return to campus as the Assistant Program Leader for Agriculture and Natural Resources for Purdue Extension. In this role he provides orientation for new educators and works with educators in farm management and animal science Extension programming.
Paul feels very fortunate for all his opportunities and credits much of this to his family, especially to his wife Terri for all her mentoring and support she has given him. He is grateful to be given this award by his home county where he started his ag career showing swine at the Carroll County 4-H Fair and spending a considerable amount of time on his dad’s 4020 John Deere tractor.
March 03, 2020
