On a Sunday afternoon at the dawn of harvest, Donald and Nadyne Ice were preparing for the next day on the farm near Geary, Okla. Nadyne said she saw her sons, Larry and Jim, finish their work for the day and get their cow dogs and inner tubes ready to go and relax for the night.
After eating dinner that evening, Nadyne said she and Donald were too tired to read the newspaper and decided to go to bed early.
Nadyne said she could see her son Larry’s mobile home across the river bottom, and the lights were on there. She said Larry and Jim were together all the time, and they wanted to tell Larry what was happening to keep him from driving to the wreck site and putting himself in danger.
“Larry wasn’t home,” Nadyne said. “The horses were in the horse trailer hooked to the pickups where the boys left them after roping that afternoon, but no one was there.”
she said.
“I ran toward the wreckage, but they stopped me,” Nadyne said.
She said a few minutes later officials told them four people were in the truck, but they were unable to identify them. Nadyne said Donald told the police he and his wife were almost positive they knew who the victims were.
Jim hit another truck, which had no lights and was parked in the middle of the road. The accident killed Larry and Jim Ice, their cousin Tim Burns and his girlfriend Cathy Love that late spring night.
“Their wish was to carry on the names of Larry and Jim Ice and to memorialize them in some manner at Oklahoma State University, and they wanted to support the OSU Spirit Rider Team,” said Milford Jenkins, senior director of development for the OSU Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources and the OSU Foundation.
“My boys were not the top students, but they were hard-working, fun-loving, caring people,” Nadyne said as a tear rolled down her cheek. “We wanted to honor someone who is like that.”
Nadyne said she and Donald decided to support the OSU Spirit Rider Team because the Ice boys were interested in horses and because the team had no financial support and worked in their spare time.
Three years after the boys were killed, Donald died of a cancerous brain tumor he fought for a little more than six months.
Nadyne said she decided she could manage the farm alone if she sold some big machinery and grazed her crops with cattle, and she was in the bank depositing money when Merrill Burruss came into her life.
Merrill said he was at the Geary bank in early 1992 because his company had just purchased it. He traveled from his office in Kingfisher, Okla., to meet with the Geary branch manager. Merrill said while he was there, the branch manager took him to meet a customer — Nadyne Ice.
“I didn’t know Nadyne or any of the Ice family, but I knew she was the lady who had lost two sons,” Merrill said. “I didn’t know she had lost
her husband.”
She was busy and left quickly. But Merrill said the branch manager took him back to her office and began to tell him about Nadyne’s mother, her sister and other family members and finished the conversation by talking about how beautiful Nadyne was.
“Nadyne did not know me or that my wife had died,” Merrill said. “And the next time I ran into her she tried to sell me something for my wife.”
About a month after that meeting, Nadyne said she had a challenging business situation she did not know how to deal with and called Merrill hoping that he could help.
Merrill said he met Nadyne at her house and they drove together to the farm site she wanted him to look at, but the ground was so wet they could not get off the road.
“We drove back to her house, and about half way, I said ‘Can I call you up and take you out to eat some time?’, but my question surprised her I think,” Merrill said.
He said she hesitated, but he asked again and they set their first date.
“I didn’t intend to marry the first time, and God had been so good, I certainly didn’t intend to push my luck,” Nadyne said.
first met.
“God took care of me in two different ways,” Nadyne said. “Not only did he give me a wonderful husband in Merrill, but he also gave me two sons who had lost their mother.”
Ironically, before Merrill and Nadyne met, Merrill had also provided scholarship support for students in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at OSU.
Merrill and Nadyne said they have a unique idea about who should receive their scholarships.
“There are scholarships for those who do make straight A’s, and there are scholarships for those who need assistance, but many times the middle person is left out of scholarship plans,” Nadyne said.
Merrill said a number of students work their way through school and manage to get decent grades and he feels like those are the people who do the majority of the work in the country and pay the majority of the taxes.
“It’s not that we don’t feel other people can’t come out and be the backbone of the nation, but we know this is proven,” Nadyne said. “They have to work for everything they get.”
Jason Wright, OSU Spirit Rider for the 2002-2003 school year, is one of those people who worked his way through school.
In addition to serving as the Spirit Rider, he worked 20 to 30 hours at the OSU horse farm.
“I worked to pay my bills and a large part of my tuition,” said the 2003 animal science alumnus. “If it wasn’t for my job, I couldn’t have stayed in school at OSU.”
The Elmore City native said he has worked on the farm for a long time building fence and hauling hay.
A recipient of the Larry and Jim Ice Memorial Scholarship, he said he dreamed of being the Spirit Rider as a small child when he watched Bullet run onto the field.
Jason Wright said he worked on the Spirit Rider Team ground crew for a year before becoming the Spirit Rider.
“It gave me a sense of pride in the university, the athletic department and the team,” he said. “I actually felt like I was part of everything that was going on.”
Members of the Spirit Rider Team are not the only ones who have felt
the giving nature of the Burruss family. When Merrill retired from his
position as bank president in 1996, he endowed two scholarships in academic
departments to help other students who are working toward college degrees.
Merrill said he received his bachelor of science in agronomy, now known
as plant and soil sciences. That is where he met Frank Davies, a faculty
member from 1937 to 1971. Davies researched grain sorghum, but Merrill
honored him with a scholarship for the deep impact he had on students’
lives.
“Not only did he mean a lot to me, but he meant a lot to so many
kids, “ Merrill said. “It was all boys in agronomy then, but
he loved every one of us as if we were his sons. That kind of professor
is rare.”
Merrill also endowed a scholarship in the Burruss family name in the OSU
Department of Agricultural Economics after his youngest son, Charlie Burruss,
graduated with a degree in agricultural economics. In addition, Merrill
contributed to the Betty Jo and Daniel D. Badger Scholarship fund in 1991
in response to the impact Badger had on his son’s life.
“The week my youngest son started to college, he found out his mother
had cancer,” Merrill said. “Through good times and bad, Dan
Badger loved Charlie through school.”
Merrill and Nadyne consulted Jenkins regarding their gifts to OSU. Jenkins
said people can choose from a variety of ways to give and meet their needs.
Gifts range from cash donations to life insurance policies, estates and
gift annuities. Depending upon the donor’s wishes, the money can
fund various things including scholarships, classroom facilities, endowed
chairs and professorships.
“Most people think corporate or foundational support comprises the
majority of gifts to OSU, when in all actuality, 60 to 75 percent of charitable
giving to OSU is from individuals,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins said many people choose to give gifts of land or appreciated stock,
which can fund sizeable scholarships or university causes of their choice.
However, one-time gifts of $25 or $100 fund important causes at OSU because
they are often not designated for specific purposes.
“No matter what their resources, donors are people like Merrill and
Nadyne Burruss who are unselfish, very generous, very kind and willing
to give of resources so others will have the opportunity to receive their
education from OSU,” Jenkins said.