My favorite recipe - Meet Duane and Gayle Mickelsen, Pullman

Jana Mathia | Nov 18, 20100

Living on the farm, Duane Mickelsen felt early stirrings to pursue a career as a veterinarian when he treated animals on days when local vets gave long-distance advice on their days off. Those episodes led to a career which included more than 30 years teaching veterinary medicine at Washington State University.

“I feel like I’ve been married to three different men; a sailor, a farmer and a veterinarian. And they’re all the same man,” said his wife, Gayle.

Duane and Gayle met in high school at Coulee City. After they were married, Duane served in the Navy for four years. Then he went back to raising cattle and wheat.

His joy in helping the animals and his severe allergies led Gayle to suggest he go to veterinarian school. Duane drove 110 miles round trip to get his pre-vet requirements at Wenatchee while continuing to farm full-time. He was accepted into the vet program at WSU and graduated about 40 years ago.

Duane then went into practice in Weiser, Idaho.

“We could have wrote a book on U-haul trailers. We probably moved a dozen times,” Gayle recalled.

Their family includes three daughters and a son.

The moving stopped when Duane was offered a job at WSU. They moved to Pullman and stayed.

While in Whitman County, Duane did work for the late Alvene Leinweber of Diamond. Leinweber wanted to cross breed his Herefords.

Duane recommended Pinzgauer cattle. At the time the breed was fairly new to the United States, although it was an old breed in Europe.

Alvene liked the breed and ended up giving Duane a Pinzgauer heifer to show his appreciation for all his work. That was the beginning of Duane’s herd. He and Gayle went on to show Pinzgauers for almost 30 years at state fairs and shows.

“We’ve had animals for a long time,” he said, noting back to his childhood and farming days when he raised Polled Hereford cattle and Poland Chinas swine. Cattle were a big part of their lives for many years.

Cattle have also been a soothing factor in their lives. Gayle recalled after the 9/11 attacks, they felt peace and safety around cows.

“No matter what happens, cows just do their own thing,” she said.

After Duane underwent open heart surgery, he spent time out in the field with the cattle and found it therapeutic.

Duane used to tell his students about a time he was in Los Angeles and did not feel safe. If given the choice between walking through downtown L.A. or through a pen of rodeo bulls, he would choose the bulls any day.

After Duane’s first retirement from teaching bovine reproduction at WSU, he worked another eight years part-time. Even after full retirement, he still works with cattle.

When he and Gayle were showing their cattle, the vets at the fairs often had been students of his at one time. Local vets and teachers at WSU also used to be his students.

Gayle does a lot of canning and preserving. She picked up the habit of stock piling food when they lived on the farm which was 13 miles out of town.

Even though they don’t have to worry now about getting to a store, she still stocks plenty of food for them and other family members that might need it.

They are starting to host grandchildren who are studying at WSU. Gayle also likes to visit family members at Wenatchee.

Duane and Gayle like to travel and have visited places like Israel, Japan and Hawaii. When state-side, they like to take the backroads on their travels.

Although the cattle were sold last spring, neither Duane nor Gayle is slowing down much.

Recipes:

Mushroom Broccoli Salad

Mix: 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp. Salt, 1 tsp. paprika, 1 tsp. celery seed, 1 Tbsp onion powder, 1 cup oil and 1/4-1/2 cup vinegar. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Clean and cup up mushrooms, broccoli and 1-2 bunches of green onions. Add dressing to veggies to marinate, turning often to mix.

Chicken Almond Casserole

2 cups cooked chicken, cut up

2 cups cooked rice

1 med. onion, chopped

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 cup of favorite mayonnaise

1 1/2 cups finely chopped celery

potato chips or croutons, crushed

Combine the soups, mayonnaise, lemon juice and salt. Then add chicken, rice, onion, celery and almonds. Mix together well and put into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Refrigerate over night. Then top with crushed chips or croutons. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes and bubbly.

Pear Pie

Slice ripe pears into an unbaked pie shell in pie pan.

Mix: 1 cup heavy cream, 1 cup sugar, 3 Tbsp. flour. Pour mixture over pears in pie shell. Sprinkle cinnamon over top of pears. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until center is done (knife comes our clean).

Pumpkin Cookies, eggless

2 cups brown sugar

2 cups pumpkin

1 cup oil

2 tsp. vanilla

4 cups flour

2 tsp. soda

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. ginger

1 cup nuts

1 tsp each: salt, cinnamon, nutmeg

Mix sugar, pumpkin, oil and vanilla. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Drop by tablespoon on cookies sheet and bake a 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Put in closed container to keep soft and moist. Can also frost with your favorite frosting.