George E. Staples
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George E. Staples (born November 2, 1918 in
Kanosh, Utah Kanosh ( ) is a town in Millard County, Utah, United States. The population was 474 at the 2010 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.9 square miles (2.2 km2), all land. Cli ...
) was a
veterinary Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...
researcher in animal nutrition and diarrheal treatment, and the author of three publications of the
Cooperative Extension Service The Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) was an extension agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), part of the executive branch of the federal government. The 1994 Department Reorganization Act, ...
,
North Dakota State University North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota. It was founded as North Dakota Agricultural College in 1890 as t ...
. This particular research contributed to the improvement of the livestock industry in the area from the early 1970s to mid-1980s.


Early life

He was the great-grandson of English immigrant George Staples (1834–1890), the adopted
Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...
who is widely credited for making south central Utah hospitable for settlers by befriending many tribes in the area, including
Pahvant Pahvant (''Pavant, Parant, Pahva-nits'') was a band of Ute people that lived in present-day Utah. Called the "Water People", they fished and hunted waterfowl. They were also farmers and hunter-gatherers. In the 18th century they were known to be f ...
Ute Chief Kanosh, for whom the town was named. The wife of the original George Staples, Lauraette Rappleye Staples (1840-1916) had died less than two years before his birth, but had so trained the mid-wife who delivered him (and many of the others with medical training in the area) with folk remedies she had learned from the local Utes and numerous pioneer companies in crossing the plains which she and her mother had provided medical assistance a decade before arriving in Kanosh that the birth was uneventful even during the peak of the
1918 influenza pandemic The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...
. Staples growing up years were likewise unremarkable for any of his contemporaries growing up at the time—much farm work and local schooling in Kanosh and nearby Millard High School in the county seat of
Fillmore, Utah Fillmore is a city and the county seat of Millard County, Utah, United States. The population was 2,435 at the 2010 United States Census. It is named for the thirteenth President of the United States, US President Millard Fillmore, who was in of ...
. He attended
Utah State Agricultural College Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...
at
Logan, Utah Logan is a city in Cache County, Utah, United States. The 2020 census recorded the population was 52,778. Logan is the county seat of Cache County and the principal city of the Logan metropolitan area, which includes Cache County and Franklin ...
, produced unremarkable grades, and left early to serve as a missionary of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
(LDS Church) in
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and
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from 1939 to 1941, arriving back home in late November of that year. Like so many others of his generation, Staples joined the military shortly after the
Pearl Harbor Attack The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...
in December 1941 and, after failing to get into the Naval Air Corps, was accepted in Officer Candidate School, served on various vessels for short durations in training and was finally assigned to the as communications officer until the end of the
Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...
. Following his discharge, he graduated from
Utah State Agricultural College Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...
at
Logan, Utah Logan is a city in Cache County, Utah, United States. The 2020 census recorded the population was 52,778. Logan is the county seat of Cache County and the principal city of the Logan metropolitan area, which includes Cache County and Franklin ...
with a B.S. in Animal Science, went on to South Dakota State College of Agricultural & Mechanical Arts at
Brookings, South Dakota Brookings is a city in Brookings County, South Dakota, Brookings County, South Dakota, United States. Brookings is South Dakota's List of cities in South Dakota, fourth largest city, with a population of 23,377 at the 2020 United States census, 20 ...
for his Master's Degree and finally to
Colorado A&M Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...
at
Ft. Collins, Colorado Fort Collins is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Larimer County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 169,810 at the 2020 census, an increase of 17.94% since 2010. Fort Collin ...
for his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine. He worked in private practice at
Afton, Wyoming Afton is a town in Lincoln County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 1,911 at the 2010 census. Afton is home to the world's largest arch made of elk antlers. Spanning across the four lanes of U.S. Highway 89, the arch consists of 3,011 ...
for a few years before landing a field position with the
U.S. Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...
where he was able to work out of his hometown of Kanosh during the peak of the atomic testing in the late 1950s, by which time his family had grown to four sons and a daughter. However, by the end of that decade, some people in that area begin to show symptoms of radiation poisoning and Staples felt it prudent to move his family out in the summer of 1960. The fifth Staples son was born shortly after that move, but died in infancy. His sixth and last son was born in
Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ; Kansa language, Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the Capital (political), capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the County seat, seat of Shawnee County, Kansas, Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the ...
in 1962, where the family had relocated for his employment with Morris Research Laboratories, pioneers in pet nutrition and now part of the
Hill's Pet Nutrition Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc., marketed simply as "Hill's", is an American pet food company that produces dog and cat foods. The company is a subsidiary of Colgate-Palmolive. History Hill's Pet Nutrition was founded in the spring of 1907 by Bur ...
Group. Staples' work in the relatively new field attracted the attention of North Dakota State University. He was hired and made the move there December 29, 1964. His unique experience in private practice, USDA field work with livestock diseases and pioneering research in pet nutrition was used to improve the livestock industry in North Dakota. At least one notorious trafficker in diseased cattle was put out of business by the techniques Staples shared in early disease detection and treatment of livestock diseases, particularly calf scours. A major breakthrough to treatment of the disease was put on the market through Staples research shortly after publication of his 1982 publication ''Calf scours: Causes, prevention, treatment''. However, the ingredients were so simple and inexpensive that none of the major pharmaceutical companies felt it profitable to market commercially.


Illness and death

Shortly before his retirement from the university, Staples was diagnosed with
myelofibrosis Primary myelofibrosis (PMF) is a rare bone marrow blood cancer. It is classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a type of myeloproliferative neoplasm, a group of cancers in which there is growth of abnormal cells in the bone marrow. ...
from radiation exposure during his USDA field work more than a quarter century earlier. His eldest son died at age 32 in 1983, Staples died in 1993 and his second son died from the same type of illness in 2003 at age 51.


Selected publications

*
Co-authored article on Digestion Trials (Journal of Animal Science), 1951
*
Selecting healthy baby calves (Circular A-566), 1971
* The calf scour problem (Circular A-527 Rev), 1973 * Calf scours: Causes, prevention, treatment (AS-776), 1982 {{DEFAULTSORT:Staples, George E. 1918 births Utah State University alumni Colorado State University alumni South Dakota State University alumni 1993 deaths People from Afton, Wyoming