Note to Editors: Adapted from the Kansas Profile radio series, this column profiles a different Kansan, Kansas community or Kansas-based company every Wednesday, as a regular feature of the K-State Research and Extension News  lineup. A photo of Ron Wilson is available at  http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/news/sty/RonWilson.htm.

Released: March 28, 2007

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” That statement makes me think of Dr. David Mugler, a longtime higher education leader from rural Kansas whose caring attitude had a sweeping impact on thousands of students - including me. 

Dr. David Mugler retired in 1998 as associate dean of agriculture and director of academic programs for the K-State College of Agriculture. Dr. Mugler was always known for caring about students.

Dave Mugler grew up on a farm in Clay County near Oak Hill, Kansas, population 35 people. Now, that's rural.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education from K-State and a master’s at Wisconsin. He taught agriculture in Salina and then came back to K-State as a faculty member, earned his Ph.D. and worked his way up to become associate dean in 1981. He served as president of faculty senate, was Blue Key advisor for 20 years, and won numerous teaching awards.

For example, in 1972 he was honored by the National Association of Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture. His letters of recommendation spoke of his “genuine concern to not only teach knowledge from a text, but to incorporate a personal interest in challenging each student.”  Another wrote, “It is his out-of-class interest in his students that further sets him apart.”

When Dr. Mugler retired, he began a Bible study for student leaders in his home. He was already very active in his church, the Gideons organization, and the Fellowship of Christian Farmers. Dave and his wonderful wife Lois were enjoying their family time with grandchildren.

Then came September 23, 2006. Dave was watching the K-State football game on television when he felt a shock in his chest. He called for Lois and she said, “We’re calling 911.”  Dave says he doesn’t remember this, but he walked to the ambulance.

At the hospital they ran a battery of tests and found nothing wrong. Their son Mark, who had come to the hospital by this time, is a medical first responder himself. Mark said, “Run one more test on his heart.”  When the technician ran the dye test, he turned white. He saw what had been undetected in the earlier tests: Dr. Mugler had a torn aorta, which could break at any time and he could bleed to death in 30 seconds.

The technician said, “This man needs surgery immediately.” He located a heart surgeon in Wichita and arranged for a helicopter life flight there. Dr. Mugler says with a smile, “They put me in the helicopter, but they wouldn’t even fly over the stadium so I could see the game.”

Thirty minutes later they were in Wichita where Dr. Mugler was prepared for surgery.  The surgeon opened his chest cavity and then it happened: The aorta broke. One man told me that if it had happened one minute sooner, Dr. Mugler wouldn’t have made it. But the surgeon acted quickly and saved his life. Eight hours of surgery ensued.

Still, the damage to the aorta took its toll. Dave suffered three strokes and the doctors worried that he might have suffered irreparable brain damage.He did not regain consciousness properly after the surgery, and for two long weeks he was in a coma and on life support.

But Lois and the family kept a vigil and people all over the country were praying for him.  After 14 days he started to awaken. He eventually regained his breathing and brain function. Now he is back in his home in Manhattan with Lois, where he is undergoing physical therapy and is happy and healthy like his old self. In my opinion, it is a modern miracle.

“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” How fitting that this phrase had been on display in Dr. Mugler´s office. We’re thankful Dr. David Mugler made a difference in the lives of a whole generation of students with his knowledge and caring, and we’re grateful for his new lease on life. On behalf of all his former students, we want him to know how much we care.

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K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus in Manhattan.

For more information:
The Huck Boyd Institute is at 785-532-7690 or rwilson@ksu.edu

K-State Research and Extension