Duane Calvin Acker was born in Atlantic, Iowa on March 13, 1931. He graduated from Iowa State University with an M.S. in 1953. He then moved to Oklahoma State University where he instructed in Animal Husbandry until 1955 when he returned to Iowa State University as an Assistant Professor of Animal Science. In 1957 he received his Ph.D. in animal nutrition from Oklahoma State University. Acker was hired as the Associate Dean of the College of Agriculture at Kansas State University from 1962-1966. From 1974 to 1975 he became Vice Chancellor for Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Then he returned to KSU filling the office of president until 1986. During Acker’s term construction on campus was a major focus and many new buildings were built on campus. He supported the building of Bramlage and constructed halls like Durland and Bluemont. A controversial point in Acker’s presidency lies in his support of razing Nichols Gym, which now stands as the rededicated Nichols Hall. Acker received status as President Emeritus before departing the K-State presidency. After leaving KSU he moved to many state positions until settling down near his hometown in 1993. Acker later published a novel in 2010 about his life in the KSU presidency, “Two at a Time”.

Lucille Edith Byarlay Abel was born July 5, 1909 in Green, Clay County, Kansas. She was the middle daughter of Guy Hamilton and (Maria) Anna (Heinen) Byarlay, and graduated from Leonardville High School in Leonardville, Kansas. She taught at Kansas county schools in Clay and Riley counties until her marriage to Orval Jack Abel in 1935. Lucille Byarlay Abel died May 21, 1993, in Clay Center, Kansas.
Guy Byarlay’s family traced their origins to the arrival of Michael Beyerle, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from Rotterdam, Netherlands, on September 5, 1730. Anna Heinen’s father came to the United States from Germany in 1853 and her mother arrived from Germany in 1855. They met in Illinois and were married in 1868. They came to central Kansas in 1872.
Lucille Byarlay was born with an eye birth defect and was blind in one eye. She suffered from frequent migraines and took the train often to Kansas City, Missouri, for eye doctor appointments. She graduated from Leonardville High School, and taught in Kansas county schools in Clay and Riley counties until her marriage to Orval Jack Abel in 1935. Orval J. Abel was born April 21, 1909 in Emmett, Kansas, and died May 1, 1966 in Clay Center, Kansas. Byarlay attended summer sessions at Kansas State Agricultural College during the summer break in the late 1920s. In the 1930s she enrolled in summer school at Kansas State College, and met Orval during that time while he also was attending school.

<emph render='underline'>Chronology</emph>
1909  April 21, Orval Jack Abel born in Emmett, Kansas
1909  July 5, Lucille Edith Byarlay born in Green, Kansas
1927  Lucille Byarlay graduated high school in Leonardville, Kansas
1927  Orval Abel graduated from high school in Silver Lake, Kansas
1928  Lucille Byarlay taught at Union School, Riley County, Kansas
1928  Summer, Lucille Byarlay attended classes at Kansas State Agricultural College
1930  Lucille Byarlay taught at “Q” (Pleasant Valley), Clay County, Kansas
1930  Summer, Lucille Byarlay attended classes at Kansas State Agricultural College
1935  Lucille Byarlay married Orval Abel
1935  Orval Abel graduated from Kansas State College
1966  May 1, Orval Abel died in Clay Center, Kansas
1993  May 21, Lucille Byarlay died in Clay Center, Kansas