UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN River Falls

University Advancement

Greg and Donnette Wheelock Story

The Greg and Donnette Wheelock Agriculture Scholarship

On a fall day in 1980, UW-River Falls sophomore Donnette Wheelock went to her mailbox in Stratton Hall and found what she considered a major mistake. It was a receipt for her tuition, housing and food expenses for the following two quarters.

“I had paid for the first quarter and the bill was coming up for the second and third quarters,” she said. “There was a receipt saying that everything had been paid including tuition, food and dorm fees.”

She checked with the university, which confirmed that no mistake had taken place. Rather, someone had inquired  what her expenses were going to be and paid for them. The donor wanted to remain anonymous, and remains so.

“To this day we have no idea who it was,” said Greg Wheelock, Donnette's husband and fellow UW-River Falls alumnus. “That got us thinking, let’s…”

“Pay it forward,” Donnette added.

So the Wheelocks recently provided the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences with multiple gifts to provide scholarships for full-time CAFES students.

It was in 1985 when Greg, an employee at an agriculture finance firm, began working in the area of crop insurance. In 1990, he formed the family business, Crop Insurance Services. It has grown, in Donnette’s words, exponentially.

Based in Mankato, Minn., the service provides risk management information using such techniques as GPS mapping for clients, and Greg is actively consulted by local and national academic and business interests on issues affecting crop insurance.

“We started with nothing, and we’re a very successful crop insurance agency in the Midwest,” Donnette said.  “Greg is looked at as one of the experts in the area. He does a lot of networking in the Ag field and really stays current with the issues out there. Farmers can rely on him to present to them what’s most relevant. And with crop insurance being a federal program, things are constantly changing.”

Their hope in providing the scholarship is that other River Falls students get to experience the kind of rewarding future they've enjoyed after leaving River Falls.

The two have already included the university in their estate planning, but they added the scholarship as a way to make things happen faster. 

“There are others who could benefit from money sooner rather than later,” Greg said. 

Greg and Donnette Wheelock
Greg Wheelock, '83
Donnette Wheelock, '84


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