Willie Veal, of Branford, gets surprised when walks into a room filled with current FFA members and many of his former students as well as family and friends, to learn he will be receiving a Florida FFA State Honorary Degree. Pictured with him is Stacy Young. Young sent the nomination letter in on his behalf.

Willie Veal, of Branford, walked into the agriculture classroom at Branford High School early Friday afternoon expecting to help the agriculture teacher and Future Farmers of America advisor Stacy Young fix the welder.

Little did he know, that he was going to be told the news that he was going to receive his Florida FFA State Honorary degree in the mail. It wasn’t just Young there to share the news, the room was filled with current FFA members and many of his former students as well as family and friends.  

“We did not feel that it was appropriate for you to find out by a letter next week in the mail, so I called the state FFA office and got permission to tell you that you are receiving your Florida FFA State Honorary Degree,” Stacy Young, agriculture teacher and FFA advisor, said.

Veal humbly accepted the honor and thanked everyone but stated that what he does to help the students and FFA out is not about the degree. To which Young quickly added “well we know you didn’t that’s why we think it is so special.”

Young then had to confess “the welder’s not broken, I lied.”

“Well I need to use it,” Veal said with a smile.

One of the teachers in the room asked for a show of hands who had Veal as a teacher.

As hands shot up in the air, Veal said, “I tried to treat everyone the same. I thank God I came to Suwannee County and I taught in Branford. It’s a compliment to you students and your parents.”

“There wasn’t a bad student in Branford, and those that wanted to be, didn’t know how,” Veal said with a smile.

In Young’s nomination letter she stated that Veal has been a mentor to her this year.

“As a former agriculture teacher, he knows what type of advice to offer and how to handle tough situations. Sometimes, the answer isn’t what I wanted to hear but I have learned he is always right,” Young wrote. “There are many people in our community that feels Mr. Veal deserves this honor.  Mr. Veal continues to promote agriculture education and the FFA.  He did not quit promoting the organization when he retired from being a state officer or when he retired from teaching.”

Veal has also been very instrumental in helping out the youth in the community. Each year, he offers students the opportunity to raise a steer even, if the child cannot afford to purchase an animal, by preparing a contract and selling the child a steer. After the child has sold the steer at the show, the child then pays Veal back.  

According to Veal, it teaches the student responsibilities and lessons about loans and obligations.  To this date, every child has fulfilled his or her contract with him. Many students have taken Veal up on this opportunity. Young said he usually buys at least one of the steers at the show and sale.

Veal is a Branford FFA alumni member and an active member of the Seasoned OWLS of Florida, which is mostly comprised of retired agricultural educators.

According to the Seasoned OWLS of Florida website, they have “6,000 years of teaching experience that have taught millions of students in Florida with real-life cultural practices in agriculture and leadership training experiences through the FFA organization.”

Veal has been involved with agriculture for more than 51 years. He worked for the Suwannee County School District from 1974-2002 teaching classes such as vocational agriculture instructor, science, physics, chemistry and mathematics. Prior to coming to Suwannee County Veal served as Chapter President Pahokee, Florida FFA Chapter and served as Florida State Vice President 6th District from 1961 to 1962. Veal was in the United States Marine Corps from 1962 to 1964. Veal then graduated from the University of Florida in 1966. In 1967, Veal was the assistant instructor of vocational agriculture at Pahokee High School. He was a partner in Veal Cattle Company with his Father Willie N. Veal Sr. and Brother James F. Veal. His last career before coming to Suwannee County was working for South Puerto Rican Sugar Company, later Gulf Western Life, supervising and advising of farming operations in sugar cane, as well as, vegetable crops around Lake Okeechobee Glades Region. In 1970, Veal joined the Farm Bureau Insurance Agency in Live Oak until he joined the school district in 1974.