Greer remembered for mentorship, love of science, and good insect memes
“From my friend Amanda, we can take one final lesson: to be strong, steadfast in your tasks, and ensure that you spend time and enjoy the ones you love as much as you can.” — Daniel Rivera
By Mary Hightower
U of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
Fast facts
- Greer served as instructor and diagnostician in Hope
- Worked as Lafayette County agent, staff chair
(774 words)
(Newsrooms: With portrait of Greer, file photo)
HOPE, Ark. — Amanda Greer is being remembered for her love of family, science and
a good insect meme. By Mary Hightower. 780 words. With portrait of Greer, file photo
Greer, born in Warren, passed away Feb. 19 following a battle with cancer.
Agriculture was her life. She farmed and worked as a cotton scout and crop consultant in the 1990s. In 2006, she joined the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture as a Chicot County extension agent, moving later to Lafayette County, first as an agent, then as staff chair. Between her time in Chicot and Lafayette counties, Greer also worked as a program technician at the former Southeast Research and Extension Center in Monticello.
In 2018, she started as lab manager for the Arkansas Nematode Diagnostic Lab, based at the Southwest Research and Extension Center in Hope.
Kim Rowe, Hempstead County extension agent, knew Greer for two decades and said she looked to Greer for her expertise in weed identification, plant diseases, and insect and nematode problems.
“She was always patient with me busting up in her lab,” Rowe said. “She would confidently solve any mystery, no matter how much time it took.
“While I will certainly miss her mentorship and assistance professionally, mostly I will miss my friend who loved quality insect memes, photos of lichens, and trying exotic foods,” Rowe said.
Daniel Rivera, director of the Southwest Research and Extension Center, said Greer was a private person, but could be gregarious once she got to know someone.
“She was warm, witty, funny, generous with her time, and thoroughly enjoyed working in the nematode lab,” Rivera said. “She always took time to educate me about nematodes, and she was that way with anyone who came to visit the lab. From kids to state senators, all were taught equally! Her eyes would light up when they would find out something new or neat. She just loved the science.
“She felt a responsibility to ag producers, the Division of Agriculture, and the lab, and took great pride in the work the lab put out,” Rivera added. “Amanda was the living embodiment of our core values.”
Rivera said Greer would also light up when she spoke of her daughter, and “Amanda loved talking about Dakota's accomplishments.”
Greer was also a diehard Razorback fan who loved to go to the games with her husband, William, and daughter Dakota.
“From my friend Amanda, we can take one final lesson: to be strong, steadfast in your tasks, and ensure that you spend time and enjoy the ones you love as much as you can,” Rivera said.
Terry Kirkpatrick, who oversaw the nematode lab before retiring and recommended Greer for the job, having been her adviser through her master’s studies and had seen her at work as an extension agent.
Her success as an extension educator was because “she was a teacher at heart,” Kirkpatrick said. “It took her about 15 minutes to win over the farmers in Lafayette County, because she was out there with them.
“She might show up at suppertime on a Friday night at a farmer’s house and say, ‘I just walked through your rice field and you’ve got blast and you probably need to think about spraying that first of next week’,” Kirkpatrick said. “She was just Johnny-on-the-spot and she’d take them out there to look for blast or root knot nematodes, or whatever the disease of the week was.”
“Quietly and not in the headlines, she had a significant impact through all the things she did,” Kirkpatrick said.
Ken Korth, head of the entomology and plant pathology department for the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences and the Division of Agriculture, said “we were so fortunate that Amanda was able to take on the leadership position at the nematode diagnostic lab.
“Her expertise and approach made her an outstanding diagnostician. I think her strong performance truly benefited from a broad background in agriculture, having served as a county agent and working on the family farm,” Korth said. “Amanda earned her master’s degree in our department working under the direction of Dr. Terry Kirkpatrick. It was especially enjoyable to have one of our alumni back working as a colleague.”
Jerri Dew, Lafayette County extension staff chair, said that Greer was highly respected in the row crop community.
“Many Lafayette County farmers still had close ties to her and consulted with her regularly,” Dew said. “When I came to work in Lafayette County, Amanda helped me more than any other person in extension. She is going to be sorely missed by a lot of people.”
Greer is survived by her husband of 22 years, William "Shotgun” Greer, and daughter, Dakota Greer.
A visitation and funeral service were held in Lake Village.
To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @AgInArk.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on three campuses.
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs to all eligible persons without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.
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Media contact: Mary Hightower
mhightower@uada.edu