HELLO, my name is Hugh Chester-Jones
Hometown: Liverpool, England
When did you join UMRA? I became a member in June 2020.
What was your very first job? My first job, as a teenager, was helping family in Penmorfa, North Wales, construct a driveway.
What was your occupation when you retired? I retired from full-time work at age 73 as a full professor of animal science at the University of Minnesota Southern Research and Outreach Center in Waseca.
Where were you when you first learned of the Watergate break-in in 1972? I was at my workplace, Taylor Nelson Associates, an ag market research agency near London, U.K.
If you were an Olympic athlete, what would you like your sport to be?
I would like it to be men's field hockey, which I enjoyed in the U.K. for many years.
Do you have a favorite place on the U of M campus? Magrath Library on the campus in St. Paul. I spent many fascinating hours there.
What is a fun fact about you we might not know? When I returned to university in 1976 [after working on a dairy farm] at the University of Massachusetts, I and a few European colleagues who had field hockey experience decided to challenge the UMass Minutewomen varsity team to a game. They were good sports, so we played a full game, but they were somewhat cross at us as we won 2-0. Did not happen again!!
What is something you currently enjoy doing with your time? Besides re-charging my health batteries, I enjoy the fact that my wife of 47 years, Ann Chester-Jones, and I have just moved from Waseca to live with our two young grandkids and my youngest daughter and husband in Eden Prairie to enjoy the challenges of a daily routine. I also enjoy watching soccer and other sports, plus reading. I hope to continue supporting some aspect of animal science.