Walter D. Behlen*
Class of 1968
- Chairman Behlen Manufacturing Company
Getting a good education will go a long way toward future success.
Walter D. Behlen was the second of nine children born on a subsistence farm outside Columbus, Nebraska. He spoke only German until he was eight years old and hauled the town's trash to earn money.
Because of an illness, Behlen did not receive his high school diploma until he was 23. In his early twenties, he started the Behlen Manufacturing Company in Columbus. Until 1945, the company sustained itself by fabricating egg case lid fasteners, steel caps for shoes, and aircraft parts. Later, it began producing farm products such as wagon dumpers, corn cribs, and grain dryers.
Behlen became board chairman of the company, which by 1967 had sales of more than $19 million. His hobby was nuclear energy. In 1946, Behlen wrote a letter to Washington outlining how a hydrogen bomb could be devised.