"Dr. (Clair) Blikre wanted to start this department so he sent word to UND to post on the bulletin boards," Plummer said. "I questioned why he would want someone from an education background to be in the purchasing department. After one or two years I understood."
Blikre had a vision to develop the purchasing department to compliment the educational needs of the college, Plummer said. As an educator, he was able to better understand what professors needed in the classroom as opposed to someone just getting the best deal.
  
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During his first year Plummer doubted whether he made the right choice to leave teaching. He said he would walk past the classrooms in Hektner Hall, listen to the teachers and yearn to be back at the podium. But, he soon realized the importance of his position and was happy he chose that career path.
Throughout the years, Plummer worked closely with others to form the higher education purchasing consortium. This group helped buyers at all colleges in the state get better deals on mass amounts of items they all needed like cell phones or computers.
One particularly exciting moment in his career was when NDSCS received $1 million worth of equipment from the U.S. government. When the anti-ballistic missile base closed in Nekoma, N.D., the college and Richland County received updated equipment from the base for free.
Besides his effort to keep education as fruitful as possible, Plummer and his brother, Gene, bought land just north of 16th Avenue North in Wahpeton in 1971 to develop a mobile home park. The brothers had another plot in mind, but after some insight from the city council, they chose the current spot where Sunset Trailer Court sits.
"Plans to start a mobile home park brought Gene here too," Plummer said, who moved to Wahpeton in 1968.
Plummer and his brother had lived in mobile homes before and knew what they wanted to offer to tenants. So they contracted the city engineer to draw up and approve building plans.
"We started the day after July 4 and had the park done at the end of August," Plummer said.
Because the summer had been so dry, contractors were able to finish the work quickly. When Wahpeton zoned the area, Plummer said he and his brother had the city zone the southeast corner for business. In 1977, Gene started a Stop-N-Go gas station and later both brothers developed the strip mall. The Plummer brothers still own and run Sunset Trailer Court.
When Plummer retired from NDSCS in 1999, he was looking forward to some free time.
"We joked about him looking forward to retirement, but two weeks later he was busier than he was before," said Plummer's son, Vince.
Plummer is currently a member of Wahpeton Rotary, is on the United Way of Richland-Wilkin board and is a mentor with the Richland-Wilkin Kinship Program.
"I feel it’s my way to give back to the community for how good the community has been to me over the years," Plummer said. "It's most of my time."
He is also active in his church, Evergreen United Methodist Church where he has taught Sunday school and helped on various boards. He has also been instrumental in the church's live nativity scene at Christmas.
In the 1980s, when his son, Vince, was on the hockey team, Plummer was instrumental in the Wahpeton Hockey Association. At the time, the hockey team only had an outdoor rink. A couple large donations and a lot of fundraising made it possible to build the Ella Stern and Harry Stern Sports Arena. Plummer helped by volunteering on the fundraising and building committees.
"It was kind of a major focus for him when I was in high school," Vince Plummer said.
Vince also works at NDSCS as a counselor, but he said his father's legacy continues. He said he hears a lot of good comments from various employees about Plummer's time at the college.
"Dad is happy to see me at the college in his absence," Vince Plummer said.
One service Plummer believes benefits the population is the Rotary Blood Screening. For six years, he's helped organize the screening, which is offered at a fraction of what it would cost if patients went through a hospital or clinic. The screenings check for numerous anomalies patients may not know they have.
"It's helping the people in the community with unknown health issues by detecting them," Plummer said.
Merlin Beto, a fellow Rotarian, said Plummer has kept the blood screening afloat.
"If it wasn't for Carmen I'm not sure it would have continued," Beto said. "He's kept it going (and) the success of it is due to his planning... to see the small details go through."
For his years of service not only as an employee at NDSCS but through his volunteer efforts, Plummer received the Mark Werre Award for community service in 2008. He also received Rotarian of the Year in 2006.
The Rotarian motto is, "Service above self." According Beto's nomination, Plummer exemplifies this motto through his work in the community. Plummer remembers being perplexed the day he received the award because his wife, Jeanette, and Vince accompanied him to the Rotary meeting. When Beto announced Plummer received the Mark Werre Award, he instantly knew why his family attended.
Along with volunteerism, Plummer continues to substitute teach at area schools and has no plans to stop. He enjoys his time serving the community and spending time with his family — Plummer and his wife have three children: Vince, Vanessa and Valerie. Beto described Plummer as a "devoted, loving husband, father, grandfather and friend."
mg wrote on Mar 11, 2010 3:16 PM: