1991: Y.D. & Lonnie Hance

Credit: Executive Office of the Governor

Family Name: Hance Family

 Young “Duke” Hance is a seventh generation Calvert County tobacco farmer. Upon returning from the United States Army in 1945, Mr. Hance returned to his family’s 320 acre farm, Taney Place, to grow tobacco and raise feeder cattle along the Patuxent River. Y.D. as he was known to his friends, and his wife, Lonnie, raised three daughters on this farm that had been in his family since 1800. In 1972, Mr. Hance was the first to be appointed as the Maryland Secretary of Agriculture. During his tenure as Secretary, he helped develop the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Program. He was an active member of the Farm Bureau and other agricultural organizations. He was chairman of the Board of Supervisors for Calvert Soil Conservation, president of the Calvert County Farm Bureau, president of the Maryland Farm Bureau in 1965 and chairman of the Maryland Agriculture Commission from 1969 to 1972 and the University Of Maryland Board of Regents. Y.D. returned to his farm again in 1978 to farm in partnership with his youngest daughter Susie, the eighth generation to operate Taney Place Farm. He retired from the farm in 1983, but continued to remain active in Soil Conservation and Farm Bureau. He also served as an outside director on the Southern States Cooperative Corporate Board and Chairman of the Calvert County Board of Appeals. He was a member of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans and Beta Theta Pi fraternity.

Ceremony Date: 2/6/1992