Krista Marie Comstock

I am honoring six generations of strong-minded Iowa women with either the name Pippert or Comstock. All are related to me.

The first three women -- my great great grandma, great grandma and grandma -- are Pipperts and they are significant to me in many ways. They were all farmers in northern Iowa and their names appear in the Dedication of a book I edited published by Iowa State University Press called "Is There a Moral Obligation to Save the Family Farm?"

The fourth woman, my mother, was a Pippert until she married Roy Comstock, my father. Her name, Marie Pippert Comstock, represents the union of the Pippert and Comstock lines. She grew up on the family farm near Nora Springs, Iowa and graduated from Nora Springs High.

The fifth woman, Karen Werner Comstock, is my wife. I dedicated another book "Vexing Nature? On the ethical case against agricultural biotechnology" to her as follows: "To my beautiful Norwegian beloved: quilt designer, teacher and author; actor, administrator, punster; mother and wife extraordinaire. Seemingly never vexed, she makes us laugh. Jeg elsker deg."

The sixth woman is our daughter, Krista Marie Comstock, named for her grandmother, graduate of Roosevelt Elementary and Ames High School (2001).