About

Growing up on the farm was, in retrospect, the coolest thing ever! At the time though is a different story. It was mostly fun until about age 12 when I started working with Dad. At that age there was not much heavy labor or long hours. That changed when I got my drivers license at age 14. That’s not to say I didn’t have chores. I had to carry a bucket of water from the well to the house at age six and take care of my tractors in the sandbox which was an old metal wheel from an old tractor and was about four feet in diameter.

We believed in God, I mean how could one not when you put a seed in the ground in the fall then in the spring the black dirt was green with new growing plants! We did not attend church regularly, well it was regular if every Easter and Mother’s Day can be called regular, we did not miss those Sundays lest we face the wrath of Mom. Dad didn’t like going to church because he never knew when to clap. I didn’t like it because I knew God would not recognize me all dressed up. We did not work Sundays, except when crops needed harvesting, livestock needed feed, equipment needed fixin’, fields needed plowing or planting. There were lots of exceptions. The hired help were the first to get Sunday off, I was last. The black dirt mentioned earlier is true, the Kaw Valley dirt is a rich, deep, dark, shiny, black, and is some of the most fertile land in the US.

I was taught to honor God and country, respect others, mind those in authority, (especially Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, and relatives), help others in need, always tell the truth, return anything borrowed in better condition (full gas tank, etc) than when it was borrowed, and shake hands like a man, not like a wet dishrag. These lessons were never emphasized with a spanking although Dad always threatened to use his belt on me. The threat was enough to put the fear of God in me. Even worse was the knowledge that I would disappoint him. But the most important thing I learned and Dad repeated this often; “Think for yourself”. He would regularly emphasize his point by saying, “Your head is up there for more than just good looks”.