Farmers Helping Farmers in Western Iowa in the 1950s
In recent weeks in our Hometown Weekly Newspaper, the Coon Rapids Enterprise, Coon Rapids, Iowa, where we grew up, in the Years Ago
section, Charlie Nixon has been sharing photos of groups of local Iowa
farmers who were helping out with the corn picking harvest of a neighbor
who was sick or injured. Among perhaps a half-dozen of these to date,
two of have my dad and my wife’s dad in the photo. I’ll share these
here. These were the friends, family, and neighbors I grew up with as a
teenager. What fun!! ;-)
This first group has my dad, Leverne Smith, though he and my uncle Orin, side by side are named wrong in the photo... the two are switched... in the third row.
(Click on the image to see enlarged view, of course!)
COON RAPIDS ENTERPRISE - THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2018 PAGE 5
FRIENDS PICK BOISE
MCLAUGHLIN’S CORN
OCT. 1953
Friends gathered at Boise McLaughlin’s farm northeast of Coon Rapids on October 21, 1953 to crib and pick his corn as a good neighbor act since Boise had been ill. Nine pickers were furnished by the men, who picked and cribbed nearly 30 acres in about three hours.
Left to right: Bert Justice, Paul Hufferd, Daryle Hilgenberg, Harry Schultz, Harold Grim,
Bernice McLaughlin, Ted Jacobsen.
Second row: Don Lewis, Kenneth Betts, Rex Lewis, Harold Ford, Eli Rees, Wayne
Cashatt, Orel Thomas, Arnold Thomas, Marvin Penfold, Delbert Ford, Don Williams.
Third row: Floyd Kretzinger, Dean Jacobsen, Orrin Hilgenberg, LaVerne Smith, Frank Clayburg,
Boise McLaughlin, Delton Schultz.
Women who helped serve lunch were Mrs. Arnold Thomas, Mrs. Paul Hufferd, Mrs. Bernice McLaughlin, Mrs.
Don Williams, Miss Irene Jacobsen, and Mrs. Delbert Ford.
This one has Nancy's Dad, Glen Bolger, front row, clear to the right...
COON RAPIDS ENTERPRISE - THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2018 PAGE 5
We’re still featuring neighborly harvest photos and remain amazed at the number of farmers compared to today. This photo dates back 62 years. Friends and neighbors picked corn at the Mrs. William J. Lee farm home north of Coon Rapids on October 15, 1956.
Standing from left: Jerry Bull, Elmer Lund, Roy Raines, Harold Johnson, Keith Lee, Delton Schulze, Max Tuel, Warren Moller, Conrad Lawrence, Rev. J.D. Stanley; Pete Vonnahme, Roy Fick, Raymond Franey and Virgil Booton.
In front: Clayton Roller, Don Brincks, George Seidl, Ivan Tigges, Clarence Boes, Everett Dennis, Wendell Greene, Lynn Byerly, Harry Schulze, Ronnie Dennis, Roy Nelson.
Kneeling behind them are Vic Tigges, Ed Bundt, Ray Engelen, Delbert Ford, Beryl Gymer, Doyle Conner, Dale McCoy, Loyal Kramer, Howard Thorne, Raymond Goodwin and Glen Bolger.
One more for Nov 1954, to show the tractors and pickers!!
Families (and Neighbors!) are Forever!! ;-)
