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Lapel, In | Hadn't talked to him for probably a couple years before his untimely death. Eugene would answer any questions that I posed to him. He always said he had no secrets. While his dad was a good farmer, I would not say Eugene was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. I would have called Wayne,Eugene's dad, a bit larger farmer than average or at least most back in the middle 60s. He had a 105 combine and a 4020 that I worked on a few times. Wayne was a very common sense sort of individual and a very good business man.I don't think he was too keen on some of Eugene's business practices.however. A cousin of Eugene's,Charlie Starkey was what I would call a very aggressive farmer and may well have a profound effect on the person Eugene became. Charlie bragged one spring about planting 2400 acres with a 6 row Deere 1300 planter by running it around the clock. He was done before a lot of guys, including me, even started. So neither of the two required a lot of sleep nor would they shy away from hard work.
Some of you older farmers may remember when the Farm Progess Show was held on the (about) 600 acre Hoffman farm at Lebanon,In . Shortly after that the farm came up for sale. As the story was related to me, the final two bidders standing at the auction were the Prudential Insurance Company and Eugene, with Eugene in one room of the motel and the Prudential reps. next door. When the bidding got high enough and Eugene knowing Prudential would rent it out, he sent a note to them next door that he would quit bidding if they would rent him the farm. They agreed and to make the story even better ,Eugene got Prudential to fund his farming operation which at that time was a very large sum of money.He siezed every opportunity that he saw and created others for himself.
It might have been that same Progress Show where Eugene exhibited the first (that I know of) 24 row folding planter using Deere componets. Don't know if he sold any or not as he built them for his own use , but was not as particular as I would have been. Never even ground the weld splatter. To him that wasn't important. I had the opportunity to work for him ,but thought the better of it and that was one of the reasons for saying no. I will say as far as I know he treated his help very well, was also the first farmer that I knew of to have what he called a harvest bash for his workers when the harvest was complete. Couple other asides: a trucker friend of mine once saw him pulling 10 gravity wagons to a field with a single tractor when the law says no more that two. Trucker said he did it all the time.He would have just paid the fine, had he got caught,but he considered the odds and did as he pleased.
Could have been the field where he was killed as the pump set in the middle of the field. I think it was on an island in the middle of the OHio River and yes, he farmed in Mississipi, but could not tell you how many acres it was.Anyone else would have driven astraddle of the row out to the pump on the island , but not Eugene. Shortest distance and quickest was a sraight line for him. Kind of lost track of him, once he bought the IH equipment. Only heard rumors and stories from then on until I talked to him for what became the last time.I always thought if he had failed a few times in life, he would have put some back for those rainy days that most of us experience. Unfortunately, he only knew success and "UP" and full speed ahead. I do think his divorce changed him a lot and that might have been why he mellowed out a bit at the end. Probably one of the most fascinating men I ever knew. He taught me a lot about thinking outside the box. | |
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Hey MSB, do you have anymore stories on Eugene Smith?
