NW Illinois Stephenson county | I was 15.5 and had just started my sophomore year of high school. Dad died of a heart attack at the age of 52. He had one 10 years before. My brother was 4 years older and a sister 2.5 years younger. Dad worked off the farm in plumbing & heating with my brother and I doing most of the farming; 20 milk cows and 120 acres tillable. Mom had to be put in a nursing home because she started wandering off and had bad arthritis. We kept going in spite of the neighbors trying to sell us out because I wanted to farm. January 15,1973 I cash rented the farm and officially started farming in my senior year ( yes, I graduated ...5th of a class of 95) of high school, because I was 18 and was able to borrow money from the then FHA. I bought the farm and the next 160 acres south of the home farm following spring. It was different times back then. My Mom was in a conservatorship (the sale went through a court), the farm south of me came up for sale, I sold 5 acres and the building off of the south farm, and I was off running until a new water well in 1980 had something wrong with the water that production steadily went down so the cows could not even average 20 lbs per day and high interest rates (16 to 18%) killed my farming career. In the late 1980's I went to the local community college for 4 years (just in case I had to quit farming by me or my creditors so I had a start for another career; maybe engineering with a 3.79 out 4 GPA) while struggling to farm. It took 20+ years to find the best water treatment and plow through extreme money problems. Younger farmers who think 8-10% interest is high make me laugh! Now I'm retired and still in debt. but keeping on! I miss Mom and Dad almost every day. It was tough, but I had many good times and memories and finally got married to a good girl when I was 45.
 (old pictures and of farm 054 (full).jpg)
 (Orie_Mary 1 (full).jpg)
 (old pictures and of farm 039 (full).jpg)
 (old pictures and of farm 003 (full).jpg)
 (New 1946 JD A and Orie Otte - Copy - Copy (full).jpg)
Attachments
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 old pictures and of farm 054 (full).jpg (106KB - 39 downloads)
Orie_Mary 1 (full).jpg (127KB - 45 downloads)
old pictures and of farm 039 (full).jpg (118KB - 37 downloads)
old pictures and of farm 003 (full).jpg (172KB - 41 downloads)
New 1946 JD A and Orie Otte - Copy - Copy (full).jpg (54KB - 40 downloads)
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How old were you when your father passed?
