"Real Work During a Youthful Summer" -Time Out #86

Back in the day, this one being long, long ago, I was in need of a good summer job.

I also wanted to gain bulk via extra muscle strength, increased physical endurance and better heat tolerance during Oklahoma's hot/humid summers that frequently extend deep into the fall calendar. Having just finished my junior year at C.E. Donart (later changed to Stillwater) High School, I felt like all the body building aspirations I had back then, coupled with adding lots of mental toughness, would greatly assist me when I began playing my last year for Coach Jim Harris' Pioneer Football team. When August pre-season practice began in 1964, I was much bigger than I was before I began this tough, summer work at the Stillwater Milling Company (SMC).

Then mill president, the great Haskell Cudd, offered me an opportunity for a job. I had known this wonderful gentleman for years since his youngest of 3 daughters, Nancy, was a Stillwater Public School classmate of mine since the 1st grade. Mr. Cudd also knew my father, Col. C.H. Breedlove, as Our Town was much smaller in the mid-60's, and it always seemed like everyone knew everyone else. It truly was gentler. simpler time, back in the day.

My high school junior year concluded just as it does now, shortly before the 3-day Memorial Day weekend holiday. Having never done any of this type of work before, and having been a "city" boy all my life, I really didn't know what to expect. I knew it would be hard work, but, wow, did I get a full-dose of human exercise the first week.

The local annual wheat harvest was underway, and SMC sent me west to Perry to help in their branch operation, unloading wheat-filled trucks with the assistance of mechanical power lifts to tilt the truck beds backward. This tipping action would almost empty the entire truck contents into the conveyer system under the concrete's metal grates. My manual labor along with the other SMC employees would have to climb completely in the truck beds with our aluminum scoop shovels, and move the residual wheat into the gathering system below the truck.

Man, was that dusty/dirty/sweaty/boring/hard work! I'm sure even today my sneezy, seasonal allergy problems established their origins during my summer months working with SMC.

I remember like it was yesterday, looking through the dense wheat dust clouds to the north from the SMC grain elevator location and seeing the loaded wheat trucks lined up all the way around the town square and the Noble County Courthouse. There must have been a continuous line of 15-20 vehicles waiting for us to finish their loads with our shovels so the trucks could return to their harvest fields, get reloaded by the huge wheat combines, then return to our location to have the process repeated. At that time in my life, it really did seem like the never-ending story.

From the satellite Perry location, after a couple of weeks, I was moved to the main facility, the same spot SMC occupies today on East 6th Avenue, just east of the railroad tracks.

I enjoyed my physically-challenging job so much with SMC, I came back for a second summer of action the next summer (1965), too. Over that time period in Our Town's hot/humid weather months, I worked in many areas of the large operation. I worked in many separate buildings, each with a different function within the organization. Most of my time was spent in the mechanized feed processing area in the southwest section of the complex. Here the various grains and other ingredients were mixed high above the floor level in various bins. The multiple products were brought together, sometimes compressed into pellets, cubes or just stirred to make grain mixtures. Then, we would "pull" (i.e., unload) out of the mixers into our paper or fiber (burlap), sacks, usually 50 pounds at a time. The top of the containers would be machine-sewed shut with cotton thread, and we would stack the loaded sacks 5 or 6 high on wooden dollies. We would then load empty truck trailers, backed into the warehouse from the west side, so the drivers could deliver their loads all over the state., Other times, we would stack the filled sacks for future use at various locations in the vast warehouse. Funny how things that mundane stick in my mind's eye a half century later??

The retail operation in those days was carried out on the southeast side of the complex, with a large drive-thru breezeway separating the east and west sides on the south. Customers would make their retail purchases across the street on the north side where the current business office/weight scales were located then, too, and bring their purchase tickets south across the street to be filled. The present, huge, north side AgriCenter operation was merely a large, isolated, metal storage building when I worked there. The still present tall, concrete storage elevators were in regular use, then, too.

On the far south side was a large garage where the SMC mechanics kept all the building complex and motor vehicles in good operating order. This maintenance facility was right next to historic Crystal Plunge Swimming Pool, for many years our cooling off social spot for all to enjoy in Our Town. As time marched on, SMC eventually purchased the ol' swimming hole, and a huge hunk of Our Town Americana faded away, just a distant memory.

The summers of 1964 and 1965 I worked at SMC taught me so much as a teenager/adolescent boy. My father had always taught me the value of hard work, but working under those conditions at SMC brought those earlier thoughts in my head to a higher level. I really enjoyed my fellow workers and the friendships I made on the job. I also made a fair amount of money then, the minimum wage of $1.25/hour for the first 40 work hours each week, and $1.87 (time and a half) all hours over 40 each week. For that time, over 50 years ago, that was lots of $$$.

The other major mind set for me cemented my aspirations to obtain a higher education; in my case, attending Oklahoma State University and well beyond.

Thank you, Mr. Cudd for playing a major part in helping shape my future.

Your early confidence in me has always made me forever grateful to you.