ELMER AND THE HAT

My brother, Chuck, spent a lot of time on the farm as he was growing up. He submits the following anecdote about Elmer Bell and his hat:

“When Elmer would get frustrated, he would take his hat off, and, depending on his level of frustration, would either turn it in his hands a quarter turn at a time and put it on his head again, then repeat the process until he had vented sufficiently. Sometimes, he would throw it on the ground and stomp on it. I watched him plug up the cylinder in his combine, and go through the lift, turn, replace, lift turn, replace, and so on for several minutes. Then, he went to work unplugging the cylinder. I don’t think he saw me.”

Mike and I brought our three little children to the farm in the mid-‘80s. The details are vague now, but I think Hallie was two or so. Mike attempted to mow the lawn but had some problem with the lawnmower that he couldn’t fix without more tools. Elmer and Myrtle Bell happened to drive in. They put our whole family in their car and took us to their place where Elmer and Mike fixed the mower part. Along the way, Elmer told us that as a lad he had worked for the Dobsons (twin brothers with adjoining homesteads) during bean harvest, adding that the two families were as different as night and day. He said that as my dad grew older, his bearing was more and more like Jack, his dad, a comment my mother had made as well.

Do you remember Bruce and Celia Senter, neighbors to the north? Millers bought their place when they moved to Spokane. I often stop there on my bike ride. KW