Released: March 07, 2006

Garden City Couple Named Master Farmer, Farm Homemaker

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Gene and Clarine “Toke” Heiman still have that ’53 Ford two-door automobile. The one they drove the family to church in. The one they took on weekend trips to Colorado. The very same one they hauled irrigation tubes in. Yes, that family car served as the farm’s pickup truck because times were tough in those early years of farming.

In time, the Heimans, of rural Garden City, Kan., turned that resourcefulness into a successful farming operation. For their achievements in agriculture and service to their community, Gene and Clarine Heiman have been named a 2005 Kansas Master Farmer and Master Farm Homemaker by Kansas State University Research and Extension.

The award program dates to 1927 and is sponsored by K-State Research and Extension and Kansas Farmer Magazine. The Heimans and five other couples will be honored at a 6 p.m. banquet March 24 at the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in Junction City. Reservations can be made by calling 785-532-5820 by March 10. Tickets cost $25 for adults and $10 for children under age 12.

The couple met in 1951 at square dance lessons when Clarine was a student nurse and Gene, a 4-H Junior leader. In 1952, during the Korean conflict, Gene was drafted into the U.S. Army and selected for Radar Technician School. They married in 1953 after Clarine, who prefers the nickname “Toke,” graduated from St. Catharine School of Nursing in Garden City and Gene had completed radar school.

On the day they were married, they left for Camp Hanford, Wash. Toke got a job at a hospital in Pasco, Wash. as a surgical floor nurse. When Gene was discharged from the military in 1954, they moved back to Kansas where he continued to serve in the Ready and Standby Reserves for six years.

Once back in Kansas, the couple lived on the Finney County farm on which Gene and his eight siblings grew up. His mother, Lena, was still operating it after Gene’s father, Martin, passed away. Gene and Toke farmed for her for several years.

While still taking care of Gene’s parents’ land, the couple rented their first farm ground in 1957 and, in 1958, rented another section. That same year, he acquired a Dekalb Seed Dealership.

In February, 1959 a nearby farm came up for sale that the couple had been watching – as a possible addition to their farm as well as a place to live.

There was just one problem, Gene said. They didn’t have the money.

“It didn’t sell real fast,” he added. So he made an offer to make the down payment and the balance on contract that was accepted. Once the couple used the money they had saved and had borrowed enough from Toke’s grandmother to make the down payment, they had all of $100 in the bank. Gene’s brother, Robert loaned them $1,000 until after wheat harvest.

“That’s family trust,” Gene said. But that wasn’t the only business relationship built on trust. Back then, fertilizer and fuel dealers agreed to take payment after harvest, months after the purchase.

“It used to be kind of a handshake business,” Toke said. “People still do that, but it’s kind of hard for newer farmers.”

“You still have to prove to people that your word’s good,” Gene added.

The couple raised seven children, two of whom are involved in the business. They grow wheat, grain sorghum, corn and soybeans. They sold certified seed wheat for about 20 years. The couple also feeds cattle in local feedlots and runs stocker cattle.

In 1962, the Heimans planted a “shelter belt” of cedar, elm and locust trees which improved the appearance of the property and sheltered the family and livestock in cold, windy weather.

Strip tillage and crop rotation are common practices. Soil testing helps the family decide the amount of nutrients they need to maximize crop yields and minimize the environmental impact.

The Heimans embrace technologies that make the farm efficient. They use rate controllers for planter, sprayer and fertilizer applications, cell phones and business band radios to communicate, and a computer to keep records, track employees’ hours, generate payroll checks and help figure taxes.

“Financial management decisions are a joint effort,” said Gene. “We talk about farm plans two to three times a week, so meetings are held when needed.”

In addition to the farm, Gene and Toke owned and operated GC Marketing Inc. from 1979 until 1992, when it was sold to Gerber Commodities.

That, Toke said, helped her become computer-savvy. Doing market reports on the radio and handling accounts also helped her overcome a lifelong case of shyness.

Gene has been a member of the American Legion Harry H Renick Post No. 9 for 52 years. He served as Post Commander, and later as District Commander in 1989-90, when he helped increase membership from last place in the state to first place. In 1992, he was elected State Commander. He stays involved in Legion programs and is on the National Legislative Commission as a liaison to Sen. Pat Roberts. He is a member of the Legion’s National Public Relations Commission and the State Finance Committee.

He was appointed by former Kansas Gov. Joan Finney as a delegate to the White House Conference on Aging in 1996.

Locally, Gene taught weekly junior high school religion classes at St. Dominic Catholic Church and is currently a member of the St. Dominic School Endowment Board of Directors. He served on the Plymell School Board and after consolidation with Garden City Schools he acted as an advisor from Plymell to the USD 457 School Board. He also served on the Finney County Fair Board for 18 years and the Golden Plains Credit Union Board of Directors for three years.

Toke was raised in a family of 11 children, and had a career as a nurse for several years before she and Gene started their family.

“I loved nursing. I really missed it, but it wasn’t feasible to continue after the children started coming,” she said. “We had a lot to do on the farm and with the distance, it wouldn’t have worked very well.”

Toke says with modesty, that because of their busy family life, she was not as involved in the community as she might have been. The list of her activities tells a different story.

From 1954-1966, the couple had seven children and Toke worked nights as an obstetrics nurse in 1956 and 1957. She continued private duty nursing work until 1976 and was a volunteer for the Kansas Crippled Children’s Clinic.

In addition to her work at GC Marketing, she has served on several committees at St. Dominic Church and sings in the choir. With Gene’s encouragement, she formed an investment club with 19 other women. Later she helped organize a writing group at a local senior center.

Toke has served on the Finney County Soil Conservation Board, the Finney County Extension Council and is on the Finney County FSA Committee. She is a vendor at the Garden City U.S. Department of Agriculture Farmers Market. She acted as show chairman and served on the Board of Directors for Beef Empire Days.

Toke also conducted interviews with several local veterans and wrote their stories for the Finney County Historical Society book about veterans in the county, “Those Who Served.”

The Heimans said their seven children, 20 grandchildren and great grandchild are “our best accomplishment.” All of the Heimans’ children were members of the Wide Awake 4-H Club.

“We lived, ate and slept farming,” Toke said. “All of our kids learned very early how to start tubes when flood irrigating. If they weren’t changing water, they might be changing a diaper, picking up around the house, doing laundry, ironing, rogueing milo, harvesting, driving a grain truck, taking lunch to a field, mowing the yard, babysitting, cutting hair or cooking a meal.”

Their daughter, Karen Metzger, works as a bookkeeper at Scott Coop Assn. in Scott City. She has three children – Matthew, Brian and Angela. Matthew and his wife, Challie, have a son, Dylan – Gene and Toke’s first great grandchild.

Daughter Kathleen Albrecht works as an administrative professional at the accounting firm Gutschenritter and Johnson in Wichita. She and her husband, Rick, have three children, Kara, Christopher and Michael.

The Heimans’ third child, Bill, works in the family’s farm partnership. In addition, he has other farming interests. He and his wife, Janell, also have three children – Ashley and twins, Kristen and Scott. Since his Dad retired from the seed dealership in 1994, Bill has continued in the business.

Daughter Jeanne Kleysteuber and her husband, Dean, have two children, Jeffrey and Emily. Jeanne followed in her mother’s footsteps and trained as a nurse. After being a stay-at-home mom for 18 years, she is a nurse at Fry Eye Associates and the Wound Care Center at Sienna Medical Center in Garden City.

The couple’s fifth child, Patricia Miller, also earned a nursing degree, and, since graduation, has worked at St. Catherine Hospital, the Wound Care Center at Sienna Medical Center and Garden Surgical Assn. She and her husband, Ross, have two children, Steven and Alex.

Son Jon, is employed by Irsik and Doll Feed Services, Inc. in Cimarron, Kan., as a cattle risk manager. He has other farming interests as well. He and his wife, Rebecca, have three children – Jonathan, Sarah and Eric.

The youngest child, Chris, also returned to the family farm partnership after college. He too, has other farming interests. He and his wife, Traci, combined families and now have four children, Tyler, Taryn, Allison and Ryan.

“The one thing I want to stress,” Gene said, “is that I couldn’t have done this without my wonderful family. All the big decisions, (Toke) has been part of it. We’ve been really fortunate and the Good Lord’s taken care of us. You’ve got to have a little luck -- that’s for sure.”

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K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.

Story by:
Mary Lou Peter-Blecha
mlpeter@oznet.ksu.edu
K-State Research& Extension News