The U.S. Custom Harvesters Hall of Fame
INDUCTEES OF USCHI HALL OF FAME
Verlin and Dorothy Blehm, Guthrie, OK - (2002)
In the beginning - early spring 1959. I was out of school and had started the day like every other day at the age of 10. I lived in a small town in Oklahoma called Guthrie. After having breakfast my father asked me if I wanted to go with him to see about buying a combine. I said sure since I didn’t even know what a combine was at the time. We drove to another town 30 miles away called Kingfisher. I can remember it just like it happened yesterday. Veith Brothers Implement Company. Dad and I had gotten out of the car and wondered over to these great big red Massey Harris combines all lined up. There were all kinds of them, the biggest things I had ever seen.
Next a man came along and asked if he could help and my dad said, “Yes, I’d like to see about buying one of these combines.” The man smiled and said, “Okay, which one do you want?” Dad pointed to one and said, “That one there, that Massey Harris 80 Special.” The man said, “Okay, let’s go inside and talk about it.” Dad looked at me and said, “You stay around here and wait for me.” I figured this is going to take awhile, so I thought I’d have some time to climb around on some tractors and stuff while he was gone. I’d been with my folks once when they went to buy a car, so I thought this was going to take awhile. However, after five minutes dad was back outside and we were ready to go. He just looked at me and said, “Boy, that’s the fastest I’ve ever bought anything that big in my life!” He looked at his watch and said, “We’ll be back home in time for lunch.” I was hoping that we could stop and get a hamburger and malt for lunch. With that said dad reached in his pocket and pulled out all of his change which amounted to 35 cents. He looked at me with a stunned look on his face and said, “Can you believe I just bought that combine with only 35 cents in my pocket?” (So much for that hamburger and malt.)
I was trying to figure out what dad was going to do with a combine. About a week later the combine arrived. I showed the man where to park it and was the most popular kid on the block because I did, indeed, have the biggest toy on the block, the neighborhood and probably the whole town. The next thing that appeared was a truck - a big truck - a really big truck. I didn’t know what dad needed it for either, but it sure made me popular. Then I started learning about something called harvest; then, custom harvesting.
I guess by this time money was getting pretty tight and dad had probably spent those thirty five cents plus some more. Anyway, he was talking about needing a pickup. At the time, dad had a 1949 black, four door Ford sedan. I got up one morning to the sound of dad pounding on something out back; I decided to have a look at what he was doing. Dad was out there with a hatchet - chopping up his Ford sedan. Imagine a 10 year old boy looking out the screen door and seeing your dad chopping up his car! I just couldn’t help but think that if I was doing that, I’d get a beating, for sure! I was trying to think what mom was going to do to him. This was worth hanging around for.
By the time he was done cutting and chopping on that car, everything from the back of the front seat was gone. The back seat and the top of the back glass was all gone. Boy, I could hardly wait for momma to come home and see this! At first I thought my dad had really lost it. I watched all day long. Next, he took the glass out of both back doors. He took a piece of plywood and cut it up and fashioned it to fit just behind the back of the front seat. Then, he took those two door glasses and made a rail for them to slide in and put them in for the back glass. By the time dad was done that day, he had invented the world’s first four door Ford pickup right before my very eyes. By this time, I was helping him put in the wood floor. Again, I was the most popular kid on the block because my dad was not only the smartest man anywhere, he was an inventor.
It was probably the greatest learning year of my life. I soon learned what harvest was all about. The hours were long and hard. This was the beginning of Blehm’s Custom Harvesting. When I got older, I went with dad every year. As a teenager, I decided I would never be a farmer or a custom harvester. In my mind, a farmer was the biggest gambler in the world. They worked too hard and too long only to lose a crop to drought, floods, too much rain or tornadoes or fire. The next biggest gambler in the world was the custom harvester. If the farmer didn’t do well, then neither did the custom harvester.
I went to the Army when Vietnam came along, leaving the harvest to dad. When mom decided to join dad on the harvest, I was really happy. Then is when the improvements came; new combines with cabs, CB radios, MUCH, MUCH, MUCH better food. My mom was the best thing that ever happened to Blehm’s Custom Harvesting. I’ve seen them weather both good and bad years. I’ve marveled at the endurance and stamina that they have had over all these years. I know that they could write a book about their trials and tribulations over the years. I have learned to weather many storms by watching them. I know I would not have survived in the world today had it not been from knowing that just because things got tough, it didn’t mean you should quit. I’ve served my country as a combat soldier, a paratrooper, a ranger and in Special Forces. I’ve been wounded three different times. While I believe that I survived, first because God is my higher power, and, second, I was blessed by parents who would never give up or quit. My parents are Verlin and Dorothy Blehm.
