Owners of Tong's restaurant, Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co. team up on Thailand project

Jere Gettle developed an affinity for Thailand long before his Mansfield-based business entered the global market.

The owner of Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company, widely considered America's top source for pure heirloom seeds, traversed Thailand's soaring mountains, rainforests, and beaches in his early 20s and fell in the love with the country's cuisine and culture.

When Gettle returned home to the Ozarks, he began seeking out Thai restaurants, which often involved making the one-hour trek to Springfield to scope the options.

Gettle, now 42, inevitably discovered Tong's Thai Cuisine, a longtime fixture on South Campbell Avenue, and the restaurant's engaging and affable owner, Tong Trithara.

Trithara and Gettle shared their respective experiences in Thailand, along with their entrepreneurial pursuits, and eventually forged a friendship.

Twenty years later, they're bonded by another passion: charity.

During a recent meet-up, the pair discussed Trithara's plan to start an education center for marginalized Thai children in his native country. Inspired by Gettle's Baker Creek Pioneer Village, he plans to call it Baker Creek Chiang Rai.

"Hey, you looked like the previous King of Thailand in that picture," Trithara joked as Gettle showed pictures of himself and his young family on a previous visit to Thailand.

"My hair had some color in it back then," replied Gettle, whose hair is beginning to gray.

Trithara was referring to the late Bhumibol Adulyade, a king Trithara said helped Thailand become a tourist destination and who valued sustainable farming and gardening.

Gettle wants to help provide the project resources for the latter.

Baker Creek Chiang Rai, a multi-building pursuit on three acres of land near the northern Thai city of Chiang Rai, is aimed at teaching children to grow vegetables and fruits, as well as how to cook. The weekend education center, which will operate similarly to a weekend camp, will also teach English and American history.

Trithara, who has raised money in previous years to help Thai children, has new renderings of the country western-themed Baker Creek Chiang Rai and has talked to building contractors, potential teachers, chefs and gardening personnel.

He hopes to raise enough money in the next two years to complete the project. Upon completion, Trithara, 71, said he intends to close his restaurant and spend the rest of his life helping to operate Bakers Creek Chiang Rai.

Gettle will do most of his part from afar in Mansfield.

"I'm not getting any younger, and this is something I have wanted to do for a long time," said Trithara, who is hosting a private fundraising dinner Sunday.

Self-made men team up

Trithara, who became a U.S. citizen in the early 1980s, is something of a renaissance man.

As a Los Angeles-area college student in the 1970s, Trithara wrote for a Thai music magazine, interviewing such musical acts as Linda Ronstadt, Three Dog Night, and Ricky Nelson. He also worked at the legendary West Hollywood music venue Troubadour, and has several funny anecdotes involving celebrities.

When he settled in the Ozarks, he was a Mui Thai (Thai kickboxing) instructor, owner of Thai restaurants in Lebanon and Osage Beach, and also owned and operated the short-lived Tongway Twitty's, a non-alcoholic country dance club for minors named after one of his favorite country musicians, Conway Twitty.

Trithara has labeled part of the Baker Creek Chiang Rai project "Tongway Twitty Town" with a similar aesthetic to Baker Creek Pioneer Village.

"I want it to look like the old west, Pioneer City," Trithara said. "I'm a cowboy. I love American country."

Gettle, who has no formal education, is also a self-made success story.

He has lived on the same plot of land since he was 13, the property now known as Baker Creek. He began his seed business as a teenager and has grown it into a mass operation that sells more than 12 million packets a year.

Before having what his now an annual 540-page seed publication dubbed "The World's Largest Seed Catalog," Gettle would still make it a point to travel to help grow his business, and would sleep in his car to save money.

He now has more than 100 full-time employees, large warehouses and greenhouses in Mansfield and Seymour, along with Pioneer Village, which has seed and clothing stores, a restaurant, and hosts several events.

Gettle, who is quiet and reserved, is often dressed casually in a T-shirt, and can be seen walking barefoot in the warmer months.

"He has a very good heart," Trithara said.

Gettle's company helped raise $1.7 million (33,000 seed sales) for Ukraine a year ago, three days after the Russian invasion. Baker Creek has also helped several local charities, including the Salvation Army.

Trithara's previous pursuit, Thailand Little Ones, was also helped by Baker Creek.

Thailand Little Ones, which is currently in operation, helps multiple schools throughout northern and central Thailand with gardening projects and food aid.

Gettle is excited to help Trithara again.

"It's always great learning about what Tong is doing. His project has been exciting," Gettle said. "We're ready to go for it and get it started."

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Tong's restaurant, Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co. plan Thai charity