Rita Zorn: Early farm work was valuable life lesson
My work ethic came from both of my parents. It was mom who was the most influential. Every June my two older brothers and I went to work with her during strawberry season.
Now a spry 95, mom and another woman, the late Lola Walters, oversaw the strawberry picking operation at the Joe Loughney farm in Ida for several years. Both of their names ended with W's so someone thought it cute to nickname them the 'wardens'.
Mr. Loughney was a young widower with a son, Pete, and a daughter Jill. I don't remember much about Pete. But I have read about the many ways he gives back to our community.
Jill was a soft spoken, pretty girl. Most of the boys had a major crush on her. Jill and I had dark hair back then. With both of us not having a sister, I could just imagine Jill being my cool and sophisticated older sister. If I remember correctly, she even had freckles like I did.
Over the years I still think of the kids I worked with. Occasionally, I still see a few of them around town. Imagine my pleasant surprise when a familiar face I remembered from picking strawberries woke me during the night to check my vitals after surgery. Thanks, N.C.
Strawberry pickers were paid by the number of quarts picked. We would fill a wooden carrier that held six quarts of strawberries. Then the wardens, I mean mom, or Lola, would punch an index card with the number of quarts we turned in.
Looking back now, if our pay had been docked for all the strawberries eaten throughout the season, it’s likely I would have been paying Mr. Loughney, instead of the other way around.
Working on a vegetable farm in my early teens taught me many valuable lessons. My tractor experience helped me become the first female hi-lo driver in the paint shop at Mazda, now the Ford plant in Flat Rock. Thank you, Larry O., for being such a great instructor!
Quite a few of us wanted to get off the assembly line. I don't remember how many men signed up to be trained on the hi-lo. I do remember there was only one other woman and she was a team leader, a position I would eventually earn.
It was decided the person scoring the highest on the written test would be the first to be trained. I was pretty geeked when I scored 98 out of a possible 100.
One of the tasks of the hi-low job was unloading 50-gallon drums of sealant out of the back of semi's and placing them on racks way up high. My goal of getting a break from the assembly line was achieved. But that feeling of having that much weight above my head was something I never felt comfortable with. It was spooky seeing just a slight sway of the huge storage racks.
Most of my favorite memories are when I was a teenager picking vegetables on the Fleig farm with mom.
Don, Ruth, Marlene, Carol and Barb, lived a short distance down the road from us. It was on their farm I gained experience driving a tractor.
The Fleigs sold vegetables at the Detroit Eastern Market. On Saturdays it was exciting to get up at 3 am to head to market with Ruth, Carol, or Marlene. Barbie, the youngest of the three daughters, was too young for market.
Both Don and Ruth passed away several years ago. Sadly, Barb passed away from COVID last December. She was a spitfire and is dearly missed.
It was because of the Fleig family I met my husband Larry on his 16th birthday at the Detroit Eastern Market. For years I have been telling him I am the best present he could ever receive. After nearly 44 years, I think I almost have him convinced it's true.
Rita Zorn is a wife, mother, grandmother and lifetime Monroe County resident. She can be reached at 7.noniez@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Rita Zorn: Early farm work was valuable life lesson
