A better day could not be imagined for one’s exit from the world. A sublime early fall day in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. All crisp morning, a red and orange sunrise turned the air into a golden haze, highlighting the cobwebs and dew drops. The silhouette of Mt. Hood appeared in the East against a rapidly bluing sky, which would eventually shimmer to the enjoyable yet brief mid-eighties before the rapid cooling of a shortening day that in turn settles the dust of late potato harvesters and hay balers.
Today I and others said goodbye to Raymond Elmer Farnsworth, my mentor in all things agricultural. Eighty five years in Oregon, sixty years married to Nelda. A farmer through and through, Coast Guardsman on the Columbia River Bar during WWII and a school bus driver when times and obligations called. From Asparagus to Lilies and all in between Ray was a natural grower. By temperament and work ethic, by a love of the land and by a calm acceptance of the dealings of nature. In taking me under his wing he introduced me to this dreamt of land at the end of the Oregon Trail, to a community that husbands it to this day, and to a life of productivity and meaning wherein business is conducted on a handshake and ones good word. For a kid, fresh off the boat from Scotland, to show up and be able to earn entry into this conservative and pioneering community still strikes me as remarkable and very very lucky. (more…)
