Farmer earns his bacon with produce

EARLSBORO, Okla. (AP) _ E.W. ``Willard'' Chambers of rural Earlsboro, who recently celebrated his 90th birthday, is one of the oldest, active farmers in Pottawatomie County. <br/><br/>He tends

Sunday, October 10th 2004, 2:27 pm

By: News On 6

EARLSBORO, Okla. (AP) _ E.W. ``Willard'' Chambers of rural Earlsboro, who recently celebrated his 90th birthday, is one of the oldest, active farmers in Pottawatomie County.

He tends to his two patches of land in which he produces tomatoes, okra, turnips and cantaloupe.

``Each of the plots of land are about 50 (feet) by 100 (feet),'' Chambers' son, Claude said.

``He still gets up early every morning. He fixes his own breakfast and then he's out to check his garden. He picks 50 to 100 pounds about every other day.''

His operation has downsized considerably as he used to maintain five to 10 acres and collected 50 bushels a day.

He and his six brothers ran the produce farm and trucked to Oklahoma City and even Wichita, Kan., until after World War II.

``We all kind of went our separate ways after the war,'' Willard Chambers said. ``I lost two brothers.''

The third of eight children, Chambers remembers settling in Earlsboro with his parents in 1927.

``We came in an old Model T truck on Highway 66,'' he said. ``We (his family) bought an old dairy farm. I remember selling milk for 10 cents a quart.''

He also remembers paying $1 a year for a subscription to The Shawnee News-Star.

``I bet there's not many others in the county who have taken this paper as long as I have,'' he said.

He recalls selling tomatoes for 50 cents a bushel and green beans for 2 cents a pound. In addition to produce, the Chambers' farm also ran a herd of Hereford and Angus cattle.

During the depression, Chambers dropped out of school for a few years to work. When he went back to finish school, he met and married 16-year-old Ima Jean.

``Her daddy was the principal at Harjo School. Boy, she was smart,'' he said smiling. ``She used to say the only mistake she made was marrying me. We were married 62 years.''

His wife died five years ago, but left behind two sons, Claude and Ronnie Chambers, and now, eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Chambers has endless stories of the things he has seen and heard in his lifetime.

He likes to tell of the time Pretty Boy Floyd robbed banks in the area and came out and bought milk from the dairy farm.

``One of my grandfathers was a Creek Indian and came by the Trail of Tears,'' he said. ``My other grandfather lived in Tennessee and had 11 slaves.''

With 90 years of wisdom, experience and spunk, Chambers is proud to say he weighed 136 pounds when he graduated high school.

``Now, I weigh 140 pounds,'' he said. ``That's all I've gained.''

He still sells his produce to local grocers such as FireLake and Hardesty Grocery.