People

• By Gary West •

Industrious employee honoured for 46 years of work

Pictured on one of his final days before retirement is Darryl Winhold (right) being congratulated by part‐owner Chad Brown (left) for his 46 and a half years of dedicated service to the Case IH dealership.

It’s not every day that you hear of someone who works for the same company for 46 and half years and can still smile and say he’s enjoyed every day of it.

Long time Tavistock resident Darryl Winhold is that person. He has worked for Stratford Farm Equipment most of his life. Not working for the “Brown” family — who have owned Stratford farm equipment over the years — will be an odd feeling, admitted Darryl.

Darryl was raised on the Winhold family farm halfway between Tavistock and Shakespeare on Pork Road which is now Line 33. His parents are Doris and Harold Winhold and he has five brothers and one sister. Darryl and his wife Bonnie have lived all their married life in the same house on the western outskirts of Tavistock. They raised two kids there, a daughter who now lives with her husband and young daughter on Vancouver Island and their son and his partner that live in Paris, Ontario.

We were able to drop in on Darryl on one of his final days at work to talk about his long and illustrious career in the farm machinery business. His first 18 years after graduating from Waterloo-Oxford high school near Baden, were spent working for the Case-I-H equipment dealer in Stratford in the parts department. In subsequent years he made the move to the accounting department and Human Resources where he was in charge of payables and receivables for the company’s 60 employees, that included mechanics plus parts and office staff at five different locations. The farm machinery head office continues to be on the western edge of Stratford, with locations in New Hamburg, Woodstock and London (Arva) which includes itsBobcat skid-steer division.

Dan Brown, along with his three sons — Chad, Steve and Matt — could not say enough good things about Darryl’s work ethic over the years and how their company grew in part because of his dedication and positive attitude. Darryl also mentored employees to do their best and make them feel part of the S.F.E. family.

Darryl’s knowledge of the machinery business goes from top to bottom and will be hard to replace. Dan also stated that his father, Bill Brown (who is now living in retirement near London) hired Darryl and said he wished he could have hired more employees like him. It was agreed by past and present employees that the industrious young man that had beginnings on a farm in Perth County in South Easthope township grew into the person that he is today which was described as knowledgeable, quiet, humble and respectful of everyone he meets. ◊

Marvin L. Smith

B.Sc.F. (Forestry), R.P.F. Farm Woodland Specialist 570 Riverview Dr. Listowel, Ontario N4W 3T7 Telephone: (519) 291-2236

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• By Gary West •

Hard work pays off for trucker and his family

Randy Fletcher says hard work and dedication does pay off when young people have a dream to own their own business. He is now owner of Jel‐Joe Haulage out of Tavistock and is pictured here with daughters Jelene and Joellah. This is a story about a young man who was willing to work hard and start a business of his own to be successful. After 18 years in the truckinig and mini-excavation business, Randy Fletcher and family realized that hard work and dedication does pay dividends at the end of the day.

He will tell you that he learned a lot in his younger years from his dairy farmer grandfather, Francis Dietrich from Sebastopol, and his uncles Don and Ray Dietrich who were also farmers in the area. They all worked hard and took risks just as he did when he started. Randy’s company, now located two miles east of Shakespeare — JelJoe haulage.

He, along with his wife Alea and daughters Jelene and Joellah (hence the company name) have built a business on honesty and integrity and has always put the customer first. He uses a skid-steer to move earth and snow and his mini-excavator for digging tile and trenching work. Fletcher said his main business is still trucking gravel and asphalt and sometimes he has to depend on experienced outside help to get the job done when deadlines demand it. He said in a recent interview, that most of his work is in Perth and Oxford counties and he has done major work for companies like Steed and Evans in the past.

He credits the years he spent trucking feed for Martin’s Feed Mill in Tavistock and working alongside the Benders and Waglers at B-W feed in New Hamburg as the years of experience he needed to prepare himself for a future on his own. He’ll also say he learned what hard work and long hours were when he worked on many dairy and hog farms in the area while saving enough money to someday start a business of his own. Fletcher says that hard work and dedication, along with living with the mottos to “take the bad days with the good” is a good way to live. ◊

Ontario farmers donate more hay for beef farmers out west

Farmers in the Tavistock, New Hamburg, Perth and Waterloo County areas are still donating good quality hay in large square bales out to their western neighbours in need, due to drought conditions this summer. The western prairie provinces — especially

continued on page 53

Martin Ritsma straps down hay bales being loaded by Dale Bundscho to create a load for beef producers struggling from the drought in Saskatchewan.