As I understand it, during a speech given by our First Lady, she complained that the President had not been able to accomplish the things he wanted to do during his current term in office because he was constantly being bothered by “unexpected problems”.

I assume she meant problems such as inflation, gas prices, the border, crime, the Ukraine war, etc. She seemed to express the idea that none of those things were as important as the President’s plans for what he wanted to change during his time in office and he shouldn’t have to deal with them. The thought occurred to me, “It’s a good thing he didn’t want to be a farmer”!

As farmers go about milking their cows, raising their livestock, and growing and harvesting their crops, seldom does a day go by that something unexpected doesn’t come up to interfere with their plans!

It can be a small problem or a huge one---a broken bolt in a piece of machinery, a tractor that won’t start, a cow having problems giving birth, a storm and rain preventing hay baling or combining, flat tire, the heifers got the gate open- — the list is endless!

Farmers have to face their unexpected problems, they can’t just turn their backs and walk away.

There is no doubt in my mind that at 5 p.m. on Friday, July 15, 2022, every member of the Whiteleather family and their employees at Minerva, Ohio, was thinking about going about the normal chores for the evening---milking cows, feeding baby calves, washing milking equipment, finishing up for the day and then enjoying their evening when chores were all done.

Instead, those plans were brought to an abrupt halt by a sudden tragedy that happened. Fire!! Flames from the old barn were shooting high in the air when discovered by Lawrence Whiteleather. Their barns, their cattle and their livelihood were being destroyed!

Unlike the destruction in our country that is being ignored by our leaders, the family, friends, neighbors, strangers, the community, people from everywhere and nine fire departments came to fight the terrible fire, to try to halt the destruction and to save as much as they could. Gates were opened and more than 200 cows were turned loose.

There were so many people there that a human chain was formed around them to prevent them from scattering and to try to keep them calm. Once the fire was under control work began to take care of the rest of the cattle. Trucks arrived pulling cattle trailers, bringing feed and water troughs.

Hundreds of people showed up to help that night and throughout the weekend. Food, drinks and water was brought in for everyone. Jason Whiteleather had over 300 text messages on his phone the night of the fire from people asking how they could help. People came for days to help the Whiteleather family pick up the pieces.

The Whiteleathers and their employees worked as fast as they could to try to get calves out, but the flames, heat and smoke became too much to bear and they had to stop. Over 65 calves were lost but several were saved---the future genetics for the herd. The dry cow barn, calf barn and a straw shed were lost along with feed, 1,000 bales of hay and machinery.

The barns lost were the oldest structures on the farm, which was purchased in 1922 by W. S. Whiteleather and his wife, Birdie Summer Whiteleather. They moved there with eleven children. Their son, Ludwig eventually took over the farm and with his wife, Marjorie Jean Lowmiller, turned it into a dairy operation and they had nine children.

Lawrence, Glenn and sister, Betty, own and operate the farm with help from family members and employees. They currently milk 600 cows. The milking parlor and free stall barn were saved.

The losses are devastating to the farm and the Whiteleather family but Jason Whiteleather wants it to be remembered for more than what was lost and I quote, “The barns, we can replace them. The cows I am upset about”, said Jason, “The bigger thing to me is all the people that showed up to help. If we had that kind of cooperation everywhere, we wouldn’t have any problems in this country”. Amen, Jason!

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