A special thank you to all those who have participated in our “I Remember Rippey” series. Your remembrances have allowed readers to share in our town’s history, activities, sports, school, church and daily life covering 150 years. We will continue collecting your stories through April 30. Phyllis McElheney Lepke is serving as our volunteer coordinator and stories may be sent to her at Rippey150@gmail.com.
There are many more wonderful articles to enjoy if you click on this link to reach the Rippey Library website: https://www.rippey.lib.ia.us . Then from the home page, click on Rippey History/Genealogy and you’ll be taken to a wealth of articles and news clippings, many provided by Rippey historian Jean Borgeson. Jean is a tireless researcher and great story teller, so you can continue to read about Rippey into the future.
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Walking Beans And Detasseling by Mary Fry Liebich
We made our money before we could drive by walking beans and detasseling. I was with a crew detasseling a few times,
but I also just walked a certain number of acres for the corn people in Perry (located by the railroad tracks then. Pioneer?).
Anyway, I contracted to do a certain number of acres on a field that is just about 1/4th of a mile beyond the Angus curve as
you are gong to Perry. It’s the field on the north just past the intersection after the curve. I think it was owned by someone
named Wicks, but I could be wrong about that.
Anyway, I hated that field because you couldn’t tell where you were. The house was too far away for you to see the
trees, and the telephone or electrical lines which were along the road on the Angus side didn’t tell you where you were. I
go past the field several times a week and now, 65 years later, still don’t like that field.