From farm to farm machinery

She wasn’t born in Creston, but Beth Perry has called the small town home since the early 1950s.

Perry came to Creston as a young college graduate hired by the Creston Methodist Church as an educational assistant.

“It wasn’t too long after that when a farmer from Adams County came over to visit the church service,” Perry said. “That’s where we met and we got married the next year.”

Perry helped her husband, Jay, farmed for roughly 12 years in Adams County.

Perry said they were quite forward thinking and conservation minded, using practices such as terracing, crop rotation and keeping up-to-date on machinery. They kept a few head of cattle and pigs, and grew corn, soy, hay and spring oats.

“One year, they got ambitious and tried to raise popcorn,” said Perry. “That was kind of an experience because popcorn is dense and heavy. That didn’t last too long. It was too hard to handle, even to truck it out.”

Farm machinery

In 1968, her husband decided to go into the farm implement business, so they sold the farm and moved to Creston.

When Jay first became involved in the machinery business, Perry said it was located on East Montgomery Street and sold Allis Chalmers tractors and equipment.

“At the time that he bought into that he was a silent partner,” said Perry. “O’Riley farm equipment was the name of it. Eventually, the business was moved out on the highway where it is now. He was the owner operator for many years.”

“The original name we had for it was Creston Tractor Sales,” Perry added.

Perry said Jay was the owner/operator of the business for 25 years, but eventually sold the business to a competitor and stayed on as a salesman until his health began to fail.

Jay died in 2006 because of complications from diabetes.

Farm Crisis

Iowa experienced a farm crisis during the 1980s. It was time of intense drought, and a lot of farmers were having a tough time holding on, which affected the Perry’s machinery business.

As the business struggled through the drought, Perry was pushed into the workforce and found a job at Sernett’s, an Iowa based department store, which was located on Sheldon Street.

“That was a good store,” said Perry. “They had several sites in the state. It was kind of an upper class Kmart. They had clothing, shoes, fabric, sports equipment ...”

Flying

Perry said Jay loved to fly and started taking flying lessons while they were still living in Adams County. He eventually got his license and purchased a plane.

The family would travel to Tennessee from time to time to see her parents, and to conventions for the International and Iowa Flying Farmers.

“He liked it. I didn’t,” said Perry. “I liked to go, but I didn’t want to learn to fly. I never felt comfortable because it wasn’t like driving a car.”

Perry said although Jay only carried a private pilot license, he would still occasionally fly others where they wanted to go.

“They’re not supposed to charge, but the other people can pay for the gas,” said Perry.

Change

Like so many others, Perry remembers what shopping in Creston was like.

“Quite a few yeas ago we had a lot more stores,” said Perry. “Back in the early days, we had a lot of small grocery stores in Creston. I remember shopping at the grocery stores. Of course, Penneys was here and Spurgeons.”

Perry liked to sew and said she used to buy fabric from JC Penney and Spurgeons and other stores in the area.

“Then Kmart came in, and eventually Walmart came in and things started to change,” said Perry. “For a long time, Walmart didn’t have yard goods.”