One last harvest

Lind community turns out to help farm family Patriarch died of heart attack in October

LIND — Dust clouds rose from beneath the machinery, providing a brown-gray contrast to the golden wheat fields.

Friends and neighbors leaned on their pickup trucks and sat in aluminum folding chairs along Presnell Road, watching the combines and tractors cutting across the land, often disappearing from view as they went down the next hillside.

Several chewed on strands of wheat as they watched the long rows vanish beneath the combine blades.

If Michael Conner was alive, he would have been there to help them if they needed it, which is why they were there. To help. Like neighbors do.

Conner, a resident of Lind for five years, died of a heart attack in October, in his sleep. He was 53.

"Real hardworking family, and just no indication, just woke up dead," said friend Curt Franz. "So this is a good thing; we can do Mike's last harvest for him."

So, on Sunday morning, 30 to 50 of Michael's friends and neighbors turned out to assist his family. A crew of volunteer firefighters stood by, in case a fire broke out as the machinery worked through the long rows.

"Everybody wants to help," Franz said. "There's other people up here that don't have machines that are going to help cleaning up."

It would be the seventh harvest since Michael brought himself, his wife of 27 years, Tina, and their daughters to Lind six years ago. They took over the land where Michael's uncle had farmed wheat until his death in 1999.

"He liked it out here, he loved this country, he really did," Tina Conner recalled of her husband, noting they had not farmed wheat before making the move from Missouri. "He loved the area, he loved the people. He's been in and out of here for years, helping his uncle. And then I started coming out and visiting, and I liked it so well, when Michael said, 'Let's go to Washington,' we went."

Longtime pal Rubben Labes had been helping Tina take care of the farm since Michael's death.

"I just kind of took things into control here, and went and talked to all of these guys, and they were more than willing to do this," Labes said during a breakfast prepared by the family before work in the fields began. "It's a really neat thing."

Labes described Michael Conner as a person who was always willing to go help whoever was in need.

"That's why all these guys are here," he said. "It would cost (Tina) a fortune to have this done, because all his machinery was sold. We couldn't do the farming. I've lived here all my life, but like I told her, I am not a farmer. I mean, I could have tried, but expense-wise, it wasn't as feasible. A couple of the neighbors came to me right away, and they wanted to do this. So it just kind of ballooned."

Starting a little before 8 a.m., Labes expected that the workers would be finished by 2 p.m. the same day, as they removed wheat from 340 acres. Alone, it would typically take Michael Conner a week to cut his wheat.

For her first time ever, Tina Conner got to ride along in a combine during the harvest of her family's fields. Her husband did the majority of the work. Once in a while, Tina said, they would hire someone to help out, and Michael's father would occasionally lend his support.

"The community's done a wonderful job of pitching in, and helping us get this going," Tina said. She plans to remain in Lind, although the farm has been sold. She is considering her options, including a move closer to town, where she works for the school district, Labes said.

"I have no reason to go back to Missouri," Tina said. "The community has really, really went beyond to show their support and everything. I'm really grateful for that, I am."

Daughters Lauri Perez, holding her 6-week-old son, and Maria Conner were also on hand Sunday morning. Eldest daughter Donna Wadel lives in Missouri.

The Conner family members periodically found it difficult to speak through their emotions, but they expressed their gratitude as their town pulled together for them.

"It's overwhelming, it really is," Tina said. "With the tragedy of it all, and being so unexpected, and then to have the whole community just pitch in and help you, that is just so unreal."

"They're good family, good kids, doing the right stuff and just met with a little misfortune, and it's just, Mike'd do this for us, if the situations were reversed," Franz said. "It's kind of neat where you get people coming together. These machines aren't cheap to run, but everybody shows up and runs (them)."

Several corporations from around the county donated some of the equipment for the day, Franz noted, adding he thought it was neat to see everyone wanting to help.

"It's just the whole thing that people look out for one another," Franz said. "I think that's why people like living in a rural community. There is a sense of togetherness, taking care of your own."

Doug Wahl echoed Franz's sentiment. He farms wheat about a mile down the road, and said Michael would lend a hand if ever he needed it.

"You gotta help a neighbor out when they need it, and it's kind of the tradition of the community, when somebody needs some help, why, people just gather around and make it work," Wahl said. "Mike was a good person. If I was in this situation, he'd be one of the first ones to be there."