People Of The Palouse

people

OF the palouse

Let’s get to know our neighbors, those like us and those who are different from us. Please send any introductions to: Heather@homeandharvestmagazine.com

by gayle anderson

Tom & Ruby Stroschein

With the cold weather and short days, for me, pure indulgence is snuggling down and watching a movie. My favorites kinds are an inspirational film about someone overcoming hard times and of course, I want the story to end well. Don’t we all? Well, I can assure you that this story ends well. It’s a story about two people who each had their own personal setbacks and found new beginnings as well becoming icons in their own right. With that, let me introduce you to Elk River residents, Tom and Ruby Stroschein, who have shared a part of their lives that most people probably don’t know about.

Both Tom and Ruby grew up in humble rural homesteads in Southern Idaho where hard work, sacrifice and determination were the cornerstones of their character. Ruby was raised in a Mormon household and was one of eleven children growing up on a rural farm in Juniper Valley, which is close to the Idaho-Utah border. Tom grew up in a third-generation sheep ranching family in Sterling, Idaho. Both wrote books about growing up working on their parent’s farms where daily life was filled with getting crops in the ground, harvesting, taking care of animals, overcoming hardships to the extent that in today’s modern world most people wouldn’t have lasted. These are the life lessons that forged each into the people that they are today. After high school, Tom moved to Moscow wherein he helped start the FarmHouse Fraternity at the University of Idaho and graduated with a degree in animal husbandry. After college he came back home to start his own sheep operation, got married and had two children.

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The 1980s was brutal as the farm recession severely affected farmers and ranchers throughout the United States. Inflation created interest rates as high as 21%, farmland values were down, crop prices were in the toilet and ranchers were facing record low prices for their animals. Many in the agriculture industry across the country couldn’t face losing the family farm and sadly, many took their own lives. This grim era was often compared to the Great Depression. For the Stroschein Sheep Ranch, it wasn’t faring any better and Tom said the defining factor to sell off his sheep operation was when he was getting .40 cents a pound for his sheep and it cost him .60 cents a pound to raise them. It was the end of an era and a life he would never know again. Tom sold the sheep in December of 1983. This also cost him a marriage as he and his wife divorced in 1985. Around the same time, Ruby had married, had three kids and somewhere down the line she left the LDS church and ended her marriage. To support herself and her kids she was selling real estate and doing some appraisals, mostly specializing in farm ground. She recalls being told that “women don’t sell agriculture real estate”… but that didn’t deter her. When the bleak reality of the farm recession was in full swing, Ruby created a consulting business to help farmers/ranchers get emergency loans from the government as banks were not lending operating funds during the 1980s. She was on a mission to help her fellow agrarians. After Tom sold his sheep, he focused on raising potatoes, wheat and legumes rather than alfalfa on his irrigated cropland in Sterling. Tom was also hired on to be an agriculture consultant to U.S. Representative Richard Stallings. The congressman was working on the farm bill in Washington, DC and Tom’s Ag expertise was vital. Tom was involved in the 1985 Food Security Act and 1987 Farm Credit Act. Ruby knew she needed the ear of someone higher up in the government to help her with her quest to secure funding for the farmers. And she explains that she and Tom knew of each other from their early farm/ranching days, so Ruby contacted Tom to ask for his help to pitch the idea to Congressman Stallings for federal funding to start up a “guaranteed loan program” geared to help farmers and ranchers. Tom agreed and Richard Stallings asked Ruby to testify in front of the congressional committee to successfully secure federal funding. Ruby recalls that she was often paid in “meat” by the farmers whom she was helping as they had no money. Once again Ruby reached out to Tom to ask if he would attend a presentation she was hosting for the bankers regarding the “agriculture loan guarantee program”. She felt Tom’s show of support would be crucial. Tom came and after the meeting the two started chatting and a friendship blossomed into dating. They married in 1990. After the marriage, Ruby and her kids moved to Tom’s farm. Ruby continued her work as a real estate appraiser until Tom leased the ground in 1997 and they moved to Moscow so Ruby could get her master’s degree in agricultural economics at the University of Idaho. Tom wasn’t one-

-to be idle. He first drove the Link shuttle bus and then was tapped on the shoulder to once again help farmers/ranchers migrate into other careers when Senator Larry Craig secured funding for a program called “Alternative Careers for Idaho Farmers”. This was a program designed to help the farmers/ranchers who had lost their livelihood during the farm recission get trained for a new career. The funding helped pay tuition, gas, childcare and anything associated with costs to help towards career transition. Tom says he mainly worked with farmers/ranchers in the southern part of the state and literally went through three pick-ups putting on miles between Moscow and southern Idaho. After that program ended, Tom was elected as a Latah County Commissioner and served twelve years. During his time as commissioner, he initiated the development of Idaho Behavioral Health Recovery Centers, starting with three centers and growing them to nine centers across the entire state of Idaho. Tom retired in 2015. Meanwhile after Ruby graduated, she also got her MAI designation which is basically a PhD in the appraisal world. She also developed a sophisticated software program that addresses everything from water rights to soil composition. This detailed appraisal then assists brokers with the data needed to help establish land values. Today her daughter, Sarah is now the owner of the appraisal business and Ruby is a consultant and works as a private contractor for the company. In 2018 they moved to Elk River where they both enjoy the small community. Tom is Board Chair of Elk River Recreation District and Ruby keeps busy with her appraisal consulting business and her software company. But it isn’t all work and no play, they love to travel to see their 5 children and 7 grandchildren. After the interview, we all walked outside so I could take a few photos for the magazine. After finishing and as I was packing up my equipment, I turned and saw Tom and Ruby holding hands walking off. And I thought to myself, yep the heroes of this story are walking off into the sunset, just like a great story should end. Simple beginnings… extraordinary endings. So let us take a page out of Tom and Ruby’s playbook to remember to be kind, help your fellow man, and while life may not turn out exactly as you planned, know that you can overcome setbacks and move forward and work towards your own beautiful story.~ And a personal note from me to you, as the holiday season approaches, I hope you will join me in taking a moment to reflect on the true meaning of Thanksgiving and Christmas. I know it’s easier said than done. Gratitude and hope are powerful life changers. So let us all remember as we sit down for these holiday meals, that every single ingredient used came from a farmer/rancher. And that we are beyond fortunate to have the quality food that we enjoy every single day, thanks to the 2% of the population whose occupation feeds America. Finally and most importantly, let us all rejoice in this wonderous season celebrating the birth of Jesus.