THELEAVEN.ORG | VOL. 43, NO. 3 | JULY 30, 2021
HERE’S TO THE FARMER
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Three of the five generations of the Elliott family who have farmed this land in Brown County pose for a family picture. They are (back row from left): Levi Manche, Teresa Manche, Sara Elliott, Amy Elliott and Mathew Elliott; (front row from left): Eric Manche, Caleb Manche, Howard Elliott, holding Annie Manche, and Lori Elliott, holding Clara Elliott and Tessa Elliott.
St. Ann, Hiawatha, couple honored by state farm program By Marc and Julie Anderson mjanderson@theleaven.org
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IAWATHA — Master farmer and master farm homemaker. That’s what you can call Howard and Lori Elliott of St. Ann Parish in Hiawatha now that they have been honored with the title by the Kansas Master Farmer and Master Farm Homemaker program of Kansas State University Research and Extension in Manhattan. Their pastor, Father Daniel Gardner, on the other hand, just says he calls them for help — and they always answer! In addition to being a member of the Knights of Columbus, said Father Gardner, Howard has answered the call to be both a eucharistic minister and usher. Lori is the president of the Altar Society and serves as coordinator of the parish’s annual soup lunch and dinner on Shrove Tuesday. This past Lent, when Father Gardner upended tradition and suggested an alternative to the annual event, Lori didn’t miss a beat. “Instead of a soup dinner, I said, ‘Why don’t we take the opportunity to put together a meal for the workers at the hospital?’” said Father Gardner. “[Lori] just
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Howard Elliott plants corn this past spring on his farm, which has been in his family for five generations. He is hoping to pass it along to the sixth — that of his grandchildren. picked it up, made the contacts, and we fed about 180 people at the hospital. I just made the suggestion, and she ran it. So, that was a wonderful thing.” “When she gets involved in something, she does not do it halfway,” he added. “They’re both pretty hard workers,”
Father Gardner concluded. “They’re not unlike most farming families, and I imagine they do other things I’m not aware of either.” Indeed, they do. The Elliotts have served in leadership positions for parish and community organizations ranging from the parish
council, the community hospital and the local watershed district to the Northeast Kansas Beef Breeder Association, the Brown-Nemaha pork producers, and the 4-H and Future Farmers of America (FFA), just to name a few. They’ve been board members, presidents, volunteers and coaches. But perhaps the title that describes them best is partners. The two met at North Central Area Vo-Tech School in the 1970s. Lori was the only woman in an agricultural production class. Married in November 1980, the couple admitted they might not have known quite what they were in for. But they did have a reasonably good idea of what life on the farm would be like, having both been raised on one. “I think we both understood all the good things and bad things that can happen,” Howard said. “When you’re born on a farm and raised on a farm, I think you realize your life is just going to be a little different,” Lori said. “You just don’t go places and do things. You don’t have the freedom as much. The chores have to be done, and the livestock has to be taken care of and the crops planted and harvested,” she continued. >> See “PARTNERSHIP” on page 4