TOWN OF WIOTA — The Montgomery family had its world turned upside down in April. One day they were preparing for spring planting and caring for hundreds of livestock, and the next worrying about the immediate health of their own.
Clinton Montgomery, son of Lee and Tammy Montgomery of rural Argyle, began having troubles with many of the body’s normal functions.
“On April 18, my brother wasn’t feeling well and went in [to a local health office],” said Heidi Ganshert, Clinton’s sister. “His face was numb and he had a lot of other symptoms. They sent him to St. Mary’s. ... He’s still in there and hasn’t been out yet.”
Clinton and wife Carmen have three young children: Hayden, Faith and Nora.
In fact, the three families live right next to each other off Whiteside Road, and share the same farming name: Whiteside Farms. Heidi and her husband Matt live on one side of Lee and Tammy, while Clinton and wife Carmen on the other side at the intersection of Wis. 78.
An injury to Lee caused another curveball in the day-to-day operations, and farmhand Cory Bruehlman couldn’t do it all himself.
Bruehlman said that as of right now, they have to milk about 150 cows at the farm. They also have about 35 head of beef, about 60 steers, about 200 young stock and heifers, and about 1,000 acres of ground.
“It’s been a lot,” Heidi said. “We don’t have any backup — this is it.”
Needing to quickly make arrangements to keep the farm afloat in one of the busiest times of the year, both Heidi and Carmen were given time off from their jobs at Argyle Schools. Carmen is a Business and computer ed teacher, while Heidi is a science teacher, the athletic director and varsity softball coach.
Heidi’s daughter’s Grace returned from college to help, and other family members like Heidi’s children Thatcher and Weston have picked up extra chores to keep pace.
“Grace and my boys have really stepped up. They have taken every other night milking so that I can still help coach,” Heidi said. “They are always around. When I have to go places, they come and help Cory so that everyone can get a break. In the meantime, we’re all still trading off and staying the night with my brother.
But when it came time for planting, the task seemed daunting. With hundreds of acres of cropland, planting needed to be done soon.
“Aaron Gifford, we buy seed from him in town. He decided to gather all the farmers and get together to help us get our corn and beans planted because we couldn’t do it all by ourselves,” Heidi said.
So on May 6, about a dozen farmers from the area brought their own equipment over to Whiteside Farms. Rain had delayed the start of the communal planting, but by lunchtime tractors were in the field, drones in the sky keeping track of progress, and Heidi and Grace delivering lunches, which were donated by Woodford State Bank, Tammy’s employer.
“It’s amazing. We can’t even begin to think about how to say ‘Thank You,’” Heidi said. “The amount of people from the school; the people that have brought us food throughout the week; people that have stepped up and helped with the kids and running them places; the substitutes that have subbed for Carmen and I at school; my administration (at Argyle Schools) for giving both of us leaves of absence; and my mom’s Woodford State Bank for being so helpful and giving her time to just be here and letting us do what we have to do.”
The day was especially uplifting to the Montgomery family, knowing that they are not alone to fend for themselves in their desperate hour of need.
The help with planting also allowed them to turn some focus back to Clinton, who is still hospitalized at St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison. The family has taken turns staying bedside with him, as just three visitors are allowed in at a time, per hospital policy.
“Still, at this moment, we don’t know what’s causing it. It’s an infection in his brain stem, and it’s causing a lot of motor issues with swallowing and seeing and things like that,” Heidi said.
