MONROE - Any idea what goes up and never comes down?
Your age.
That's just one of Walt Ringhand's knee-slappers he tells among friends and neighbors. The 97-year-old lifetime Monroe resident has something to teach all of us - and at least a little something to make us laugh.
He's spent a lifetime tirelessly working the farm and serving his community all while staying true to his roots - but it all came as naturally and as willfully as the strong sense of humor that's still bringing smiles to those around him.
Ringhand was born in 1919 and raised on his family's farm just 8 miles from Monroe. In 1900, his father purchased the dairy farm; all 200 acres for $12 an acre. His father died when Ringhand was just 18 months after taking milk to the cheese factory by wagon; something happened and a team of horses ran off with him.
He recalls walking the 2.5-mile jaunt to school alongside his two older sisters, who had memories of dragging the little boy along because he would get so tired. Ringhand wasn't shy about disliking school, but did earn his eighth-grade diploma.
He said there wasn't much to do for fun on the farm - he would often throw a sponge ball against a building and catch it because there was no one to play with.
"I never golfed or played ball or went swimming or bowled," he said. "I was too busy on the farm. I was dedicated to that 200 acres."
But he did learn to play cards at a young age - by 10 he was playing pinochle, 500 and euchre with his mom, sisters and hired men.
When Ringhand turned 14, his mother decided to let the hired men on the farm go and he took the helm. It was during the Depression and the 1930s are hard to forget, he said. He keeps an old play script from a pageant done by the Homemakers of Green County titled "The Story of Green County" near him that depicted the time all too-well. He said he truly lived these details:
"Then came the 30s. The best-be-forgotten 30s, when farmers lost their homesteads and swallowed bitter poverty, when eggs were 10 cents a dozen, and milk was 50 cents a hundred pounds, hogs were 93 cents a hundred, and beef even less. No one had money, or business, or profit, the CCC and NRA and the WPA made their mark. The most memorable snow storms in Green County came in the winters of '35 and '36. A mother lay dead a week in rural Brooklyn before anyone could cut through the drifts to give her burial. Recovery came, finally, and wages crept up again, and people hoped. Farmers were beginning to hold their own, and it was possible again to get a job, and hire a man."
"We went through all of this when me and my mother were farming," he said. "I grew up fast. I realize that now."
He loved milking around 50 cows and caring for about 100 hogs. When World War II came, he was 22 years old and remembers he and his mother appeared before the draft board, explaining how much he was needed at the farm.
They put him in 2C Agriculture, telling him that he was doing his share to provide food, so he wouldn't get drafted. They told his mother she was entitled to another hired man for the farm, but she refused, saying she would work outside just like a man, and take care of the farm alongside her son.
"Agriculture is the most important career in the world," Ringhand said. "Everybody's always eating."
After being set up on a blind date, Ringhand married his wife Bernadine, a farmer's daughter from Juda, in 1943.
The couple never went on a honeymoon so in 1949 his cousin came to stay with his mother and they went to Florida for two weeks. They stopped in Chicago and Nashville and had a great time before returning home. The couple lived with and farmed with Ringhand's mother until 1950 when she saved enough money to move to town.
Ringhand saw many changes over the years on the farm, and has memories of making loose hay. He said one of the biggest changes was bringing in machinery.
Ringhand wanted to be involved, and served on the Mount Pleasant Township Board from 1960-1975, serving as chairman, until they eventually sold the farm. He served on the fire department board there as well.
He never actually earned wages on the farm until much later. Ringhand wrote checks for Bernie's ring to propose and for the hospital bills after having his children with his mother's signature on them. At age 32, he and his mother went to the lawyer to make it official that the farm was his, and he'd most definitely earned it by then.
"I never borrowed a penny in my lifetime," Ringhand said. "That's how she raised me."
When the couple moved to town, Ringhand began working for Monroe Truck Equipment. Ringhand keeps near to him a hard hat that's cracked and broken from a time while he was working at a construction site and a beam fell on his head. It was 1977 - and Ringhand said he owes his life to that hat - after all, it's given him almost 40 more years of life. He broke his back in the accident and was laid up for 10 months. He enjoyed working at Monroe Truck, but after five years, he moved on.
Both Ringhand and Bernie enjoyed keeping busy in town. It didn't take them long to have their hand in the community. He joined the Green County Historical Society in 1975 and served as the president for 14 years. He tried to get away from the group in 2012, but was summoned back for help and stayed on.
"I really enjoy that," he said of being part of the historical society. "When we moved to town we were busier than ever," he said.
The busy came in a different form, but it certainly didn't let up.
Ringhand was asked to volunteer to serve on the auxiliary police because they needed people.
"They knew I was tough from being on the farm," he said. He loved the job, working his way to sergeant and served as treasurer for the organization. They were called out often, he remembers, attending all of the high school ball games, fire schools, serving as flag men for road work and working during Cheese Days.
"We never spent a full day at home," he said with a smile, enjoying how they stayed involved.
The auxiliary police dissolved in 2005. Ringhand was 85 and said the insurance company wouldn't take the aging members anymore. He has great memories of gathering donations and making great friends with the group over the years.
He also served on the Green County Aging Advisory Committee as the co-coordinator with Bernie of the Monroe Chamber of Commerce tourist information booth.
When he moved to town, he also took on an open spot on the county board, serving six years.
"I thought I'd done quite well for my eighth-grade education," he quipped. "I've made a lot of big decisions."
After all he's done over the years, playing Santa Claus for the Chamber of Commerce at the First National Bank lobby was one of the things Ringhand most enjoyed. He played the part for 20 years, saying that he still loves to think about the memories of that time. Sometimes, he said, when time allowed, he would sit back in his chair and ask the children to sing him their favorite Christmas song.
Because Ringhand knew so many of the people and children coming through, he'd often recite the address of where the children lived - making them believe he was the real Santa Claus. He would attend private homes and also made an appearance at the Behring Center Christmas parties - or any other special events as needed.
Ringhand said the gene pool has been good to him and he's lived a full life. His two older sisters passed away last year at ages 102 and 103. His mother lived to be 93.
Ringhand, now 97 and Bernie, 93, enjoy spending their days alongside each other, much like they always have, enjoying some gardening and their flowers. They are longtime members of the United Methodist Church and Ringhand still enjoys a good game of cards with friends twice a week.
He said he isn't sure where his sense of humor came from - but smiles and said it's likely because he had nothing else to do.
The couple has two children, a son and daughter: Rita Vickers, Brodhead, and Randy Ringhand, Monroe. They love getting together with their family that also includes four grandsons, 11 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandson.
Your age.
That's just one of Walt Ringhand's knee-slappers he tells among friends and neighbors. The 97-year-old lifetime Monroe resident has something to teach all of us - and at least a little something to make us laugh.
He's spent a lifetime tirelessly working the farm and serving his community all while staying true to his roots - but it all came as naturally and as willfully as the strong sense of humor that's still bringing smiles to those around him.
Ringhand was born in 1919 and raised on his family's farm just 8 miles from Monroe. In 1900, his father purchased the dairy farm; all 200 acres for $12 an acre. His father died when Ringhand was just 18 months after taking milk to the cheese factory by wagon; something happened and a team of horses ran off with him.
He recalls walking the 2.5-mile jaunt to school alongside his two older sisters, who had memories of dragging the little boy along because he would get so tired. Ringhand wasn't shy about disliking school, but did earn his eighth-grade diploma.
He said there wasn't much to do for fun on the farm - he would often throw a sponge ball against a building and catch it because there was no one to play with.
"I never golfed or played ball or went swimming or bowled," he said. "I was too busy on the farm. I was dedicated to that 200 acres."
But he did learn to play cards at a young age - by 10 he was playing pinochle, 500 and euchre with his mom, sisters and hired men.
When Ringhand turned 14, his mother decided to let the hired men on the farm go and he took the helm. It was during the Depression and the 1930s are hard to forget, he said. He keeps an old play script from a pageant done by the Homemakers of Green County titled "The Story of Green County" near him that depicted the time all too-well. He said he truly lived these details:
"Then came the 30s. The best-be-forgotten 30s, when farmers lost their homesteads and swallowed bitter poverty, when eggs were 10 cents a dozen, and milk was 50 cents a hundred pounds, hogs were 93 cents a hundred, and beef even less. No one had money, or business, or profit, the CCC and NRA and the WPA made their mark. The most memorable snow storms in Green County came in the winters of '35 and '36. A mother lay dead a week in rural Brooklyn before anyone could cut through the drifts to give her burial. Recovery came, finally, and wages crept up again, and people hoped. Farmers were beginning to hold their own, and it was possible again to get a job, and hire a man."
"We went through all of this when me and my mother were farming," he said. "I grew up fast. I realize that now."
He loved milking around 50 cows and caring for about 100 hogs. When World War II came, he was 22 years old and remembers he and his mother appeared before the draft board, explaining how much he was needed at the farm.
They put him in 2C Agriculture, telling him that he was doing his share to provide food, so he wouldn't get drafted. They told his mother she was entitled to another hired man for the farm, but she refused, saying she would work outside just like a man, and take care of the farm alongside her son.
"Agriculture is the most important career in the world," Ringhand said. "Everybody's always eating."
After being set up on a blind date, Ringhand married his wife Bernadine, a farmer's daughter from Juda, in 1943.
The couple never went on a honeymoon so in 1949 his cousin came to stay with his mother and they went to Florida for two weeks. They stopped in Chicago and Nashville and had a great time before returning home. The couple lived with and farmed with Ringhand's mother until 1950 when she saved enough money to move to town.
Ringhand saw many changes over the years on the farm, and has memories of making loose hay. He said one of the biggest changes was bringing in machinery.
Ringhand wanted to be involved, and served on the Mount Pleasant Township Board from 1960-1975, serving as chairman, until they eventually sold the farm. He served on the fire department board there as well.
He never actually earned wages on the farm until much later. Ringhand wrote checks for Bernie's ring to propose and for the hospital bills after having his children with his mother's signature on them. At age 32, he and his mother went to the lawyer to make it official that the farm was his, and he'd most definitely earned it by then.
"I never borrowed a penny in my lifetime," Ringhand said. "That's how she raised me."
When the couple moved to town, Ringhand began working for Monroe Truck Equipment. Ringhand keeps near to him a hard hat that's cracked and broken from a time while he was working at a construction site and a beam fell on his head. It was 1977 - and Ringhand said he owes his life to that hat - after all, it's given him almost 40 more years of life. He broke his back in the accident and was laid up for 10 months. He enjoyed working at Monroe Truck, but after five years, he moved on.
Both Ringhand and Bernie enjoyed keeping busy in town. It didn't take them long to have their hand in the community. He joined the Green County Historical Society in 1975 and served as the president for 14 years. He tried to get away from the group in 2012, but was summoned back for help and stayed on.
"I really enjoy that," he said of being part of the historical society. "When we moved to town we were busier than ever," he said.
The busy came in a different form, but it certainly didn't let up.
Ringhand was asked to volunteer to serve on the auxiliary police because they needed people.
"They knew I was tough from being on the farm," he said. He loved the job, working his way to sergeant and served as treasurer for the organization. They were called out often, he remembers, attending all of the high school ball games, fire schools, serving as flag men for road work and working during Cheese Days.
"We never spent a full day at home," he said with a smile, enjoying how they stayed involved.
The auxiliary police dissolved in 2005. Ringhand was 85 and said the insurance company wouldn't take the aging members anymore. He has great memories of gathering donations and making great friends with the group over the years.
He also served on the Green County Aging Advisory Committee as the co-coordinator with Bernie of the Monroe Chamber of Commerce tourist information booth.
When he moved to town, he also took on an open spot on the county board, serving six years.
"I thought I'd done quite well for my eighth-grade education," he quipped. "I've made a lot of big decisions."
After all he's done over the years, playing Santa Claus for the Chamber of Commerce at the First National Bank lobby was one of the things Ringhand most enjoyed. He played the part for 20 years, saying that he still loves to think about the memories of that time. Sometimes, he said, when time allowed, he would sit back in his chair and ask the children to sing him their favorite Christmas song.
Because Ringhand knew so many of the people and children coming through, he'd often recite the address of where the children lived - making them believe he was the real Santa Claus. He would attend private homes and also made an appearance at the Behring Center Christmas parties - or any other special events as needed.
Ringhand said the gene pool has been good to him and he's lived a full life. His two older sisters passed away last year at ages 102 and 103. His mother lived to be 93.
Ringhand, now 97 and Bernie, 93, enjoy spending their days alongside each other, much like they always have, enjoying some gardening and their flowers. They are longtime members of the United Methodist Church and Ringhand still enjoys a good game of cards with friends twice a week.
He said he isn't sure where his sense of humor came from - but smiles and said it's likely because he had nothing else to do.
The couple has two children, a son and daughter: Rita Vickers, Brodhead, and Randy Ringhand, Monroe. They love getting together with their family that also includes four grandsons, 11 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandson.