Retired farmer still keeping busy two decades later

Let me introduce you to 95-year-old World War II veteran, retired farmer, writer and painter Alvin Decker from Philo, Ill., who has kept quite busy in retirement. Some 20 years ago, when he was still in his early 70s, he wanted some help in getting his memoir, “Born in the Illinois Cornfields,” ready for publication. Which I did.

Alvin wrote: “Nothing will ever erase the impressions I got as a boy growing up on a farm: the sounds of a farm coming to life in the early morning—the roosters crowing, the birds chattering, the cattle calling, the horses horsing around. Getting up and getting going was an exciting time of day. The memorable smells—the barn on a zero day, a newly plowed field, a fresh summer shower, the warning of a skunk, honeysuckle and the many blossoms I learned to distinguish. …”

And he went on writing about those memories from those early days on and painted a barnyard scene, corn crib and hen house for the cover and back page of the book. I don’t recall how many copies he had printed, but he took the book and his paintings around the area to events and sold both there and at bookstores and wholesale outlets. After he sold out, he had two more printings. He was the writer, the publisher and the marketer, etc.—very industrious and hard working.

All the while, I began to hear of his work from others as a painter of farm scenes and other books he had written and published through his own company, Prairie Publishing. He even tried his hand at writing fiction and wrote two books, one, “Bev—A Farm Girl Comes of Age,” when he was 76 years old and painted the farmhouse and barn lot for the front and back cover.

Bev was born at home just after World War I in Champaign County. A neighbor woman assisted with the birth, and “… the doctor arrived just as she was being born. Her father kidded the doctor, ‘I bet you will want the full fee.’ ‘No,’ the doctor said. ‘I’ll just charge you half price—$5.00.’ Papa Joe said, ‘I got a million-dollar baby, but she only cost five bucks.’”

The apple of her father’s eye, she grows up on the farm, marries a farmer who gets drafted in World War II and waits on the farm for his return. Their first-born child is born while he is overseas.

“Jim Valley’s Last Run” was written and published a couple of years earlier. “It is a tale of an orphan boy who is jilted by his girlfriend when he goes off to the service of his country. He returns to hardships and troubles, but overcomes all to be a great success.”

Both of Alvin’s fictional efforts, as are the books about living and growing up on the farm, are ones that resonate with anyone living back in those days of the Depression, world wars and growing up as he did on a farm near Philo. For today’s generation, his books give the reader a clear look at the lives that went on before them. One thing Alvin found in writing that many of us can identify with is that he “found the computer a fascinating and helpful tool in writing.” No question.

As Alvin says in “Life Down on the Farm,” there has been some “tremendous changes” through the years. That was written and published in 2003 when he was 77 years old. A man of his age grew up when horses were used instead of tractors. And in the subsequent years, the farm machinery and technology developed expeditiously until today’s farmers can do in a day what took a week or more back in Alvin’s early life. The price of farm equipment skyrocketed through the years and has gone up dramatically since Alvin wrote the book almost 20 years ago.

“Farm Tales” is a collection of entertaining tall tales and stories of animals … with tails. Alvin isn’t writing much now, but he did just get another small run printed of “Life Down on the Farm” so he will have copies of all his books, along with his oil paintings, when he goes back out to events. While he isn’t writing any new books, he still paints. I asked him how much.

“Not much anymore,” he said quietly. “I only painted four this past winter. I’ve slowed down some.”

Not bad for a 95-year-old.