Family: Wife: Tracie; grown children: Chris Elbert of Seneca, Jill Onstott of Lamar, Scott Elbert of Arizona and Mandy Brown of Carthage; and 12 grandchildren, with the 13th on the way.
Hometown: Seneca, Mo.
In Town: “I have worked for 30 years at Lazyboy in Neosho, Mo., in the poly department using a computerized saw that cuts the poly to fit the soft parts of the Lazyboy chairs.
My wife, Tracie, works for the Seneca School Board office in Seneca, Mo., She has worked for the school district for last 25 years.”
In the Country: Tim runs a cow/calf operation of 40 black Angus cows and utilizes the pasture for hay on his approximately 70 acres east of Seneca.
“Our farm is part of the original family farm my parents, Victor and Dorothy (Dottie), bought in 1947 after Dad got out of the Navy. Dad grew up during the Depression and wanted nothing more then to own land that he could pass on to his family. He started out small with 40 acres but ended up with 151 acres that he later passed on to us kids, five girls and two boys. That farm meant everything to him.
“They raised brooder chickens, pigs, milk cows, beef cows and even had row crops, such as wheat. They were traditional farmers raising their own food and taking to town what would sell. The only irrigation he used, as I recall, was out of the well for their garden.
“Dad also had a town job at Sperry, Vickers Machine Shop in Joplin, Mo., and Mom was a homemaker. It could be said that she invented the buffet meal because daily at 4:10 p.m. she would prepare a large spread of various foods, many from the garden, and we would all sit down to share and reflect on our day before heading out to do farm work.
“We all helped on the farm, in fact, Dad taught my older sisters how to do concrete, swing a hammer, drive fence posts, haul hay, drive tractors, or whatever needed to be done. Dad would say he could put my older sisters up against any man when it came to hard work. I never looked at it as work; we just did what needed to be done for the farm.
“Sometimes I have to pinch myself when I think about what a great childhood this farm and our parents gave us. My goals for the farm are for it to keep making awesome memories and keep it in the family.”
