Hometown: Cuba, Mo. and St. James, Mo.
Family: Larry Pinnell; son Mark; daughter Kate and her husband Andrew Nichols; and three grandchildren.
In Town: Larry Pinnell and his son, Mark as well as his daughter, Kate Nichols and her husband, Andrew, embrace the concept of Town & Country as a family way of life. Larry and Mark are both bricklayers for Heikamp Masonry, a St. Louis-Columbia-based firm that builds brick commercial buildings all over the state. They have helped put up new brick structures from Fort Leonard Wood to Joplin, Mo., to Springfield to Rolla, Mo., and back. Larry attended the technical school in Rolla, Mo., when he was still a teenager and got into brick-laying, following in his father’s footsteps of working in the building trades.
Kate is a licensed practical nurse and son-in-law Andrew hauls fuel when not working on the farm.
“These are the things we do to pay for our farming habit of raising cows,” Larry added with a grin.
In the Country: Together, Larry and Mark have Pinnell Limousin.
“We always had a few cows when I was growing up,” Larry said. “A friend of a former boss got me into Limousins and my boys, Mark and Darrell, always showed steers at the county fair when they were growing up. Kate got into it, too.”
“There’s a picture of me in diapers trying to pull on a steer in a head chute,” Kate laughed. “After that I got into showing and have been hooked on working with the cows ever since I was like 5 years old.”
Larry, Mark, Kate and Andrew recently showed their registered Limousin cattle at the Missouri State Fair. They also have Angus-cross cattle.
“Raising cattle teachers kids a lot, like responsibility and patience,” Katie, the mother of three (7-year-old Aven, 4-year-old Alana and 3-month-old Reina) said. “That last goes for the kids as well as the parents. It also has us all meeting people who like to do what we like to do, raising cattle and working in agriculture. We’ve started all ours out young, like I did and like Reina here, so who knows? She’ll probably end up raising and showing cattle, too, one day. We hope so.”
