ENDICOTT – Wheat farmer Marv Hergert died last month of cancer. On Monday, his friends drove 21 combines to harvest Hergert’s 400 acres in about three hours.
“It was magnificent,” said June Rowland, Hergert’s sister. “I heard people talking about it, but I never realized how big it would be.”
The combines were part of a threshing bee, a community effort to harvest all of Hergert’s fields, with the proceeds going to his widow, Kenda.
Giant combines lumbered down winding Palouse roads Monday morning and gathered at a field outside the tiny town of Endicott. One by one, they lined up in a row, old metal Gleaners next to new John Deeres. Wheat trucks queued up nearby.
Such an effort might seem like an organizational nightmare. But it was simple, said Chuck Hughes, a friend.
“You just say something, and then everybody starts calling each other,” Hughes said. “They all want to help.”
So many wanted to help harvest the 71-year-old Hergert’s fields that Hughes had to turn people away, he said. What would have taken Marv Hergert two weeks to complete with his old combine took only a few hours.
“That’s what rural America is all about,” Hughes said. “No matter what happens, people want to help you without expecting anything back.”
On Monday, loads of grain were taken to the Wheat Growers of Endicott elevators, where workers weighed a steady stream of trucks filled with Hergert’s wheat. Most farmers were already done with their harvests this year, but even those with work still to do pitched in.
After the fields were cleared, workers gathered at the Endicott Gun Club for a potluck.
Hergert, a member of the Washington state trapshooting hall of fame, was key in running the gun club. Friends spoke of his generosity to the community. Others remembered his distinct singing voice and his baseball scholarship to Washington State University.
Ron Garrett remembered Hergert, who after finishing harvest for the day would sit on the same bench at the gun club to play cards and drink beer.
“He was a hell of a good neighbor,” Garrett said. “He would have been first at any of these places.”
Family members were grateful for the effort.
“I don’t know what words to use,” said Kenda Hergert, who was married to Marv Hergert for 22 years. “This makes you realize how important the community is.”
She was amazed at the number of people helping Monday as she traveled in a pickup from one harvesting operation to the other. The last three weeks since her husband died have been filled with questions, but after Monday she knew one thing for certain.
“We’ll continue to farm,” she said. “It’s a good feeling.”
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