Forgive Dee Bedenbender if his candy-throwing marksmanship is off Saturday.
Bedenbender and wife Sheila are the farm marshals for the upcoming Farm-City Days celebration, and thus will be one of the featured participants in Saturday’s parade.
But Dee will be doing so with his right arm in a sling, having torn ligaments in his elbow while working with a small herd of cattle last week.
“I had put up some heavy panels,” he explained. “I forgot how heavy they were, and I grabbed one and jerked it. I knew as soon as it happened I tore something.
“I picked the wrong time to do that,” he chuckled. “It’s gonna be fun throwing candy out.”
THE BEDENBENDER family has been a part of Allen County almost since there was an Allen County.
The family first acquired a farm near the four-counties line, separating Allen, Anderson, Coffey and Woodson counties in 1881. The 500-acre spread has remained in the family for six generations ever since.
Dee shifted gears to focus primarily on his cow-calf operation, with about 50 head of cattle, encompassing roughly 300 acres with hay and foliage.
He also rents ground for row crops to area farmer Nathan Mentzer.
Dee spoke briefly on the ongoing dry spell that is rapidly becoming critical.
“We caught about 5 inches of rain (over the summer) that the farmers around Humboldt didn’t get, so our corn wasn’t too bad,” he said. “Our beans may be another story, and our ponds are starting to dry.”
Pond levels are so low he’s had to rotate his herd and use rural water district sources.
“We need to get some rain,” he said. “It’d probably take 3 or 4 inches just to get some runoff moisture.”
BOTH Dee and Sheila have continued to be a part of the community, including helping at previous Farm-City Days celebrations. Sheila, in fact, is on the Farm-City Days Committee.
“That’s how we found out we were marshals,” she laughed. “I was at a meeting and one of the girls told me. It was quite a surprise.”
“I’ve always enjoyed the parade,” said Dee, who also helped organize a Farm-City Days co-ed softball tournament with former Iola Register coworker Ron Helman in the 1980s. (He worked in the Register’s press room for 19 years, joining the operation straight out of high school. His mother, the late Thelma Bedenbender, was a long-time Neosho Falls correspondent for the newspaper as well.)
Both graduated from Iola High School in the mid-1970s, and lived briefly in Fort Scott until returning to Allen County after Dee’s father, Neil, died in 2011.
Sheila’s duties involve organizing the arts and crafts booths.
Dee has served on the Allen County Farm Bureau Board of Directors, including two years as president. He’s also on the Kansas Farm Bureau Hay and Foliage Committee. Sheila, too, has been involved with the Allen County Farm Bureau board.
THE COUPLE has three children, daughters Heather and Laura and son William Michael.
Heather, a 13-time state medalist in track and field for Le Roy High School, including a thrilling win over Kansas legend Jackie Stiles in the 1997 state track meet in the 400-meter dash, lives in Overbrook and works as a child psychologist. Laura works as a professional buyer for Collins Bus Lines in Hutchinson. William, who lives just down the road from his parents, works for MFA Oil and Propane.
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