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099
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Transcription
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FROM A GOVERNMENT JOB TO PRIVATE ENTERPRISE
There have been several occasions in my life when I felt as if it were time to move on, but to make a final decision can be a painful process. The first decision of this nature, was when I left home to go to college, the second one was when I decided that it was time to leave the Government, and resigned my position as Director of the Soil Conservation District in Scotts Bluff County [sic] Nebraska.
Verna supported me in making this decision, but I knew that she appreciated a regular monthly check, after the long period of cash shortage when we left the ranch and I went back to college. I knew the time was coming when I would have to make a change, the red tape, the endless delays and the impractical decisions by my superior, was getting on my nerves. I knew if I set a date to leave in advance, that I could work up the nerve to quit when the time came.
On May 1, 1943, I wrote a letter of resignation to the Nebraska State Office for Soil Conservation Service, and set the date for November 1, 1943. My replacement arrived in August, so I took my accumulated annual leave, and turned my attention to a new field of activity.
During the depression, from 1930 to 1940, many folks lost their farm and ranches. The Federal Land Bank, and Life Insurance companies owned properties that had been foreclosures, I knew that I could manage these properties but didn't know how to start. The Scotts Bluff County Engineer had resigned his position and moved to California and was working in a War Defense Industry. I agreed to take the job on a part time basis, if I could get my own business started. For nearly two years I worked as County Engineer, with a salary of $150.00 per month, and established the company that is now known as MIDWEST FARM SERVICE.
MIDWEST FARM SERVICE, offered farm management services on irrigated farms. I had six farms the first year, and designed and developed an irrigation system, on a ranch in Banner County. The Air Force built an airport at Scottsbluff for a bombing training field, and MIDWEST FARM SERVICE, seeded land, harvested crops, and maintained areas adjacent to the runways, while bombers were taking off and landing. I passed my Real Estate and Insurance Brokers examinations for Nebraska and Colorado, and we bought a 160 acre irrigated farm that I managed, along with the others.
In 1945 I developed allergies that appeared to come from grain dusts and pollens. The Equitable Life Assurance Society, one of the companies I represented in Nebraska, was establishing a home loan service in Longmont [sic] Colorado, and I was offered the position.
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Rights
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Metzger Memories
