The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
by Michael Rodeffer, Quill Reporter
A steady stream of farmers, friends, family and past co-workers arrived at the La Harpe Elevator (Roquette Elevator) Thursday, March 12th, to give their best wishes to employee Sharon Hocker on her retirement and to thank her for her dedication and friendship after more than 30 years of working at the business.
Sharon's collegial good spirit, her knowledge, quickness and helpfulness will certainly be missed at the elevator.
Sharon, who grew up in Blandinsville, originally started at La Harpe Feed & Grain in 1977 when it was owned by Estel Neff and Lawrence and Eldon Harrell.
The business went under new management in June of 1980 and Sharon was laid off, but still helped out off and on.
On September 18, 1989, Sharon was asked to come back to work full time at the elevator.
In between her stints at the elevator, Sharon worked at the Macomb Hospital at the switchboard 2nd or 3rd shift and a couple years for a doctor . She also assisted her husband whom she had married in July of 1980, Scott Hocker with his farming operation west of La Harpe. The couple were living in Colchester later moving west of La Harpe to the farmstead.
In February 1990, Sharon had open heart surgery but was only off five weeks before returning to work. She doesn't remember ever calling in sick or going home sick at any other time and only took off one Saturday when their young son had the measles.
Sharon has seen many changes over the years. Earlier farmers hauled in grain with tractors and wagons or with one ton or two ton trucks. Each may have hauled 200-300 bushels of grain.
Today the majority of the corn or beans are hauled by tandem trucks holding approximately 600 bushels, or hauled by semis carrying 900 plus bushels of grain.
Years ago farmers operated 300-500 acre farms while today a farmer may operate 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 or even more acres each, and of course yields have improved on those acreages from 30 years ago, as well. With increased grain yields elevators must handle a lot more bushels today.
Sharon explained how you used to weigh the trucks, stamp a ticket, go outside and climb up on a stand and then use a hand probe to get a sample of the grain from the truck or wagon. Then you would holler to the driver to move on to the pit to unload after you collected your sample.
Sharon recalled one time, when a driver took off with the probe still in his truck. She was able to tell the pit workers to get the probe out of the truck before dumping the grain from the truck.
After obtaining the sample of grain, Sharon said she would weigh a small amount, insert a thermometer in it, wait a little bit, then use a chart to figure out the moisture content, and then she would mark it on the ticket.
She would use charts to figure out the shrinkage of wet grain and how many bushels would be left to store or sell, and then she would record all of this by hand.
Today, Sharon says technology has made the process more efficient. First the grain is sampled with a hydraulic probe which is maneuvered from inside the building. The grain is sucked through a tube into a small container inside the building. The grain is transferred from the container to a tester which automatically gives the moisture and weight of the grain and records the results over to the computer.
After the truck is weighed both before and after unloading, the computer automatically configures the ticket for that load, and a worker would hand a copy of the ticket to the trucker.
Sharon had initially planned on working through Harvest 2019 with her last day as January 10th, 2020. However, during the last week of October, Sharon fell from a ladder at her home and broke her leg. She returned to work after only being off a week and worked for one week when doctors determined she needed surgery. So in November 2019, Sharon had surgery which included a plate and 7 screws to repair her leg.
The last two months of 2019, Sharon was recuperating at home, waiting for doctors to release her so she could return to work.
January 10, 2020, came and went, but doctors still did not release her, so her last 60 days of employment was not exactly as planned as she remained on medical leave. On February 6th, she did become crutch free!
Sharon very much appreciated everyone who came in to the elevator to extend their well-wishes and said she will miss seeing and visiting with all her past customers and friends.
It is hoped Sharon enjoys her well-deserved retirement.
Mike Faulk, Manager for Roquette's Blandinsville and La Harpe Elevators with Sharon Hocker