No farming? No way

A longtime Jackson County farmer hasn't spent all of his life tilling the soil.

William "Bill" Kamman, who will be 80 on Sunday, said he spent one year working for Noblitt-Sparks (later to become Arvin Industries.)

"I decided I didn't want to do that the rest of my life," he laughed.

Kamman, born June 1, 1928, to William and Nora Deppert Kamman, grew up at the edge of Brownstown.
"Dad farmed for a living," he said. "He went through the good times after World War I and the bad times."

Kamman would soon follow in his father's footsteps.

He graduated from Brownstown High School in 1946 and married Joy Achelpohl on Sept. 11, 1948. They lived in Seymour for a brief time, then in Brownstown for a year, before moving to a farm in February 1950. He and Joy remained on the farm, which was between Brownstown and Seymour, until 2001 and now live in Seymour. Joy is retired from Farm Bureau Co-op.

Kamman grew melons for 42 years, and other crops, as well as raising some livestock.

But, "We always had the melons," he said, including some that were sold on a self-serve basis along the highway.

Kamman said he began farming with 110 acres. When he retired, he was farming nearly 800 acres.

"It was just as easy to do 800 in the '90s as 110 in the '50s," he said, referring to advances in farming and farm equipment.

"I remember when I started, I had just a small tractor," he said.

Other changes in farming Kamman has witnessed is the quality of seed and the different way that crops are grown.

"The seed is so much better, more productive," he said.

Where once people literally worked the ground - plowing and disking the earth in preparation for planting - now it's a matter of spraying for weeds and practicing no-till farming, Kamman said.

"To me, that was one of the greatest things," he added. "No-till fields do not wash.

"We don't have sandstorms any more," he said, recalling how the wind used to lift the dust from the bare earth and whip it across the open fields.

Farming has changed much in just the few years since he's retired, Kamman said, but he took a philosophical view of it.

"Well, it's like everything else," he said. "Change is constant."

He said he believed a person trying to start out, as he did, as a small farmer today would likely face an impossible challenge.

It wasn't easy in the 1950s, either. Like his father, Kamman faced some tough times in his farming career, including some extreme weather conditions.

"In 1954, in my fourth summer of farming, we had a really bad drought," with 1955 being more normal, he said. "In 1956, a big flood wiped out almost all (the crops)," Kamman said. "In 1957, it flooded again.

"In 1958, I didn't think things could get worse, but it did," with the ground being flooded until he "could only farm the high spots."

Along about then was when Kamman took on a "temporary" job that lasted 30 years - driving a bus for the Seymour school system.

He said he loved farming, but gaining a foothold wasn't easy.

"It was really rough," he said. "I don't know how, but we made it."
Would he do it again?

"Yes, I think I would," he said. "I enjoyed it and I'd probably do it again."

There's another decision he made early in life that he doesn't regret today.

"The best thing that ever happened to me was when I married Joy," Kamman said.

The two met in 1947, on the night of the Brownstown High School commencement. Joy had just graduated from Vallonia High School.

Kamman and another boy were out driving and saw Joy and another girl walking. Kamman's companion happened to already be acquainted, and Kamman and Joy were introduced, marrying the next year.

They are the parents of two children, Jim Kamman, Seymour, whose wife is Linda Kamman, and Barbara Potter, Colorado Springs, Colo. They have four grandchildren, Nathan Potter, Jennifer Kamman, Holly Lentini and Jami VonDielingen, whose husband is Scott VonDielingen, and three great-grandchildren, Jackson Lentini and Caleb and Conner VonDielingen.

Kamman said he has always liked to travel, and has seen every state except Rhode Island, Delaware and Alaska. For the couple's 50th wedding anniversary in 1998, they traveled to Europe, visiting several countries, including Germany.

While in Germany, the couple visited Hilter, from which both his and his wife's families emigrated in the 1840s and 1850s. They visited their ancestors' graves, which were in the same cemetery, and even attended a service in the same church building where their families had worshipped.

"It was an experience just to know that family had been there and lived there," Kamman said. "It was a very interesting experience."

Other places he found especially interesting were Munich, where Oktoberfest was in full swing, and Paris.

"The Eiffel Tower was something," he said.

These days, he enjoys gardening, raising flowers and playing cards, and for many years was a square dancer.

The Kammans have been members of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Seymour for more than 50 years.

If you go
What: Reception to celebrate the 80th birthday of William Deppert Kamman of Seymour
When: 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday
Where: Immanuel Lutheran Church Social Room, 605 S. Walnut St., Seymour.