By Susie Edmonston, Editor Emeritus
When reading about the Filson family in Comanche County History Books, volumes 1 and 2, I read this about Gary:
“Gary started helping his dad in the shop at an early age. He delivered some of his first chutes to La Junta, Colo., at the age of 14, pulling a four-wheel trailer behind a jeep. He often was excused from school to make trips and by age 18 had traveled alone in 22 states.
“Gary worked his way through college receiving his BS degree at Northwestern of Alva, Okla.”
Then here is what Larry, his brother, said in a 1975 newsletter to his classmates:
“Since 1965 I have been building a few cattle chutes here in Protection, and as long as there is one cow left, I will be plugging along making a chute or two.”
• • • • • • •
Gary and Charlotte Filson have six children: Stephanie graduated in 1974, Kendal graduated in 1978, Mica in 1980, Corey in 1982, Ryan in 1985, and Brook in 1987.
After the last one graduated from Protection High School, Charlotte began to accompany her husband occasionally to the farm shows, especially if they were located close to family members.
She had a lot of positive comments during our interview. One was “the company received only a few hot checks.”
Some of their ideas to improve their equipment came from people she and Gary met. One of them came from Frank Edwards, a piano tuner from Bedford, Virginia, who was legally blind from the Korean War and had a cow herd, but still could see good enough. Later, he became a dealer for them.
Gary and Charlotte remarked they had a lot of funny stories to tell about some of the unusual people they met at farm shows. They dealt with the nicest group of people, especially on their travels and had many repeat customers.
One story was about Steve Stephens of Protection (salesperson representing Filson’s) who was with them at a booth at a farm show. They met a couple with five cows. Steve walked away and so did Gary knowing they probably wouldn’t make a sale. But Charlotte visited with them!
Next year that same couple showed up, now having 10 cows, and said they wanted to speak to Charlotte. They bought the highest price piece of equipment from her, not them!
Charlotte also commented on another show they attended. Two bachelor brothers from Virginia came each year to the Georgia show. They always showed up in brand new cutoff overalls! But while the “Guys” were busy with people looking at equipment, Charlotte entertained “The Boys.” Then one year they brought their nephew and wanted her. To her surprise they bought the entire display. She definitely enjoyed those times.
Another story was about Gary staying in hotels, not motels. He entered this place with his suitcase to stay overnight and wondered why there were so many girls around. Well, it was a girls’ dorm.
Kendal also had a couple of stories.
“My grandpa Ben (who never had a pilot’s license) accompanied Dr. Glenn (longtime doctor in Protection) in a two-seater air coupe from Protection to Cuba. Dr. Glenn later flew between a high wire line and a barbed wire fence and wrecked his airplane; therefore he was forbidden to ever fly a plane again.”
The other story:
“My grandparents had a dairy in Protection. Gary was walking to deliver some milk and Mrs. Jones ran over him.”
I called Gary to check this information. He said, “My parents had 10 cows and my sister Marlene and I milked them morning and evening. I was delivering two quarts of milk to a neighbor. Mrs. Jones (whose husband was the pharmacist in town) saw me and thought I would stop, and I saw her and thought she would stop. We met in the middle and her vehicle bumped me and I fell in the snow but wasn’t hurt. I recovered one of the quarts to deliver but not the other.”
Gary also added to Kendal’s airplane story: “The plane landed in Mississippi and got stuck in the mud and they had to hire someone to help them out. Going on in Cuba was ‘The Flying Farmers’ and they didn’t get there in time to join them.”
Also, Gary told me that Ben and Dr. Glenn owned identical planes.
Popular Piece of Cattle Equipment
My husband, a farmer/rancher, really liked having a calf table. It is a specialized piece of livestock equipment used to catch, squeeze, and tilt a young calf onto its side for safe handling.
It allows giving shots safely without the animal kicking or moving, holding the calf still to apply hot or freeze brands, providing clear, safe access to the lower body for castration, and making it easy to place ear tags or treat eye issues.
Features are using a pivot action and the calf’s weight to tip the animal sideways smoothly; securing the calf’s head and body tightly with the head-gate so it cannot escape; allowing a person to drop the removable bars or swing side pipes away for total access to the animal. Most standard models handle calves weighing up to 450 to 550 pounds.
