Spanglers receive Good Neighbor Award

“Farming is the only job I’ve ever had,” said Ron Spangler of Eagle Grove, who worked the family farm with his dad since he was a young boy, eventually moving onto the homestead himself.

“I grew up on a farm by Thor,” said his wife, Linda. Growing up, Ron belonged to both FFA and 4-H, showing livestock at the Wright County Fair and the Grand Champion Hog at the 1957 Iowa State Fair.

Linda was also in 4-H during middle school. Both graduated from Eagle Grove High School. Ron then attended junior college for two years and served in the Iowa National Guard for six years. He and Linda were united in marriage and have two daughters, Kathy (Scott) Lehman and Lisa (Mark) Benton. They also have five grandchildren.

Now, with more than 60 years of involvement in the farming industry, the Spanglers have been recognized for their advocacy of agriculture, outstanding stewardship, and community service. On Monday, Aug. 6 they were presented with the Wright County Farm Bureau Good Neighbor Award. They were both surprised to have been even nominated for such an honor as they consider their farming operation to be just a “normal, typical farm.” But if you know the Spangler family, or know where they live, you can quickly see that they go above and beyond “normal,” nurturing their crops and caring for their land, animals, and buildings with great pride and love of the rural lifestyle.

It was 1953 - 1954 when Ron’s mother and father bought the acreage located just east of Eagle Grove - not too far from the baseball diamonds. Ron remembers he was only in eighth grade then. In addition to planting soybeans and corn, the family fed cattle and had trucks. Over the years, the homestead changed as they made upgrades and improvements. In 1989, the Eagle Grove Fire Department came out to burn down the house so a new one, the one that currently stands there today, could be built. Ron shared that when they started the project, his parents originally planned to build a patio area on the south side. But as construction began, his mother thought maybe she wanted it to be screened in. And then she changed her mind once more, deciding to make it a closed-in portion of the house, but they added windows all the way around it.

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