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LIVESTOCK, 



By JIM THOMSON 



lAA RECORD Au't. Editor 



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WHY don't you go out and 

 sell 10 more, John?" John 

 Evans looked up at his ques- 

 tioner in puzzled surprise. 

 Up to that moment the day 

 had been bright and profitable. 

 His township's Farm Bureau new mem- 

 bership quota was 10 and he had filled 

 it himself, between loads of corn, as he 

 put it. 



To say the least, he expected a little 

 praise for a job well done. Instead, 

 here was Harry Claar, lAA organization 

 director for District One, taunting him 

 with the typical Claar grin to do even 

 better than the excellent job he already 

 had done. 



For a moment he felt like telling Harry 

 Claar to go jump in Lake Vermilion, but 

 on second thought he decided he would 

 sign up 10 more just to show him he 

 could do it. 



Even an old campaigner like Harry 



Director Evans tunes in his radio with his 



constant companion around the farm, a black 



Newfoundland. 



Claar was surprised when Evans brought 

 in 10 more memberships and threw in 

 an extra one for good measure. He had 

 signed up 21 new members himself in a 

 township with a quota of 10. Not bad 

 for work between loads of corn. 



That little incident sums up the atti- 

 tude of lAA Director John Evans. If 

 he thinks a job is worth doing, he thinks 

 it is worth doing well. Most certainly 

 he considers the promotion of Farm Bu- 

 reau a job well worth doing. 



Evans, the only bachelor member, was 

 elected to the lAA board of directors 

 on November 1945 to represent the 18th 

 district which includes the following 

 counties: Vermilion, Iroquois, Edgar, 

 Clark, Kankakee, and Cumberland. He 

 succeeded W. A. Dennis of Edgar 

 county. 



Before going to the lAA board, Evans 

 served as president of the Vermilion 

 county Farm Bureau for eight years. He 

 was elected to the Vermilion board in 

 1933 and has been a member of Farm 

 Bureau since shortly after it was organ- 

 ized in Vermilion county. 



Back in 1904 when John Evans was 

 12 years old, his uncle, Thomas Evans, 

 an Illinois farmer, paid his brother's 

 family a visit near Reading, Pa. When 

 he was ready to return to Illinois he 

 asked young John how he would like 



• * • 



Editor's Note: This is the seventh of 

 a series of articles to acquaint you with 

 the men you elected to the Illinois Agri- 

 cultural Association board of directors. 



to come out to his farm for a visit. That's 

 how he came to Illinois. 



"I guess I expected to stay in Illinois 

 for a month or so," Evans said, "but it's 

 been a long month ; I've been here ever 

 since." 



He grew up on the 353-acre farm 

 three miles south of Hoopeston on the 

 Dixie highway, helping his uncle and 

 cousin George while growing to love the 

 Illinois prairie land he tilled. 



Then without warning tragedy struck 

 from a black, stormy, summer sky. He 

 had been .plowing corn one sultry after- 

 noon in 1917 with his team following 

 a short distance behind another driven 

 by his cousin George. As the storm 

 brewed George decided to make one 

 more round before going in. 



With startling suddenness, a fiery bolt 

 of lighting streaked out of the heavens 

 and struck at George's cultivator and 

 team. By the time John carried him to 

 the farm house to get medical aid, he 

 was dead. 



From that day he assumed full re- 

 sponsibility for the operation of the farm 

 with his cousin, Gladys M. Evans, and 

 his brother, Richard. The Evans place is 

 actually two farms run together. The 

 homestead comprises 203 acres and sev- 

 eral hundred yards away is another place 

 of 150 acres laid out in three 50-acre 

 fields. 



Evans is a stickler for conservative, 

 scientific farming. He grows some cash 

 grain and generally has 100 fall and 



Shaded area on map Is 18th congressional 

 district represented on the Illinois Agri- 

 cultural Association board of directors by 

 John T. Evans of Hoopeston. 



I. A. A. RECORD 



