By Carole Brand

Published: April 21, 2008

Many of the farmers attending the Real McCoys luncheon Friday served in World War II and with military personnel in attendance, each shared the experiences of a lifetime of serving both their community and their country.

The luncheon, sponsored each year by the Coffee County Farm-City Committee, invites farmers over the age of 70 to attend. This year, military personnel of Fort Rucker were encouraged to attend for a personnel glimpse of some of the lives the men and women who served in early wars.

Wildon and Trudie Bryan of Pine Level were just two of the guests attending. Bryan said he had farmed all “my life and still have about 200 acres. I spent two years in service, but I came back home. We farmed corn, cotton, peanuts and had cows and hogs.”

Trudie Bryan said the family “still has the old homeplace that my grandparents had. It’s way more than a 100 years old. We’ve been married 64 years and my husband still does some farming.”

Warren and Annette Speigner have also seen a time of war with Speigner serving his country in World War II.

“I had to go into war, but Annette kept things going. We had to farm to make it. Since 1955, we’ve lived in the same house, but I don’t farm anymore,” he said.

Chair of the Farm-City committee James Aplin welcomed both the older farmers and the military personnel from Fort Rucker’s 1st Aviation Battalion, 212th Aviation Unit.

“We wanted to let the military have an opportunity to meet some of the local community,” he said. “One of the purposes of our Coffee County Farm-City Committee is to make the county one big community and let everyone see that we all come here today each with experiences to share.”

The committee plans events during the spring, summer and fall before November’s Farm-City banquet. Other events for Farm-City upcoming are a Farm-City and Military Tour, scheduled for Thursday, May 16, beginning at the Lee Boyd Farm.

Committee members Stan Windham said guests will take a tour of the farm, travel to a strawberry farm to enjoy some ice cream and treats, and then visit the military base.

“We’re excited about all the events we’ve got coming up,” he said. “We’ll have our regular petting zoo in the fall and the community peanut boil. We’re just trying to get some of the events in this spring.”

For more information about the Farm and Military Tour or other Farm-City events, call the Coffee County Extension System at 894-5596.