Moms Like This Launch Geezer Jocks

Leola with her grand-daughter Megan. On a farm, of course.

 

By Ray Glier

There was nothing unsettled or unclear about Leola Hoover’s role in the family after her husband, Joe Hoover, was beaten by three soldiers from Ft. Riley, Ks., in 1972.

Leola became the do-it-all-mom determined to hold together a family of 12 and replace the income of Joe, who was permanently disabled when one of the soldiers savagely struck him in the head with a gun. Joe, a science and math teacher, was walking home one night from his second job when he was mugged.

So Leola had to replace two incomes. Imagine the task. I would rather try to bend a rock.

The Hoovers had to move from Junction City because of the cost and bought a 160-acre farm. It wasn’t large enough to sustain the family, so Leola turned it into a dairy farm.

Mrs. Hoover was 5-foot-4 and got up at 4:30 a.m. to milk as many as 30 cows. She milked again at 4:30 p.m. She could struggle to lift the 35-45 pound buckets of milk to pour into the strainer on top of the bulk tank to filter the milk. 

I’ll stop right there to make this big picture point.

Leola’s oldest son, Joe Hoover, Jr., 79, still competes in Masters track & field.  Geezer Jock often writes about the combination of nature (genes) and nurture (upbringing) to explain how, later in life, some men and women keep going in athletics, or just keep up their exercise.

This story is more about nurture, though Leola did live to be 90 and threw the shot put at 80. But Joe has told me his mother…and father…gave him more than good genes.

The parents were rocks. Then she was the bigger rock. Mrs. Hoover didn't do it by herself, of course. She had those eight boys and two girls and they did their part.

I’ll re-start this short narrative with this:

Leola came to mind because her parents named her after Pope Leo XIII, who was still the Pope when he died at 93 in 1903. Pope Leo XIV was just installed as the head of the Catholic Church.

Pope Leo XIII extolled the value of the working class during the worldwide period of Industrialization. The Hoovers were certainly working class.

From Joe, Jr.:

“She eventually strained both rotator cuffs so badly (lifting milk buckets) that when she started throwing the shot put at 80, she wasn’t able to throw at a high enough angle even though she was still active and fairly strong. She tried to stay in shape by jumping rope even though she was milking twice a day.”

Here is more:

Leola bought a Bobcat skid steer to help with tasks such as bringing in newborn calves from the pasture, moving large, round hay bales, and lifting the tongues of farm equipment to hookup to the tractor

When it came time to sell the Bobcat, Leola climbed up and spun the Bobcat left and right while raising and lowering the bucket. The auctioneer, Joe said, asked if any of the guys could beat that demonstration. The crowd roared with applause.

This is how we are made. A lot comes from inside us, of our own free will, but there is something to be said for our upbringing. All 10 of Leola’s children went to college and seven graduated. 

Here is what else you need to know about Joe Hoover, Jr., and his foundation in life. His father, Joe Hoover, Sr., got fired from one of four high school teaching jobs because he would not automatically pass the star player on the football team. Joe, Sr. wanted the star to put forth the same effort in the classroom as he did on the football field.

“My dad was reasonable about it,” Joe, Jr., said.

When the star didn’t try, he got what he deserved, an ‘F’. And Joe, Sr., got a one-way ticket out of town. This happened more than once.

“That wasn’t easy for my mom having to move all those kids from town to town,” Joe, Jr. said. 

They were, after all, a family of 12, eight boys, two girls, and mom and dad. It wasn’t like they could throw it all in the back of a Country Squire and roar off in a cloud of dust in a day like the circus.

What else about Leola?

How about this.

She grew up on a farm. She milked cows by hand with her Dad and three brothers. She drove the huge draft horses to help plow, cultivate, disc, mow and rake hay before they had a tractor. Leola fed the pigs and helped pick the corn by hand and shuck it with a pointed hand held tool. She shoveled wheat and corn and helped move loose hay with a pitchfork before they had a baler. 

Leola’s family had no running water in the house and used an outhouse. Her Mom baked bread daily with a wood fired stove. The house was heated with the kitchen stove and a wood stove in the living room. 

The kids walked across a pasture and down dirt roads two miles to a country grade school. When Leola reached high school, she rode to town in a horse drawn buggy. 

Leola married Joe at 19 and raised 10 kids on a teacher’s salary by having a large garden, canning, having a milk cow and helping kids mow lawns and deliver newspapers. She was the family barber, including her own. She hung laundry on outside clothes lines to dry. 

She wouldn’t quit. Leola sent Christmas goodies to family members who couldn’t make it back to celebrate with the family. Those who could make it back home, also received the goodies such as anise cookies, fudge, peanut butter balls, and applesauce cake. 

Leola ran a food trailer she took to farm sales to try to make ends meet. You won’t be surprised to know that she insisted on mowing grass in her late 80s and helped weed a garden from her wheelchair. 

So when you see a Geezer Jock, like Joe Hoover, Jr., know there is some background that could be pushing him to run or jump, or bike, or swim.

Somebody rubbed off something on each of us. Today, consider those influencers in your life.

Joe Hoover, Jr., in blue clearing a hurdle. He is the Geezer Jock cover photo every week. Joe is 79 and still competing. His mother, Leola, has a little something to do with it.