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During
his last year at Auburn, Roberson not only milked cows he delivered milk
to customers in a panel truck.
"I
had standard customers and I delivered to their doorsteps," he
said.
"Milk
was 44 cents a gallon. I didn’t get more pay to drive the panel truck,
just more work."
After
Roberson completed his six-week student teaching assignment, his
supervisor encouraged him to take his exams early and accept a teaching
position at PCHS in Brundidge. Although he knew nothing about the small
South Alabama town or the situation he was facing, he jumped at the
opportunity.
"I
was broke and I needed a job," Roberson laughed. "But I liked
it right off. I got a place to live with Mr. and Mrs. Tom Kennedy and I
was going to make $150 a month. That was the most money I’d ever seen
in my life."
Kyle
Roberson, agriculture teacher, was newly rich.
"I’d
grown up with nothing and I’ve still got most of it," he joked.
Roberson
was 22-years-old and many of his students were not far behind him.
"One
student was 21-years-old," Roberson said. "A lot of them were
older because they would have to drop out of school to work on the farm.
Most of the students lived on farms. That was the way of life back then.
The boys were interested in agriculture because that’s about all they
knew. I taught them about field crops, livestock and horticulture. They
were respectful and eager to learn. I had no discipline problems."
Roberson
smiled as he remembered the "earth roasts" that put his
community and his FFA program "on the map."
"Back
then we had District FFA Contests," Roberson said. "Our
district was made up of 10 counties and the contest was held in Troy.
Robert Godwin, who owned Winwood Farms in Brundidge, owned short-horned
cattle and he got real involved in the contests and wanted to have the
district contests in Brundidge."
For
years, Godwin was a sponsor of the district contests, which became
famous for their earth roasts.
"What
we did was dig a pit about the size of a grave," Roberson said.
"About six-feet long, three-feet deep and four-feet wide. We’d
burn wood in the pit and it would make about six inches of coal in the
bottom and we’d sift sand over the coals."
Cuts
off a 1,200 pound steer were wrapped in aluminum foil and burlap bags
and placed on the sand-covered coals.
"We
would put a piece of roofing tin over the pit and cover it with dirt to
make an oven," Roberson said. "The meat would cook all night
and that was the most tender and best beef you would ever eat."
The
earth roasts brought Brundidge and the PCHS FFA wide recognition. But
that was nothing compared to the impact Roberson’s agriculture
students had on the far reaches of the community.
The
young men, hundreds of them, he taught went on to successful careers on
the farm, in agribusiness and in other walks of life.
He
didn’t rule with an iron fist, although his wooden paddle did a lot of
talking.
"The
older my students get, the harder they say I paddled," he laughed.
"But discipline wasn’t a problem because, if they got a paddling
at school, there was another one waiting for them at home. I had 40 good
years teaching agriculture. I enjoyed it and I’m thankful for the
opportunity to teach."
Today,
small farms are almost extinct. Farmers make up less than two percent of
the nation’s population. Farming is difficult at best.
"It’s
hard to make a living farming these days," Roberson said.
Jaine
Treadwell is a freelance writer from Brundidge. |
