Friday, March 18, 2011

A Great Memorial


In our little area of the world right on the Newaygo/Oceana Counties line is the Village of Hesperia, MI. In the summer the population is close to a thousand and in the winter it shrinks quite a bit down to maybe 750 people. With all of those people gone south in the winter it gives us somebody to talk about, until they get back in warmer weather.

Hesperia is unique in that there are only 2 places in the US with the name of Hesperia the other is in California, but that is another world.

Here is another unique item.

One of the business in the area is Hunt Ag Supply. Harold and Betty Hunt started the business (Hunt Implement) shortly after WWII when Harold came home with his "War Bride", from Germany.
Without making a long story any longer the business was started on a piece of the Hunt Family Farm. Business was pretty good and
Harold and Betty sold a lot of implements and also Massey Ferguson brand tractors and equipment. A full service family style business where service was the name of the game. Their chldren Bill and Sandy helped and Sandy talks of how all the local kids would come over and they'd drive the tractors around and around and etc. I know Bill went to MSU and was/is a great mechanic on farming implements. I know I picked his brain while I was in Idaho and other parts of the US for needed information on a "Massey". Sandy is the part's "GURU". Her parts knowledge is known nationwide as they do a lot of "mail order" and there isn't much sense asking Bill BECAUSE, "Sandy KNOWS".
Mom an Dad have passed away and through the years Bill and Sandy bought the business and are still keeping SERVICE in their business.
On one piece of their farm is a section they call "Stoney Oaks" and the kids promised mom that they'd build a monument that she'd be proud of.
It is called "Stoney Oaks Chapel" and these pictures do not do it justice but I'll try. Mind you now this is built on a hill about a 1/4 mile off of the road and it sits almost majestically on a hill there for all to see.

Without wasting any tillable land.

The back side of the Chapel


More of the backside with some of the old equipment being seen

Inside the unique chapel is finished "simply nice". The brown floor is done in a brown waxed finish and Sandy says is "DIRT" and that it represents the earth of the farm.
Thia unique storage/chapel building is available to the community. What a great idea.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you so much for this info. I live just around the corner.

    ReplyDelete