William Harold Millard

Published by editor on Sun, 11/01/2020 - 3:08pm

William H. Millard

William Harold Millard, 89, passed away on October 24, 2020 at the Harry S. Truman VA Hospital in Columbia, Missouri.

William was born May 3, 1931 in Shelby, Iowa, the rst of four children born to Harold Irwin Millard and Ruth Evelyn(Watkins) Millard.

Bill farmed with his dad in Iowa while in high school, owning his own Duroc sow herd and selling purebred boars to area farmers.

After graduation from high school in 1949, a pipeline crew of about 400 working men who were mostly from southern states, were looking to hire locals in Garner. So Bill and one of his classmates showed up at 5 a.m. with work clothes on, gloves and a dinner pail ready to go to work. The foreman said they might have jobs for them tomorrow and Bill replied, “why wait, we are ready to go to work now.” They were hired on the spot. So began his work ethic as they worked 180 days straight without missing a day.

Bill and Marjorie were high school sweethearts both graduating from Garner High School in Garner. Bill had joined the U.S. Air Force in 1952 during the Korean War to serve his country for four years. Bill had nished his basic training and was being sent to Germany for 18 months. Before his departure, he and Marjorie Bredlow were married on his birthday. May 3, 1952. They celebrated 68 years of marriage on May 3 of this year, 2020.

Ever since Bill was a young kid, his lifelong dream was to be a farmer and own land on his own. After his honorable discharge from Air Force, Bill and Marjorie rented a 220 acre farm near Shelbina, Mo. It had an irrigation system but not a modern one. He started at 4 a.m. moving 40 ft. pipes by hand four times a day through the mud on the irrigated acres. Later in his farming career, he had the more modern version of irrigating you see today.

In 1960, Bill and Marjorie had the opportunity to rent 720 acres in the Santa Fe, Mo. Area from a wonderful landlord out of Illinois. After moving to this big farm, they suffered back to back drought in 1962 and 1963. In 1968, after a great deal of persuasion from Bill, the Illinois landlord agreed to sell the 720 acres to Bill and Marjorie. With that Bill was off and running to ful ll his dream of owning his own farm land.

Bill started his hog operation doing it the hard way renovating the existing old farm build-ings, making pens out of native lumber from trees that grew onthe land. Three hundred sowswere farrowed twice a year in a farrow to nish operation. It was during this time Bill’s children, Ronnie and Patti, Charlie and Joann learned their Dad’s hard work ethics.

Bill was a farmer to the core of his being and believed leaving the land better than he found it and to be a steward of the land. To develop this farm into the productive land it is today, took a great deal of intelligence, guts, determina-tion, and a hard work ethic he continued up until the time of his illness. He was an innovative farmer, always trying the latest farming practices. His last big project was working around the recreational lake he had built, working with his soil moving equipment, planting trees, and planting a con-servation habitat on the CRP land around the lake.

Bill was well read, knew all about the farm programs, followed politics, world events, and stock markets, etc. Bill was a very generous husband, father, and grandfather. He was always there with a helping hand to the family who he loved and for whom he worked to leave his legacy. They say behind every successful man is a good woman and Bill had that as Marjorie was there through it all.

Surviving Bill is his wife Marjorie, children Patti, Ronnie and his signi cant other Amy, Joann and her husband Jim; grandchildren, Jeff Willingham, Lauri Willingham, John (Glenda) Millard, Jeremy (Jennifer) Millard, Jamie (Chad) Barber, and Nathan Klutts; great-grandchildren John A. Millard, William E. Millard, Ashlyn, Evan, and Bria Barber;two brothers and a sister and numerous nieces and nephews. Bill was proceeded in death by his parents and son Charles William (Charlie) Millard.

Private services were held Saturday, Oct. 31, at Agnew Funeral Home in Paris, Mo., with interment in Walnut Grove Cemetery in Paris, Mo. Memorials may be made to the Wounded Warriors Project.