Sloan family receives help with harvest after death

SLOAN, Iowa (KCAU)– Early September, Terry Small passed away at the age of 73, just before harvest. Now, several farmers have banded together to help the Small family in a time of need.

“We raised families together, snowmobiles, motorcycles, cars,” Sloan farmer Tony Kenney said. “We were involved in all of that. And we were a tight-knit outfit.”

After Terry’s passing, his wife, Nancy Small, wasn’t sure what to do about the upcoming harvest season. That was, until neighboring farmers decided to lend a hand.

“People started asking, what was going on? What was going to happen if Nancy needed some help?” Kenney said. “You know, the family and everybody just decided we were going to take the crops out, save them money as far as getting somebody else to come in and harvest it.”

For most of the day on Monday, farmers were out in the Smalls’ bean fields.

“There’s six combines and crew, but when we get to the corn, it’ll double that, easy,” Kenney said. “And there’s that and many more that have offered to help. So it’ll be interesting, but to get the corn out in a timely fashion, we’ll have a lot of people here.”

On top of the Smalls’ crops, those helping still have to harvest their own fields. However, Kenney said it’s worth it to honor Terry.

“Terry Small was a special neighbor and this community is just showing him the respect that he has due,” Kenney said. “Terry did a lot for this community.”

Kenney told KCAU 9 that he and several other farmers plan to harvest the Smalls’ corn in roughly two weeks.

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