W.C. Pryor to serve as parade marshal

W.C. Pryor to serve as parade marshal Image

• W.C. Pryor is being celebrated for his contributions to the dairy industry by serving as marshall of the 2024 Hopkins County Dairy Festival Parade, which departs from Buford Park at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 8. Photo by Bobby McDonald

Enola Gay Mathews Tue, 06/04/2024 - 20:22 Subhead |Hopkins County Dairy Festival Body

W.C. Pryor will serve as marshal for the 63rd annual Dairy Festival Parade, which departs from Buford Park at 10 a.m.Saturday, June 8.

Mr. Wesley Claude Pryor, known by everyone as W.C., has lived on farmland south of Sulphur Springs for all 77 years of his life. His mother told him he was born the day after they moved in 1947 onto the property he still owns near Birch Creek. His parents were Herman Pryor and Essie Lee Johnson Pryor. W.C. has done almost every kind of outdoor work involved with farming and still does today. His longevity has made him part of Hopkins County’s dairy legacy.

“I worked for other people a long time before I went into dairying for myself,” he began. “One of the farmers I milked for was Larry Fite on the Arbala Road. When I was about 30 years old, he encouraged me to go into business for myself. This was in the 70s. He told me to go to Sulphur Springs and discuss a loan with Buell Berry. I went up there to the Farmers Home Administration, and they gave me a one-sheet application. After I filled it out, I took it back, and I got the loan.”

First, he had to have a dairy barn, which his father helped him build.

“We built a flat barn and I used that for ten or twelve years. Later I built a parlor barn on my place, which I still have. I started with 19 cows originally, but I have had up to 100 head. I dairied until about 12 years ago when I had to stop.”

He recalled that once the milking chores were done, that was just part of the job. The milk had to get to market. A milk truck from AMPI, Cabbell’s, or another transport company would come to everybody’s barns to pick up the milk. There were dairies all across Hopkins County, which would become the dairy capital of the world.

W.C. cultivated other useful skills.

“A lot of times, I’d be milking and another dairyman would come to my barn saying he had a cow down, or with milk fever, or needed a calf pulled. They'd come any time of the day or night that they needed me, seven days a week. When I was milking for W.S. Koon, back before I got married, he’d come to get me in the night if a cow was down with milk fever. So, I’d have to get up at midnight to go doctor a cow and then start the day’s milking. So I learned a lot about practical doctoring on horses, cows, and even kids. Once, when I was washing down the parlor floor, my grandson came running to me and he was choking. My wife was right behind him screaming. I tried the Heimlich Maneuver but that didn’t work. I finally just had to hit him in the stomach and a piece of Wright’s bacon flew out of his mouth. And he was fine after that.”

According to Pryor, many of the people who went into dairying didn’t stay in it. Between family members and close friends, the majority didn’t have the longevity that he had. “The dairy business was the answer to my goals of owning property, raising my kids, and having a family home. Hard times have hit all the different kinds of farming, and we all have to find ways to adjust, if we wish to stay in agriculture,” Pryor said. “We had a house fire in 1994 and that was a major setback for us, but we survived. Lots of people lost jobs when the dairy business declined, and it wasn’t just the farmers. It was drivers for feed delivery and milk transport, too. It really affected everyone.”

Pryor is proud of the Hopkins County community he is from. He lives on County Road 1180, off of Arbala Road.

“Its name was the Pleasant Hill community, but my granddaddy and his friends called it Birch Creek, and I want it to stay that way. We don’t have any enemies, white or black, and we all get along and help each other. We all love Birch Creek. My wife, Shirley Ann Sims Pryor, and I raised our three kids during those years — Randy, Joy, and Byron; and they learned to work, too. Now, we have some grandsons who help me sometimes,” he said.

Family and church hold high positions in W.C.’s life today.

“I got all my kids and grandkids into church at a young age, and not just going to church, because anyone can go to church. But, I mean believing in it and doing what the Bible says. I attend the Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, with Pastor Willis Taylor. In the dairy business, we practiced ‘love your neighbor as you love yourself ’ because we helped each other,’” Pryor explained.

In recent times, W.C. Pryor has kept busy taking care of other people’s herds, now mainly stocker cattle, and he will disc and mow for people too. Also, his knack for knowing cattle ailments still comes in handy.

“If somebody calls or stops me about a cow, I can look at her and I can tell you pretty much what’s wrong with her — not every time, but most of the time. At home, we learned to work early in life. I had three brothers and some cousins, and we all worked during hay season as teens. I drove the hay truck before I was 10 years old,” Pryor noted. “I’ve always been around it. My daddy Herman Pryor hauled hay for two cents a bale at first, and in later years, when I got $1.50 a bale, I didn’t turn it down. In high school, my son Randy helped me and another man one summer, working with one truck, hauling 120 bales a load, and making 10 loads per day, Monday through Saturday through hay season. The kids from Birch Creek grew up with the mentality that they worked hard and felt that was a benefit others might not have.”

Pryor reflected, “It’s been said by milk company representatives that I was the last black dairyman left around here. I don’t know if that’s true or not. I do know that after almost everyone else was gone, I stayed in as long as I could, even when it was frustrating to keep going. But I thank the Lord that He put me in a situation where I could work and keep my place, and spend these 56 years married to my wife, and have a home for the kids to come back to. I enjoy the Hopkins County Dairy Festival Parade because it is a big part of the celebration. I am honored to be asked to serve as the 2024 Parade Marshal.”