CATHY POPKEN HARRIS

Cathy in her office of Cathy's Body Shop. "My dad made the clocks."

As I look back on my life, I can see how my career went from necessity, to a hobby to my business as owner and operator of Cathy's Body Shop. I was the only daughter of Arland and Donna Popken, and grew up on a farm about ten miles southeast of Osceola. It was a 200 acre farm plus another 80 acres Dad rented from Clarence Cottingham. We cows, pigs, and sheep; and raised soy beans and corn to feed the animals. I had three brothers, and we all worked on the farm. I do mean we all worked. From the time I was five years old, I drove the tractor while my dad picked up hay. It was not a problem that my feet didn't reach the pedals because we had a hand clutch. I could push a lever and operate it by hand. It didn't have power steering so Dad helped me turn corners. He'd run alongside the tractor and helped me turn it. No big deal.

We ran farm machinery, raked hay, eventually I mowed and cultivated, so we were on the tractor four to six to eight hours a day. When we plowed, it kept us in the field all day and half the night. In the summertime I was probably on the tractor the biggest share of the time. We mowed, baled, and after that was done, we had to grind feed. Additionally, we always had a project. By the time I was 10 years old, in early spring I was helping overhaul the tractor — tearing down the motor, putting in new rings, sleeves, and bearings to get ready for spring planting.

By the time I was 12 years old, we began to realize that for lack of transportation where we lived in the country, I would need something to drive when I turned 16. I was like everybody looking forward to getting a drivers' license. So we bought an old car — well, it seemed old to me, it was a '65 Mustang. I wish I still had it. We rebuilt the motor, and of course it wasn't shiny enough, so I sanded and painted it as well as a person with no experience could do. I really didn't know what I was doing but I got through it. By the time I was 16, I had 3 cars, and soon discovered if I let my boyfriends drive them, they tore them up and I'd have to work on them again. So that stopped.

I had gone to Weldon school until 7th grade, when I came to school in Osceola, and I graduated from Clarke Community High School in 1974. Farm work didn't stop. During the school year, I did lots of chores after school. We didn't have such a thing as spring break but weekends, if it was raining, we worked on machinery; if it was nice, we were in the field, as we were all summer long. There were no profitable, money-making jobs for us to do that far out in the country, so we began doing machine and automobile work for neighbors. At that time what had been necessity, and with my own cars a hobby, was beginning to turn into a business.

I had no idea what I wanted to do after graduation. Factories were just beginning here, Furnas was just getting established, but I was only 17 and couldn't work in a factory until 18. I kept looking and finally found Max Oliver's car dealership. He needed somebody to wash cars, do detailing, and oil changes. I did all of those for awhile and went back to the body shop. All the used cars had work that needed to be done. People drove on gravel roads, which caused a lot of rock chips. I learned to take care of dents, door dings, and scrapes from people hitting a pole, a bridge or whatever. For ten years I was the helper for any employee who needed help. I could take off a fender if need be, but most of the time we worked on fenders on the car because there was more labor if we took one off to work on it. Anything we could straighten, we straightened; if the car needed a new part, we replaced parts; and we repainted. I could do all those.

I was five feet eight inches tall and weighed 120 pounds — pretty scrawny. But I discovered I could do anything the guys could do and do it better. That was all it took for me to venture into business for myself. I rented a shop from Chris Phillips for $500 a month. I had to start my own client base either from people I was associated with prior to striking out on my own, or people who simply needed my service. Some of my customers were acquainted with me beforehand, most weren't, but the business grew and grew and grew. When people discover honesty in a business, and dependability that can do what they need to have done, where there is dedication, willingness to put in long hours and do whatever it takes to get a job out on time —that is where they will go and continue to go. And it better be a quality job or they won't be customers for long. Additionally, there is the paper work like estimates and accounting, which is the part I hate but that is where the bottom line shows success or failure.

After I had been in business two or three years, Ray Harris came to my body shop to get a window fixed. He was doing a job in Truro for the pipeline pumping station. They were adding onto a building and he had come to Osceola to get lumber and materials. A window in his S-10 wouldn't go up and down, so he stopped to have that taken care of, and that was the beginning We went together probably a year, and were married in 1986. We moved to Medora and live on 20 acres. We had a 200 acre farm, sold it and bought 80 acres down the road from where we live.

My shop was at 1410 North Main Street for 10 or 11 years. I knew I needed to expand, which called for another location. I kept looking for a lot and couldn't find one I thought I could afford. About 1995 or 1996, I found and bought the lots where I am now at 2326 North Main, Osceola. It had been part of the airport strip, before the owners found a new location. The entire strip was for sale, and it took some negotiation before I was able to buy just two lots. I had them paid for when someone at the bank contacted me and said, "I understand you are looking to build a new shop. Let's visit a little bit." We did and I borrowed some money to put up the building I currently occupy. My husband knew numerous guys in Des Moines who worked for the carpenters' union but were laid off. They worked for cash and helped finish the inside. Finally I was ready and said, "I've paid my last month's rent and I'm moving whether you guys are ready or not." We moved in.

Ray and I have a daughter Becky Harris (Phillips). Like all parents, we like to remember and chuckle about little incidents. We go to the Medora Church sometimes when they have suppers and these ladies bake pies when there are auction sales in the area. When our daughter was about five years old, we had just finished breakfast and she said, "Dad, what pie sale are we going to today?" Instead of going to an auction, she thought they just sold pies.

She went to school at Interstate 35 and graduated in 2001. In answer to the question, what does she like to do, the answer is "talk." Her nickname is Gabby. After she graduated, she was always in sales of some kind — cell phones for U.S. Cellular, flooring; she started to be a massage therapist, went clear to the end and decided she didn't want to do that anymore. She worked at Phillips Ford for awhile and now sells pole barns with my husband. This is our second business, called "Breezy Hill Pole Barns," so named because we live where the wind always blows, on the top of one of the highest hills in Warren County. Becky began calling her dad, "Breezy." She would answer the phone and call, "Breezy, somebody wants to talk about a pole barn." So I have Breezy and Gabby. However, when someone calls him Breezy, he corrects them and explains, "My name is Ray."

Becky married a neighbor boy, Matt Phillips. His parents are Tim and Laura Phillips Matt and two friends, Ben Glascock, and Bob Dyer, bought the house across the road from us and Becky often sneaked across the road to see Matt. There were some wild times in her high school years, but she got through them and so did we.

We have a good life. On our acreage, we have cats — too many cats, but they are all outdoor ones. We have one big old yellow neutered cat. He went in the garage when he wasn't supposed to, and I accidently shut the door on him I found him two days later, none the worse for his experience. We go through the same routine every night. He comes to the door thinking I'll let him in. Every night I put him back outside, and the next night we do it again.

We have a black cat that walks down our split rail fence, sits on a post and watches for mice in the field. If he doesn't see a mouse, he walks a little farther, sits there and watches and watches. If he doesn't get a mouse by the time he gets to the barn, he will go in the barn, catch a mouse and bring it back to the house.

My buddy is my dog Sandy. We have three ponds on the farm and she knows when it is time to feed the fish. She jumps in the ATV and we go to the farm. As soon as we get there, she gets out and runs all over the place to catch rabbits. She swims in the pond until there is ice on it, but when it's frozen she won't go out on the ice. However, Sandy went swimming a few days ago (the first weekend in March while it was still cold). There was no ice on the pond and she swam in all three ponds.

Sandy chases deer, then we feed the fish in the other pond and go back home. She is no breed. She's just "ole yaller dawg." Saturday mornings she can tell if I'm not going to work by what time I come out of the house and what clothes I'm wearing. If I come out in camouflage or hunting clothes, she knows we're going to the farm. She'll whine until we go over there and come back.

The March day Sandy and I went out, I found two sets of antlers. This is the time of year, usually in February/March when the deer lose them. As their hormone levels lower, their antlers become weak and drop on the ground. These are called "sheds," and a lot of hunters will hunt for sheds for something to do. They get "cabin fever" when they can't get out in the winter so they welcome the time they can go hunt sheds. Like hunting for anything, some people are successful, some are not. Some pay attention to where deer travel, and then, some years are better than others. You never know and that is where chance and exciting finds come in.

Deer are a common sight on our property. One neighbor has an alfalfa field, another a corn field. On summer mornings we see them coming across the road — herds and herds of them coming out of the timber headed for the alfalfa field. This time of year they need a lot more protein, so they go for corn or beans. When the corn is mature, every night we can look out the picture window and see 8 to 15 deer crossing to the cornfield to eat. We could shoot them out our window but we observe the hunting laws. We couldn't afford not to, and we don't shoot them for the sport of it. We eat and enjoy the deer meat. We had the last one butchered by Dick Overholtzer, who had the locker for years and years, and lives northeast of Weldon out by Hebron cemetery.

Deer are an interesting study. Only the bucks have antlers. Does do not. And in the mating season, the bucks use the antlers to fight one another over the does. The dominant buck will be the largest. They are not monogamous. They have multiple does. In June and July, the bucks will start antler growth and their antlers will be covered in velvet — a real soft, furry material. They polish the velvet off on a tree — usually a young tree or a small sapling. Rubbing their antlers to remove the velvet is how they ruin a lot of people's ornamental trees. I had a young apple tree I thought was going to be nice to have but they rubbed off all the bark on one side, then the other, until finally it died.

There are deer seasons: In the fall, the bow season will start in September or October. There is a youth season for a week in which young people go with their parents to learn how to hunt; then they have an early muzzle loader season that lasts a week. I usually hunt during the muzzle loader season. In December it will be shot-gun season. From the end of October to the middle part of November is usually when rut starts. That is when the deer mate and that is when they run across the highways and people hit them with their cars. So that is the beginning of our repair season, and it usually lasts until after Christmas. Every year we can depend on deer and weather affecting our business. If there hasn't been snow or ice or deer accidents, our business will be slow. That is when we clean the shop, and get caught up on our paper work.

I admit paper work is the part I dislike the most, so I began having Bev Dixon come in to do that. Osceola people will recognize that name from when Bev had a printing service here. Her home now is Norwalk, and whatever printing she needs to have done, she hires done in Des Moines. She began coming when I was at the other location and works for me about four hours a month. She knows bills have to be paid by the end of the month, so she goes through all my invoices, matches up everything, and writes the checks. I sign them and put them in the mail. That works great. I do the sales tax deposits, and take in my reports to the accountants. But they don't think the same way I do. They say, "You made lots of money," and I say, "I didn't make much money." "How do you know?" "I can tell by my checkbook." "How can you tell by your check book?" He thinks I have to read a balance sheet in order to tell if I've made money. I couldn't read one of those if I tried, but I can tell whether I'm making money or not.

I have had quite a little turnover in help. When I get good help, I like to keep them. It makes things a lot smoother, and so much easier. I have two good ones now — Mike Kearney from Creston, and Tanner Brogden from Popcorn Road. I have enjoyed getting to know places by such identification. Popcorn Road is south of the Clarke-Decatur County line, the first blacktop that goes east, off highway 69 and into Garden Grove. Gobble Knob is another. It is the first road east out of Weldon that goes north approximately five miles. If you go about three miles, you come to a T and a great big hill called Hoosier Hill, north of Hebron cemetery. Allen Heston knows about Hoosier Hill. He lives on the Mormon Trail and tells about a historical structure that was left on his farm. It is the original bunk house with original bunks. That is another pleasure I have from being in my type of business. I hear the stories told by our customers.

I enjoy my business. I've built it on my reputation for doing a good job and having it done when I promise. I now have a service area from Des Moines, Chariton, Creston, as far south as the state line. When Jimmy Dean was here, I got a lot of business from the factory. Word and reputations travel real fast in a factory. I miss that now. Guys from Jimmy Dean came up here to work from clear down in Missouri. It was as easy for them to have their car fixed here as to find somebody down there. And here they could check on their car during the day while they were at work.

Furnas was the same way, if somebody had an accident they would come in and ask, "How soon can you fix my car?" They didn't ask how much, just how soon. That reputation was good. If 200 people know about our work, we have a wide coverage. I miss that, too. Our shop is open Monday through Friday, 8:00 to 5:00. I try to take an hour for lunch. Sometimes it doesn't work. We used to work a half day on Saturdays but not any more. That was in the old shop, before I was married.

My husband and I don't take many vacations. When I had the little shop, I could take time off because I didn't have all the responsibilities I do now. I could take off on a three-day weekend and nobody would miss me, or I could go in at night and catch up on my work. Well, after we are married, we don't expect to and aren't expected to do that.

After our daughter was in school, we planned our vacations so she didn't miss, but while she was small, before she was in school, we would go to Florida for the Daytona 500 and spend a week. There was one time we planned to do that, but I had a pickup that had rolled over. I had to stay and finish the work on it, so I flew down, got lost in the airport, didn't take any luggage, didn't know I needed to get on the baggage shuttle, but I got through it. I got picked up, went to rent a car and couldn't because I didn't have a credit card. I had enough money in my pocket that I went to a junk yard and bought a car that needed a door. I put the door in the trunk, and went to enjoy the remaining time. When we came back, I fixed the car, sold it, and everything was fine.

My parents live in southern Missouri — at Mountain View. They just sold their 40 acre farm and moved to a five acre lot with a small house, closer to town. They took care of my grandpa until the end. He lived to be in his 90s. While he was living, they didn't get to travel or do very much. They came up last year two or three times so that was nice. It is 400 miles down there, an eight-hour drive, so we don't get there often. Our vacations consist of three-day or four-day weekends — like Memorial weekend, Labor Day, and usually Thanksgiving. That way we can spend Christmas at home. In the summer we have gone to Colorado or to South Dakota, but we never go far. And that is fine because we have a very nice life right here in Iowa.

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Last Revised Deember 1, 2014