Greg and Paula Schock were honored as Producers of the Year at the 46th annual Ag Appreciation Dinner held at the Ronan Community Center April 10.

Before a crowd of around 200 ag producers and supporters, Kris Schock spoke about his parents.

“Everybody in this room knows my dad,” he said. “... He convinced the St. Ignatius home-ec class to serve beef for Thanksgiving. He has a farming Leatherman (all-purpose tool), a going-to-church Leatherman, a puttering-around-the-house Leatherman, and he’s probably wearing one tonight.”

“He’s also the guy who had grizzlies in his corn field, a lot of grizzlies, even Monte was there,” Kris joked. “So many grizzlies that 60 Minutes interviewed him.” (Google 60 Minutes, Greg Schock, to see the clip).

“But he’s also the guy who’ll drop everything at a minute’s notice to help to help those in need, whether it’s loaning a piece equipment in case of a breakdown, helping someone harvest their crops, putting cows away that aren’t his, pulling someone out of the ditch more than once, or plowing snow with his tractor,” Kris said.

“He’s the one who has volunteered countless hours advocating for agriculture and for a way of life that all of us in this room cherish.”

Kris didn’t forget his mom either.

“Ask anyone in St. Ignatius under a certain age who their favorite elementary school teacher was, and you’ll most likely hear Mrs. Schock. Paula taught school full-time for 28 years … touching so many lives with her patience and her dedication to give every student the essential skills to be a lifelong reader and learner.”

“After long days in the classroom, she came home to a dairy farm. She drove the hay truck and the silage truck, with or without brakes; she chased cows at 2 a.m. after the milker left the gate open …,” he said.

Her son also lauded her “amazing sack lunches during harvest time,” washing countless loads of clothes “that smelled like manure or diesel or both,” and innumerable trips to town to retrieve equipment parts.

“Suffice it to say there’d be no Schock’s Dairy without Paula,” Kris said.

Soon after graduating together from St. Ignatius High School, Greg and Paula (Roullier) Schock entered into a partnership to operate Schock’s Mission View Dairy with Greg’s parents, Walt and Louise, in 1976.

Greg went on to milk cows for 43 years, first selling raw milk to Meadow Gold and then switching to Darigold. He stopped milking in 2019, and now he and Paula run a cow/calf operation and sell hay.

Paula and Greg are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this year.

According to Kris, the couple never envisioned the future they created.

“Fifty years ago, a farm kid, Greg, who swore he’d never take over the dairy farm, married a city girl, who never planned to be a farmer. Together they built something they never expected — a dairy, a teaching career, a family with five kids, and a life that made this whole valley a little better.”

In addition to Kris, his sister Emily, a bush pilot in Alaska was there; she flew down especially for the Ag Appreciation presentation. She could only stay a day or two, but Greg said, “I’ll take her whenever I can get her.”

As usual, cocktails were served at 6 p.m. and dinner at 7 p.m. The steaks were grilled by the faithful crew in the beef barn and served with all the trimmings while friends visited with folks they hadn’t seen for a while and welcomed new people as emcee Brian Miskimins kept the evening rolling.

Miskimins called all the 4-H an FFA young people out of the kitchen to give them a round of applause for their hard work. The Ronan Chamber of Commerce puts on the Ag Appreciation dinner with help from local businesses, but it takes many volunteers and all the chamber members to make the event run smoothly.

Lake County Commissioner Bill Barron took the microphone to praise Lake County grants administrator Billie Lee, and fairgrounds manager Sjaan Vincent, two women who have worked tirelessly to find and write grants to upgrade the Ronan Community Center.

Some of the work, such as the underground water and sewer systems, wasn’t visible to the crowd, but much of it was apparent. The project enlarged and remodeled the center’s bathrooms, reconfigured the kitchen with new flooring and other amenities, and added a generator and new, more efficient doors and windows. Thanks to Friends of the Fairgrounds, there is also a covered concrete patio on the north side of the center.

“You put Billie Lee and Sjaan Vincent together, and they are a force to be reckoned with,” Barron said.

The fairgrounds and the community center also serve as a reunification center for any emergencies; and they are unique in that they can house people and animals during forest fires, floods, earthquakes and other crisis.

The evening ended with cake and coffee, drawings for door prizes from local businesses, and more visiting and congratulations to the Schocks.

As Kris noted, “We’re so proud to be their kids. And please, always remember to shut the gate.”

    FFA and 4-H young people eat dinner on the Ronan Community Center's new outdoor patio before they begin working at the Ag Appreciation dinner on April 10. (Berl Tiskus/Leader)
  

    Lake County grants administrator Billie Lee and fair manager Sjaan Vincent chuckle as county commissioner Bill Barron compliments them on their work on remodeling the Ronan Community Center. (Berl Tiskus/Leader)
  

    Lake County ag producer Will Tusick signs his name on his Ag Appreciation dinner ticket for the door prize drawing. (Berl Tiskus/Leader)