Stan's last pumpkin

Stan Elmhurst grew giant pumpkins here on Vancouver Island
longer than most of us can remember. Longer than he could
remember, in fact, and he won most of the contests he
entered. His pumpkins were always orange, and round, like
pumpkins should be. And they were always over 300 pounds,
(with a personal best last year of 387), which was enough to
get his picture in the local paper every year. 

When I first met Stan, he told me that he ordered his seeds
from ‘somewhere back east’. That was years ago, when nobody
knew too much about growing pumpkins. He never had all the
books and technical knowledge about pumpkins that most of us
do today - he just instinctively knew how to do things
right. 

I guess you could say that Stan inspired me a lot in growing
giant pumpkins.

After he died last August at the age of 84, his widow Irene
cared for Stan’s last pumpkin as best she could, and his
fellow pumpkin growers got together and agreed that they
would make sure this pumpkin would make it to the weighoff.
They usually helped every year, anyway, but this year it was
a special promise.

But disaster struck! The night before last Saturday’s
weighoff Stan’s last pumpkin was vandalized by persons
unknown. It had been hacked into several pieces which were
scattered around Stan’s yard, and many of the seeds removed.
As you can well imagine, this news was devastating to Irene
and heartbreaking for us all.

But Stan’s pumpkin still made the weighoff. His friends
gathered up the pieces, brought them to the weighoff site,
and placed them on the scales. There was not a word of
protest from anyone. Stan’s last pumpkin was registered as a
legal entry. The weighmaster even added a few extra pounds
to make up for missing pieces and seeds.

Stan’s last pumpkin weighed in at an official 266 pounds,
for second place. In everyone’s eyes, though, - that pumpkin
was the real winner - and so was Stan.

Thanks for everything, Stan.



Bill Verchere, 
Ladysmith, BC Canada  
                  
   Visit my Giant Pumpkin and Extreme Skiing Page at
   http://www.island.net/~billv/
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