09/01/2026
Take Me Back Tuesday!
A lot of Luthers from the 4th generation down started our working careers gathering eggs. Myself, my brothers, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and great-grandparents- and Bob - all (at one point or another) collected eggs.
It was a daily task and depending on your "seniority" (at least between my brothers and immediate cousins), that determined what aisles you were going to be handling - either the 4 aisles of pushing a cart weighted down by dozens upon dozens of eggs OR the 4 aisles that were conveyor belt fed. (I couldn't WAIT to be on the conveyor belt aisles!) If you visited us while we had the big henhouse, you know that we had A LOT of chickens. At one point, we had 10,000+ layers. You can imagine the amount of time and effort that it took every day to get the job done. (Truthfully, I kind of miss it.) This early chore instilled an unmatched work ethic in many of us - and I wouldn't change one minute of working in that stinky ol' henhouse for anything.
Here is a story about our Grandpa, Rudy Luther, and delivering eggs.
"After my dad graduated from high school, he started farming full-time with his dad and delivering eggs for his mother, who kept a few chickens. As sales grew, so did the flock. In 1955, my dad bought a new Ford station wagon. Back then, you ordered your car and waited a few weeks to get it. He wore cars out delivering eggs door to door, three days a week. When we got a little older, sometimes we would go along and help. He would tell us to just go in the side door to the kitchen and put a full dozen in the fridge and take the empty carton out. Imagine doing that today!"
***As a side note, when I was a kid, one of us kids would occasionally go with Dad while he delivered eggs to his local customers. It is one of my favorite memories growing up - you were almost always guaranteed a lunch at SkyWay, a ride on the dolly, and treats from the grocers, nuns, or kitchen/restaurant staff when you visited. (And I don't know about the boys, but Dad always bragged about me to these folks - it made me feel special.)
This is an early picture of the hens when they were free-range. I have to imagine it is Aunt Barb or Aunt Dorothy - which would make this photo probably around 75 years old!