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I’m grateful I get to introduce you to another member of our staff today. What is Jeff Stoker, our sales team lead, grateful for? He writes…
I come from a close-knit family. My dad spent 20+ years in the Air Force, and we moved around quite a bit during my childhood. It was a challenge to start over, to find new friends, get used to new schools, new areas, new climates, new everything. One constant, however, was the comfort in knowing that I always had my family as “built-in” friends as we established ourselves in new areas. We did things together, we played together, we prayed together, we made lasting memories.
I recently had the chance to take my dad on a business trip to help out at a trade show booth at the New York Farm show. My dad has been retired for some time but grew up on a small farm in Idaho and loves people. It seemed a great fit. I knew he would handle the responsibilities asked of him at the show well because it’s second nature to him to be friendly and kind to others and to enjoy good people. And that was a comment he made to me more than a dozen times over the course of the three-day show there in Syracuse: “You can really tell that these are good people. They are humble, down-to-earth, not pretentious.” My dad appreciates the core values of farmers because they are the values that define him, as well.
I would be lying, however, if I said that the main reason I took my dad with me on this trip was because he would be a great fit. He was, and I knew he would be. But my motivation was more of a selfish one. I wanted to spend time with my dad.
I’ve been away from home for probably 16 years now. Things change as you grow up, get married, have kids and support yourself. For me, I have grown to love and respect my parents all the more for the sacrifices they made and the time they took to be parents. Their influence has helped me to be a husband and parent myself, though my feet don’t quite fit in the big shoes I have to fill. They taught me to love God and my fellow man. They taught me to work, taught me to try to serve others. They showed me how to be happy.
I am grateful for my family. For good parents, for wonderful brothers and sisters, and now, for my own family, a loving wife and three amazing kids that have their own personalities and their own special way of bringing light and happiness into my life.
Thank you, Jeff. I feel blessed to be able to work with you and to have gotten to know your family even a little bit. I love seeing how you and your sweet wife interact with your children and know that they feel as loved and cared for as you do by your own family.
progressiveforage 
As a father, it was a great blessing to be able to spend time with Jeff. This is not something that is easy to do when we lead such busy lives. As an Air Force family, we enjoyed traveling to new places and meeting new friends. This trip was allowed me to meet some nice people from upstate New York and see some places that I haven’t visited in many years. It was a great experience all the way around for me.