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2
Homestead
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Mrs. William S. (Phyllis) Endslow, Marietta RDI, wife of a
>eef cattle farmer and mother of two small children con
iders her home and children her first duty but has also found
way to be a real partner in the business and a leader in her
hurch.
Mrs. Endslow says “I prefer to stay at home.” Her
tusband also thinks its best for her to manage the home and
ic takes care of the farm work. They have a son Billy, four
nd a half years old, and a daughter Janie Sue, two and a half
■ears old. Billy was named William Harold Benson for his
ather and grandfather and his uncle Benson Brown of
Spokane, Wash., who has the same birthday. Billy is the only
>oy of his generation that will carry the Endslow name so his
iarents have him the family name. Janie Sue was born on
er great grandmother Jane Elizabeth Endslow’s birthday
*nd her mother wanted a Susie so she was named Jane
Elizabeth Suzanne. Billy attended Mrs. Jack Wenger’s
airsery school the last half of the past term and will attend
his coming school term. Janie Sue will attend there when she
s three and a half years old. Mrs. Wenger lives near End
lows and conducts one session of the nursery from 9:30 to
4:30 A.M. and another from 12:30 to 2:30 P.M. in the
lasement of her home.
Mrs. Endslow says “We like to travel. We like to take the
hildren on our trips. We usually get one good meal a day at a
estaurant and have two in our room.” The family went on a
our the past January to a no-till farming conference in
Hawaii, staying in Honolulu. The tour was sponosred by
?orld Wide Farm Forums which is affiliated with No-Till
’armer and Farm Wife News magazines. Over 200 couples
?ere with the tour. Bill’s brother George and a fourteen year
Id cousin Nancy Werst, who was their baby sitter, also went.
' till and Phyllis bad gone on an eight island tour of Hawaii
■ve years ago.
Phyllis went on a nine and a half week guided tour of 18
European countries in 1963 which was arranged by Kenneth
Ireider of Elizabethtown. The tour took them into Russia;
wast Germany; Poland where they visited the Polish state
arm; Hungary; London, England; Ireland, Scotland;
101 l and; Austria; Geneva, Switzerland; Italy and the island
f Sardinia. Bill also went to Sardinia Island with friends m
965.
Bill and Phyllis own the Ebersole farm and the farm where
‘hyllis’ parents, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Longenecker and her
ister Judy live. Bill is also in a four farm partnership with
is two brothers George and James and they do business as
ne Endslows Brothers. They farm a total of 650 acres in East
Jonegal Township; 400 acres of corn, 120 of wheat, 65 of
arley, 35 rye and the rest alfalfa and pasture. Bill, George
nd Arthur Longenecker do practically all the work. In a real
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Phyllis is. igi.
nclude ceramics and antique collecting.
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by
Mrs.
Charles
McSparran
Farm Feature
Writer
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Mrs. Phyllis Endslow
Phyllis Endslow holding her daughter Janie Sue
with her son Billy in front of the Donegal
busy havert season like now when Bill is hauling wheat and
he sometimes has a long wait to unload they have three boys
helping. Phyllis can pitch in and drive the tractor is
necessary. James does not work on the farm. He is a com
puter programmer for Huth Engineering. This is the fourth
year that they have had some no-till com planted for silage
after the barley was harvested. Last year and this they did
some no-tilling for early planting of corn but their future
plans do not call for no-tilling all their com. The neighbors
harvested some alfalfa for them. The partnership raises
some hogs.
Bill and Phyllis are finsihing 179 Angus steers on their
Ebersole farm this year. They should be ready to market
about October or November. They have automated feeding
for the steers. Phyllis keeps all the farm books. She is in
volved in hedging for their farm. She phones her commodity
broker in Harrisburg and gets prices for com, wheat and beef
daily then keeps records. By this hot line they can get in on a
good price or can hedge for a later delivery. Hedging is a tool
for stabilizing farm income. You must know your cost to
produce the commodity and then decide what is a break even
price.
Last year they had 345 cattle to more over an eight week
period from November into January. The price went from 38
to 35 then to 41 dollars a cwt. and they considered $5O. a break
even price. Phyllis said “I just realized it would be a good
thing to do what I could at home to help.” She started
working with the commodity broker in January and they
were then able to hedge their last 39 head of steers at $54.
They have been moving their steers at about 1200 pounds but
now the market has changed and they try to move them at
1000 pounds. Anyone interested in hedging farm products can
contact their broker in their local city and ask for the com
modity man. About two percent of the farmers in Penn
sylvania do this but out in the mid west about eighty percent
hedge the market. Endslow’s steers go the Lancaster Stock
Yards.
Phyllis and Bill live on Airport Road, next to the
Elizabethtown-Marietta Airport, formerly the Donegal
Airport. Their home was built on the original Endslow farm
by a Mr. Landis who also built onto the house. The house went
back to the Endslows when Ken Hershey bought the airport
and since that-Mr. and Mrs. Gene Day have bought the air-
eration and Church Work
Presbyterian Church where she is serving as
president of the Women’s Association.
port. Bill has been piloting and he does quite a bit of flying.
They use it especially to take their dog to the Poconos to be
bred, to take guests a ride and do not hesitate to use it for
farm usage such has going for machinery parts. Their
children have ridden in the plane since they were six weeks
old and think no more of flying than by going by automobile.
Endslows breed miniature Collie dogs or Shetland Sheep
dogs, nicknamed “Shelties”. They are used for farm or house
dogs. Phyllis started breeding them ten years ago. The first
one was given to her and then she bought one female dog and
started breeding as a hobby. They only have one female now
which is a granddaughter of the first one she bought. They
have had as many as three female dogs at one time. They
expect a litter by September Ist.
The children have other pets such as two white rabbits, a
turtle and two ducks. One of the duck hens has 16 ducklings
and the children are trying to train them to follow them.
Phyllis grew up on the farm and has been on the farm most
of her life. She attended school mostly in the Denver-Ephrata
area and graduated from Ephrata High School. She was in 4-
H sewing, baby beef, Holstein, garden, capon and flower
clubs a total of nine years. As an adult she was a 4-H flower
.club leader for two years in Northampton County and a 4-H
sewing club leader nine years in Drumore, Marietta and
Maytown.
She attended Elizabethtown College for two years and
received a degree in Medical Technology. She then worked
one year for Dr. Coursin at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Lan
caster. He was working for the federal government on
vitamin research, setting up procedures for determining
vitamin content in blood. She quit working in medical
technology then went to the Moravian College in Bethlehem
part time for two and a half years and received a degree from
Elizabethtown College. Meanwhile she was employed in
various hospitals. She then taught Biology and Chemistry at
Solanco High School for three years.
William, the son of Mrs. Elizabeth Endslow and the late
William Harold B. Endslow, was born in Rapho Township but
moved to their present farm when he was two months old. He
has lived there ever since and graduated from Maytown High
School. He was in the Red Rose 4-H Baby Beef and Lamb
Club for eleven years and was also in the Mount Joy area 4-H
I Continued on Page 31]