Bill Reece is peach parade grand marshal

CANDOR ? Bill Reece, retired Agriculture Extension director in Montgomery County, will lead the N.C. Peach Parade as grand marshal this Saturday.

?It?s a real pleasure for me to do this. I am looking forward to it,? Reece said. ?I really appreciate being asked.?

Reece will be recognized by most of the peach growers as well as home gardeners who counted on him for advice and suggestions for 23 years. He was the on-call and go-to guy who didn?t mind taking his own time to find the answers to everything from scientific soil questions to simple solutions on what to do about wilted tomato plants.

?I have been retired for about 15 years now, so I don?t know a lot of the new peach growers and farmers,? Reece said, ?But, it will be nice to meet them and see the ones I used to work with.?

Many of his old friends may also be surprised to see Reece waving at them from a convertible in a parade. He was never comfortable in the spotlight, but was right at home in the orchards and on the farms. Even on vacations, the family could count on riding down side roads and going through the farmlands wherever they went.

?I enjoyed seeing what farmers in other places were doing,? he said with a chuckle.

The N.C. State Extension Service has gone through changes in job titles and specialties for the agents, but the job is still basically the same ? work with the farmers to solve problems, introduce new crops and methods of farming, empathize with them through the droughts and poor harvests and celebrate with them in the good years.

?Farmers just have to be born with optimism to come through a bad year and then do it all over again. Farming takes you from one extreme to another,? Reece said. ?Peach growers know there is nothing better than a Sandhills peach and that keeps them going. I am very much a fan of Sandhills peaches and the growers were always an excellent group to work with.?

Reece worked closely with the crop specialists at Sandhills Research Station in Windblow and introduced new crops and farming techinques to the farmers, especially new peach varieties.

He still watches the peach crops and said they look good this year.

?We need a few days of sunshine to make them sweeter,? he said, echoing the sentiment of all the growers during this wetter-than-ever July.

Reece is a native of Yadkin County who grew up on a field crop and dairy farm. He went to N.C. State University with the intention of working in the agriculture industry.

He came to Montgomery County, became county director of Agricultural Extension and stayed. He and his wife, Ardis, raised two sons. Scott and his wife are the parents of the Reeces? three grandchildren and live in Wake Forest. Todd and his wife live in Troy.

Ardis retired from Montgomery County Schools; the retired couple divide their time between enjoying the North Carolina mountains and enjoying their grandchildren.

With the Candor farmers? market almost within walking distance, Reece said it didn?t make sense to plant a vegetable garden. He keeps his hands in the dirt with his blueberry bushes, which produce enough berries every year for the family and for the birds.

Source: http://courier-tribune.com/sections/news/local/bill-reece-peach-parade-grand-marshal.html

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