Casteel, Donald

CASTEEL

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 11/28/2007 at 16:36:35

Maquoketa Sentinel-Press
June 6, 2007

Retired farmer, community leader writes about a world
of change in agriculture and the rural society he lived in
By Lowell Carlson

There is a common thread that pieces this family quilt of a story together, in fact, several.

At 86, Donald Casteel knows them all too well. Land, grass, cattle, family, faith. At a number of turning points in his book, his life, Casteel found himself planning a lot of his future on those beliefs.

The retired farmer from Emeline has just self-published his personal memoirs The Life and Memories of Donald Ray Casteel. In many regards its every man’s life if they worked with their hands, worried about family, money, hoped to make their mark in the community and have a say in events around them.

Casteel has written a 338 page record of his experiences that will become an heirloom for the families of his three daughters, and they were the primary audience for this personal history.

Because it covers social events of such huge magnitude, the impact of World War II on his life, the challenge to adapt to a new farming model from the 1960’s on, this will be useful to social historians.

If only more people would consider such a writing challenge, perhaps we would understand our relatives and forces that shaped their character.

For Casteel it was a father in ill health, caused by an infection triggered by bad teeth. That set the young farm boy on a course that would take him into the fields as a boy working a man’s hours, missing school and dreaming of education. He got to experience both one room rural schools as well as high school and junior college but he never got a college degree.

When the United States entered World War II, Casteel, along with virtually every male member in the high school and junior college classes he took in Maquoketa were drafted or enlisted.

Casteel enlisted in the Army Air Force and became an instructor. His school sweetheart, Ruth, and Don got married during the war and to this day friends they made during that time in their lives remain close, even to the point of traveling together.

There have been awards along the way including the county Friends of Agriculture award and being named Iowa Farmer of the year. The Casteels’ focus on good cattle, pasture and land management singled them out for other recognition as well including the Farm Bureau’s distinguished service award in 1992 and being named to the Jackson County Cattlemen’s Hall of Fame in 1986.

Casteel’s personal history includes plenty of personal observations, about farming, about the character of people and about life triumphs and, yes, disappointments.

The author goes into considerable detail discussing the creation of the Andrew Jackson Demonstration Farm and the goals this group of county farmers and agriculturalists hoped to accomplish.

There is also the story of Casteel’s role as a community facilitator. He was named coordinator for Concerted Services in Training and Education (CSTC) and home was a walk up set of refurbished offices about the old Carson’ Drug Store on the corner of Platt and Main. It was an office and a job that forced Casteel to draw on his experience as a farmer, a carpenter, a parent, a community activist. The goal, find ways to improve employment, family income, skills. In short, he had to become the artful dodger as individuals came in the door looking for help.

That was in 1972, and the worst was still to come. The farm economy collapse that sent families into free fall in rural Jackson County was a call to action for Casteel. He worked with volunteer groups and networked with others to provide help. He worked with the Mississippi Valley Farm Business Association in that capacity as he and others tried to help family farmers stay on their farms in the worst collapse since the Great Depression.

There are a number of photographs of Casteel the young carpenter, junior college student, AAF instructor, young farmer and world traveler.

There are also some side trips of observations and family history, but that can easily be forgiven considering at this distance in time Casteel can somehow describe some seemingly small events in an otherwise very busy life indeed.

Casteel correctly identifies those major events though. How a girl made a world of difference in how he saw the world. The dispersal of the world famous Rosemere Angus one day on the west side of Maquoketa and how the breed made such an impact on him as he saw that historic event.

Healing abused and worn out land and recognizing the value of feeding grass first as a way of feeding cattle, these are lessons Casteel hopes will survive him.