Thorn grateful for his life on farm
RUSSELLVILLE — John Thorn, now 94, was born in Spruce Pine, but he did not stay in one place long as a boy. His father was a preacher. The family moved often. There were almost always a farm or cattle somewhere in the picture, he said.
“I bought my first calf when I was in eighth grade, and I gave $6 for it,” Thorn said. “I’ve always enjoyed cattle. I still do.”
Thorn grew up mostly in Franklin County. He later served in the military and then spent 31 years working for the Tennessee Valley Authority. Much of that time was spent traveling. He helped build power lines and substations across several states.
One of the projects he remembers best is a 500,000-volt transmission line that ran from Browns Ferry to West Point, Mississippi, in the mid-1960s.
Over the years, he stayed in motels and private homes in more than 200 towns. Some places had no motel at all. In one, a retired schoolteacher rented out two bedrooms for $2 a night and decided she would not charge them because she enjoyed the company.
“People wouldn’t live like we lived back then,” Thorn said. “They don’t know how. But we grew everything. We didn’t have electricity. We kept butter and things down in the well to keep them cool.”
He remembers killing hogs, milking cows before school and watching his mother can hundreds of quarts of blackberries.
“Shewashedourclothes on a rub board,” he said. “Daddy wore white shirts and she would boil water and work on those collars with a hickory stick to get them clean.”
His father preached often and traveled widely, sometimes serving several churches at once during World War II when preachers were scarce. Thorn remembers riding along and watching him move from one service to another on a single weekend.
He also remembers his father’s civic work and the way he gave his time and money away to help others.
“He spent his life helping people,” Thorn said.
After high school in 1950, Thorn worked a string of jobs, including at a Coca-Cola plant and on a milk truck that ran routes across Lawrence County. He made $30 a week and thought he was doing well.
College came in pieces. He wanted to go to Auburn but knew money was tight. Later, after military service, he took business courses and classes at Northwest Shoals Community College and Cleveland State Community College. He never chased a degree but always kept learning.
While working for TVA, Thorn kept cattle. For most of his life, he said, the cattle did not pay for themselves. The land might gain value, or the tax return might help, but the daily work still had to be done.
“If a calf is born today and you keep her, you’ve got three years before you get a dime out of her,” he said. “That’s three years of busting ice in ponds and putting out hay.”
Today, Thorn keeps about 300 head of cattle on two farms. He said he buys good bulls and pays attention to breeding. He still cuts hay and climbs on a tractor.
He also runs a trucking and excavation business with 17 dump trucks. The business grew after he retired from TVA in 1988 when people started asking him to do small jobs with the equipment he used on his own farm.
“It just kept growing it,” he said.
His wife, Sarah, helps manage the business and handles much of the paperwork. She grew up in Sheffield and graduated from Sheffield High School. Her father worked for TVA. Her mother kept the house and sewed clothes for the family.
Sarah worked for the Farmers Home Administration making farm loans and lowincome housing loans in Franklin, Colbert and Lauderdale counties. She later worked for the Census Bureau. She retired years ago.
“I wouldn’t trade this life now for anything,” she said of living in the country.
John and Sarah have been married for nearly 50 years. They each brought children into marriage and long ago blended their families into one.
They talk easily about their lives together.
“We don’t argue,” John said. “We don’t.”
“You put each other first,” Sarah added. “Sometimes you get your way. Sometimes they get theirs. It works out.”
They have eight grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren and one greatgreat- grandchild. John’s son, Charlie, works with him on the farm and helps with the cattle and hay. Charlie said his father still works like a much younger man.
“I remember a couple of years ago, we worked around 100 cows in one day and he called every one of them,” Charlie said. “He was about 92 then. He’s really knowledgeable. His memory for his age is unbelievable. He’s just smart, and he’s always been that way.”
Faith has stayed central to his life. He grew up in church, served as a deacon, taught Sunday school and stayed active in Baptist work across the county.
Sarah served as treasurer for the Franklin County Baptist Association during the years after the Phil Campbell tornado, helping manage funds that came in for rebuilding.
They also traveled with church groups that helped build churches in other states.
Health has not always been easy. John has had several surgeries and went through cancer treatment years ago. Sarah was with him through those long weeks and months.
John does not talk about slowing down. He talks about being grateful. Looking back across nine decades, he does not measure his life by jobs or land or equipment. He measures it by the friends and family who are part of his stories along the way.
