After 36 Years of Service, Hall Retires from Green Valley Seed, LLC
By Emily Bontrager
For 36 years, Marilyn Hall, 71, has been the secretary at Green Valley Seed, LLC. At the end of October, Marilyn will be retiring after many years of dedicated service to the business.
Marilyn grew up in Ashton, Missouri, where she attended grade school. In 1969, she graduated from the Clark County High School in Kahoka.
Marilyn furthered her education at Northeast Missouri State University in Kirksville, Missouri, where she completed a secretarial program in 1970.
Marilyn then started working part time at Farm Bureau for Darryl Ridgely. Not long after she started working, she married Harold Hall. She decided to quit working at Farm Bureau after she got married.
“I was only working for three hours a day, making $1.00 an hour. My husband said it wasn’t worth the drive and he wanted me to stay home and help him on the farm,” Marilyn said.
Marilyn had to learn how to drive a tractor because she did not grow up on a farm. She and her husband took care of cattle, hogs, and crops on their farm south of Kahoka, which they still take care of today.
After her three sons were born, Marilyn wanted to move out of the trailer the family lived in and move into a house.
“I grew up with Gene Phillips who used to own Green Valley. I saw Iris one day and they were looking for somebody. The secretary that worked there was going to quit to have a baby and so I came to fill in for a year and I am still there,” Marilyn said.
Marilyn started working as the Green Valley Seed secretary in 1986 and has worked there ever since.
Working at Green Valley gave Marilyn a lot of opportunities to spend time with her kids.
“It has been nice to have a job that was in Kahoka and my kids were able to come there after school when needed. It has also let me go to my kids and grandkids activities,” Marilyn said.
Marilyn plans on spending time with her family after retiring and enjoying time with her kids, grandkids, and great grandchildren.
Marilyn is grateful for all of the years working at Green Valley.
“I will miss all of the people and the customers,” she said.
Green Valley Seed will be honoring Marilyn with an open house to celebrate her 36 years of dedicated service on Friday, October 28th from 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Refreshments will be provided, and everyone is welcomed to stop in.
