Family farm's crop grows into dairy, chain of stores.

Byline: JOE MOSLEY The Register-Guard

JUNCTION CITY - There's a Jack-and-the-Beanstalk quality to the dream that Gladys and Howard Gibson planted for their young family 61 years ago on 120 acres of newly bought farmland just north of town.

The Gibsons had come to farming honestly: Howard's father, Heber, was director of agriculture education at Oregon State College in Corvallis, and Howard grew up on the family spread. Howard himself became a high school agriculture teacher after college, then served with the federal government as a soil conservation specialist before extending himself to buy that first acreage four miles north of Junction City.

But none of that could have prepared the Gibsons for the fairy tale that was to follow. Their vision of a family farm quickly took root, steadily reached skyward and now encompasses a diverse business enterprise with tendrils nourished by a tonic of imagination and adaptability.

Three generations at work

The family farm has swelled to 3,000 acres, a variety of crops and more than a thousand dairy cows. The Gibsons' Lochmead Dairy processes more than 1.5 million gallons of milk and a half-million gallons of ice cream per year. Their chain of Dari-Mart stores - founded in 1965 as a means of marketing their own milk label - has reached 46 stores, from Albany to Cottage Grove.

In all, the combined operation employs more than 450 people - including four of Gladys and Howard Gibson's five children and their spouses. At least 16 third-generation Gibsons will be on board this summer as either full-time or seasonal employees.

"Just having the family around is a great reward," says Gladys Gibson, who even at 84 continues to work daily at the Lochmead business office. "And starting in the way we did - not expecting much - and then it grew and grew and grew."

In fact, the Gibsons began as weekend farmers, driving from Newberg - where Howard held onto his soil conservation job until he was sure the farm could support his family - to clear thistles and establish alfalfa on their Junction City property.

"We started out with two horses and a wagon," Gladys Gibson says.

Started with one cow

The family bought a dairy cow after moving onto the farm full time in 1943, and after trying their hands at all manner of animal from chicken to pig, had begun earnestly establishing a dairy herd by the end of that first decade.

"I remember Dad saying, 'I want to get to 132 cows,' ' says Pat Straube, who at 62 is the Gibsons' oldest child. "He had little goals, all along the way."

"I could see, once we got going, he wasn't going to be satisfied - not with 120 acres, that's for sure," Gladys Gibson says.

Howard Gibson died of a heart attack six years ago, at age 82, while tending his filbert orchard. But he had set in motion his plan for continuing growth, diversification and family involvement in the business he'd nurtured for 55 years.

By the 1950s, the farm was expanding and the dairy operation providing a good living - but the future was limited as a wholesale supplier to other dairies.

Gibson began to seriously contemplate a dairy processing plant - and the family's own milk brand - in the early 1960s. Sons Mike and Warren "Buzz" Gibson already were on track to take over the agricultural and dairy herd operations, respectively, so older brother Jock Gibson spent most of a year studying dairy processing operations around the Northwest before returning to help his father launch that phase of the business in 1965.

Jock Gibson, the oldest of the three brothers, had served a stint in the Oregon Air National Guard after graduating from Oregon State University, and considered a career in aviation. But after helping get the processing plant up and running, he recognized it as his niche in the family business.

"At some point, you're in deep enough to know you're staying," he says. "Kind of like getting married."

A ready-made outlet

The Dari-Mart stores were Gladys Gibson's idea, a ready-made outlet for the family's new dairy products. The first five stores, spread from Corvallis to Springfield, opened just two days after the dairy processing plant began operations.

"Our stores have changed so dramatically since the day I opened a store and stood behind this little cash register," Gladys Gibson says.

Pat Straube and her husband, Gary, had managed to stay out of the family business until early 1973. He had worked at an oil distributorship in Medford and a paper company in Portland, as she did some teaching and started their family.

But then, as Gladys Gibson and son Jock prepared to open Dari-Mart number nine, the Straubes recognized that other family members were stretching themselves just to keep a grip on the expanding chain.

"They were down for one weekend, and Gary said, 'Gladys, I think you need some help,' ' the family's matriarch says.

"That's when there was a real spot for us in the business," says Pat Straube, who now oversees human resources and accounting for the entire family enterprise while her husband serves as general manager of the convenience store chain.

Succeeding generations

Young adults in each succeeding generation of the Gibson clan have been encouraged to get a little experience before deciding whether to settle into the business. And they've been assured that a role will be found for them if they're willing to commit to hard work.

"You don't just come back as vice president, and say you're the boss, and sit behind your desk all day," Pat Straube says. "Dad was one - Mom, too - who wanted us to go out and work somewhere else for awhile."

Of the five second-generation Gibsons, only Judy Gibson Olmstead, who lives in Spokane with her physician husband, has opted not to join the business.

Jock Gibson says it's an easy matter for all of the brothers and sisters and cousins in the third and even fourth generations to visualize themselves as part of the business, too. Virtually all of them spend summers in the far-flung agricultural operation from the time they're old enough to work.

"One thing the kids have done growing up is work in the business," he says. "So it's not like they haven't done it before."

And his sister sees no limit to how far this dream of her parents can reach.

"I think we'll always keep growing," Pat Straube says. "I can't imagine us not growing. We've grown from one to 46 (stores), so who knows what the next generation will have?"

THE GIBSON FAMILY OF JUNCTION CITY

Name of business: Lochmead Farms and Dairy; Dari-Mart stores; Gibson Land & Livestock Co.

Address: 668 Greenwood St., Junction City.

Owners: Founded by Howard and Gladys Gibson, ownership now spread among their adult children.

Years in business: 61.

Number of employees: About 450.

Family members involved in business: Gladys Gibson; daughter Pat Straube and husband Gary; sons Jock Gibson and wife Liz, Mike Gibson and wife Tani, Buzz Gibson and wife Janet; several third-generation family members.

- The Register-Guard

CAPTION(S):

NICOLE DeVITO / The Register-Guard Junction City Dari-Mart worker Beverly Trent shows Gladys Gibson (right) how a new register works.