12/13/06 Woman of the Year, Stiffler

Alice Stiffler and husband Robert were young farmers in the mid-50's when they started planting trees for each of their children on their farm 15 miles from Blackfoot. One of children, Judy Hale, says the trees are very special because they grew up with them. HALE "When we cut Natalie's tree down we all cried and I know we're going to have to cut these down because you can see how tall and gnarly they're getting and old. I'm afraid we'll cry with every one of them." When the trees were twigs Alice and Robert were raking sagebrush into piles for burning. STIFFLER "Then they plowed and disked potatoes and planted the crop, whatever we were putting in; potatoes and wheat at first while we were out here. Irrigated by the ditch and the ditches keep flooding out because they were new and the ground wasn't settled. The kids learned how to work, and they worked hard and they played hard. I don't know of a better place to raise your kids than out here. This is a good neighborhood, good community and it's just a really good place." Alice Lee Stiffler, Southeast Idaho Woman of the Year. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott