If you’re lucky in love and long on memory, you’ve never forgotten your first kiss with that special someone you went on to spend the rest of your life with. Wayne Allen is one of the lucky ones.
A great friend of Farm Aid, Wayne is a retired farmer and longtime farm advocate from Perkins, Oklahoma. Wayne was very active in the American Agriculture Movement (AAM) from its early days in the late 1970s. Later, along with fellow advocate Mona Lee Brock and other dedicated volunteers, Wayne helped establish and run the National Farm Crisis Center, helping thousands of farmers and ranchers in the region over many years.
Here are two photos just in from one of Wayne’s kids, Billie. The first is of Wayne and his wife Gerri (center) surrounded by their own children and their children’s children. It was taken at the very spot in Perkins where Wayne and Gerri enjoyed their first kiss. The text over the top of the photo says it all: “The Results of a Kiss,” that is, three generations of Allens!
The second photo is definitely a keeper for the Farm Aid tractor photo album. This is Wayne’s classic Farmall H tractor, which he moved to town after retiring from the farm. Emblazoned at night with holiday lights, the tractor is on public display in town, where kids take delight in crawling and playing all over it.
Big shout out to Wayne, Gerri, and the whole family! As we always say at Farm Aid, keep on growin’!
