Thompsons are farm reps

Forgive Leon Thompson Saturday afternoon if he stops the Farm-City Days parade for a minute or two and lets loose with his familiar chant. It comes second nature when the auctioneer is amongst a crowd.
Since 1974, Thompson has spent most Saturday afternoons calling sales throughout southeast Kansas. For the better part of that 38 years, his wife Judy has been by his side, clerking, cashiering and otherwise helping with sales.
Leon and Judy are this year’s farm marshals for the fall festival.
In 1973 Thompson purchased half interest in the Gas livestock auction from Tom Warren, and began a seven-days-a-week occupation of gathering cattleman to sell their herds each Friday.
“I’d drive 60,000 to 80,000 miles a year and was buying a new pickup truck every year or so,” said Thompson, 69, recalling the intensity of the job.
A year into his association with the livestock auction, Buddy Butts, a self-taught country auctioneer, asked Thompson to give him a hand with farm and household sales.
Thompson jumped aboard and quickly got into the swing of cajoling spectators to bid.
“One afternoon somewhere between here and Humboldt, we were doing a sale,” Thompson recalled. “Buddy was running out of wind. He turned to me and said, ‘Take over.’”
He had heard Butts’ cry long enough to mimic it and in the heat of the moment took off selling.
Afterward, Thompson practiced “a lot by myself.”
“Lots of times he’d practice while he was driving around in his pickup,” said Judy, 68.
Soon Thompson was crying sales at his weekly livestock auction, and then at others in Eureka, Parsons, Overbrook “for two or three years and once in a while at El Dorado Springs, Mo.”
He did livestock auctions for 29 years and today continues with household and farm sales.

“SOMEONE ASKED me the other day why I don’t have many farm auctions anymore,” Thompson said. “Have you driven out in the country lately? There aren’t many farmers anymore.”
He never kept count, but in his 38 years of auctioning, Thompson probably has been involved in 5,000 sales.
“While I had the livestock auctions we had a sale every week, as well as special horse and cow sales,” he said. “And with Bud, we’d have a sale every Saturday and Sunday, and sometimes one during the week.”
His favorite were those from which he didn’t earn a nickel.
“I’ve always loved to help out people with benefits, especially if there are kids involved,” he said. “I’ve never turned down anyone who called about a benefit if I could work it in.”
Recently he led a “play auction” for kids at Iola Public Library, which “was great fun.”
“We’re having very few sales anymore,” Thompson said. “We’ve had about 15 this year,” down from prime time when 100 or more a year were common.
“Every one you have is one you won’t have again and the economy also has cut into auctions a lot,” he said. “Used to be people would buy things for flea market booths and antiques malls, but now those sales have fallen off and the Internet has cut into local sales,” with people buying and selling from the comfort of their homes on sites such as eBay and Craig’s List.
“It’s been an interesting occupation,” he continued. “Sometimes I wonder why Bud chose me to help him at sales,” which led to his life’s work.
Cattle haven’t strayed from his and Judy’s daily regimen, although with a short hay crop this year they whittled their herd to four head, “the fewest cattle I’ve had since I was a kid,” he said. “I’ve usually ran 60 to 70 head.”
“We’ll buy back next spring,” said Judy, when pastures green and hay prospects are better.

WHILE JUDY is usually at Leon’s side whenever an auction unfolds, she also has her own business to look after. She has had an accounting office in Humboldt for 30 years.
The two of them aren’t always bystanders at auctions.
Leon collects bull figurines and belt buckles; Judy Depression era glassware.