About Gary

I was raised on a central Iowa farm in the 1950s. I graduated from the two year technical school at Iowa State University in 1965, married my high school sweetheart, and went to work for John Deere in Waterloo, IA. I spent the next thirty-six years at the John Deere Product Engineering Center designing and testing tractors. I began my writing “career” during the 1970s as publisher of the Hudson (Iowa) Jaycee newsletter “The Foresight”. It was during that time period I acquired the nickname Stump and thus Stump’s Stories. The story of how I acquired that nickname has yet to be written. My wife Maxine and I served on the Hudson Volunteer Fire Department as firefighters and EMTs. She served for 17 years and I for 26 years. After my wife’s death in 2005 I wrote a family history. In 2006 a pastor told me I had a calling to write and share my stories. I began writing the stories for my grandchildren. I have been encouraged to share my stories with a wider audience so I had this website created. I now reside in southwest Missouri. I continue to write; I’m building a model train layout; and my brother and I go fishing. I write stories about spiritual experiences in my life, about my adventures of growing up on an Iowa farm, about stories my father told me about his growing up on a farm, and about my other adventures / experiences on the journey of life. I follow the Anne Lamott philosophy that a poorly written story is better than no story. I do a lot better with engineering calculations and spreadsheets than I do with spelling, grammar, and punctuation. You have been forewarned. I hope these stories inspire you to share your stories with your grandkids and others.

“Remember to live while you are making a living”William Hewitt, Chairman, Deere and Co. 1964-1982
“You did the right thing”Grandma Mary Jones (June 18, 2000)