How One Farm Show Sparked a Love Story and 40-Year Family Tradition

The year is 1985, and Thomas Marshall and Jane Armstead are on their way to the Farm Science Review in the back of a Ford Pinto station wagon as strangers. Fast forward to today, and they have been married for 37 years, with five children and nine grandkids.

Thomas and Jane Marshall are my parents, and the Farm Science Review is not just one of my favorite times of the year — it’s what brought my parents together. It’s also the backdrop to some of my favorite memories, including some made just last week.

The Farm Science Review, which wrapped up its 63rd year last Thursday, Sept. 18, is an annual three-day agricultural show in central Ohio that draws more than 100,000 visitors and 600 exhibitors from across the country. This year’s show featured more than 4,000 product lines and 180 educational sessions.

For the Marshalls, it’s the annual thread that has been woven into our family for decades.

Both my parents attended the Farm Science Review before 1985 — Mom, as an Ohio State University agricultural engineering major working at the show, and Dad, as a multi-generation dairy farmer.

Mom wanted to keep attending after college, and her first chance was in 1985. Her sister and sister’s fiancé were going, and they invited Mom and Dad separately. Although they didn’t know each other, they found themselves heading to the event together.

“We rode in the back,” Dad said. “She sat on that side, and I sat on this side,” he said, gesturing to the left and right. 

“He didn’t say a word,” Mom recalled. Dad, a reserved man with a good sense of humor, admitted, “I was half scared to death, I think.”

They stayed all day, and it went well enough for Dad to call and ask Mom to join him harvesting corn that fall. That combine ride was their first date. The rest, as they say, is history. They were engaged by Christmas 1987 and married in the spring of 1988.

40 Years of the Farm Science Review

After that first year together, Mom and Dad kept going to the show. Whether they were dating, newlyweds, or new parents, the Farm Science Review became a cornerstone in their lives. 

“I don’t think we’ve missed, other than 2020 because of COVID,” Mom said. The event was held online that year.

Thinking back over the years, Dad’s favorite parts of the show range from the Dairy Farmers of America tent to the Ohio’s Country Journal building. Regarding the latter, he reminisced about founder Ed Johnson and how great he was at his job as an ag communicator.

“Man, he could whip off anything, and he was just a good talker. And Dale Minyo did a good job, too,” he said, referring to the broadcaster who took over for Johnson and is now retiring.

Mom also took some time to reminisce. “It isn’t necessarily my favorite exhibit now, but before you could look up anything on the internet, we didn’t have access to farm data. We didn’t have access to all kinds of stuff. And [at the show], you could go through and find books that have USDA data, or even Ohio Department of Agriculture data,” she said.

“You could find all kinds of books from the early 90s that I actually used for some of the stuff that I would do, so I would always go searching for those kind of data.”

Generations at the Farm Science Review

My older sister was the first to join Mom and Dad at the Farm Science Review. She would have been six months old her first year. After a few more years, a total of five young Marshalls were tagging along and claiming mid-September as one of the best times of the year. 

“We would just grab all the kids and off we’d go,” Mom said. 

As we got older, we would bring friends and cousins along. Dad got to a point where he would load up the old Ford Excursion with as many people as he could and drive to and from the show for all three days. “We got the Excursion in 2003. It was always a Farm Science Review vehicle,” Mom said.

As the years have passed, it hasn’t been feasible for all of us to attend on the same day because of jobs, farm work, and college. These days, one or two siblings and their families attend one day with Mom and Dad, while the others join Dad another day.

This year was different. It was the first year in a very long time — easily more than a decade — that all five siblings were able to attend with Mom and Dad, along with all nine grandkids. It was surreal to have everyone there. We met up for family photos, joked with each other, and reminisced together.

“Everybody had fun, but it was so different because we haven’t had everybody there at the same time,” Mom said. “It was about like herding ducks.”

Dad described how he felt afterward simply: “It means an awful lot.”

Look for the Marshalls at the Farm Science Review next year, and for many years to come. We’ll be there.