Linda and Gary Topping celebrate 50 years and a family farm legacy

by Mary Jo David

“Party at the Red Light! Be there or be square!” How many times did Stockbridge teens in the ’70s utter those words?

“Mention the Red Light to anyone from our era in Stockbridge, and they’ll know exactly what you are talking about,” Gary Topping chuckled when he told the story.

He and Linda Weaver (before she was “Linda Topping”) both attended Stockbridge High School together so they certainly crossed paths in the hallways there. As for when they started dating, they both recall the timeframe coinciding with that special year when the Stockbridge boys basketball team made it all the way to the State Finals. Gary was on the basketball team, and Linda, who was two grades younger, was a cheerleader.

“If I was going to catch her, I was going to have to attend those parties,” Gary explained innocently while Linda just laughed in the background.

Back then, the senior Toppings—Gary’s parents—kept a very close eye on their teenage son and his three sisters. The farm Gary grew up on had been in the Topping family since his grandfather purchased it in 1928. With that kind of history, everyone in town is liable to know you. Linda had a little more freedom. Her family moved to Stockbridge from Plymouth and her parents were often busy running the pub they owned in Gregory.

It wasn’t long after high school that Linda and Gary tied the knot, on Oct. 11, 1975, at the Presbyterian church in Stockbridge. She was 19 and Gary was 20.

“It was the most beautiful kind of fall day you could hope for,” Linda recalled. “It was 70 degrees, sunny, and gorgeous with so many of the leaves changing color.”

The couple raised three sons on the farm—Brian, Benjamin, and Samuel—and they are very proud of the life each has made for himself. Now all three boys are grown and have started their own families, but they haven’t ventured far. Brian is a chemistry teacher in Ovid/Elsie and lives in Elsie with his family. Both Benjamin and Samuel are continuing in the family tradition of farming and live on Topping farm property: Sam lives in the home Gary grew up in and Ben is across the road in a house he acquired as soon as it came up for sale in order to get it back into the original farm.

As for Gary and Linda, they live in the home that had previously been Grandpa Topping’s house. It’s a comfort to both of them that the Topping farm has a future with the next generation of their family.

Linda learned quickly a lesson that her husband learned growing up: Farming is a tough way to make a living, but it can also be very rewarding.

“The stability of the farm shaped me in our early years together,” Linda said. Having moved frequently in her childhood, she found the enduring nature of the farm offered her the opportunity to put down solid roots in one place.

Farm life is, of course, quite different than city life. “Farmers are tied to a timeline that we really have no control over,” Gary said. “That’s one of the biggest challenges when nonfarm people move here and marry. They aren’t always ready for the time commitment. I give Linda credit. She went from being a city girl to being a girl who had to care for 60 calves every day, and it didn’t phase her.”

But you learn when listening to this couple that stability is different than security.

“Farming is one of the few businesses where you’re at the mercy of weather and the economy—two things we have no control over,” Linda pointed out.

In 1983 when Gary’s grandfather passed away, the family had to buy out his grandfather’s brothers and sisters. Interest rates were horrible and they had to repurchase the farm. In the 1970s, it wasn’t unusual for farm wives to have to take on outside work to help make ends meet. Linda spent almost 30 years working in various capacities at Chelsea Hospital. Often, she’d work midnights and then come home to get the kids off to school and help with the calves. She’d sleep while the boys were in school and be up again when they returned home. She has also served for 38 years as the Unadilla Township Clerk.

But that wasn’t even the toughest time for this strong couple.

“The toughest time for us was after my dad passed away in 2002. He was only 72 years old,” Gary explained. “I was tied up on the farm for 365 days for two years with really no breaks. It was a hard few years until we sold the dairy cows.”

With three boys to raise and a husband tied to the farm, Linda said, “It’s a good thing I enjoyed sports! I spent my summers coaching T-ball and baseball and getting the boys to their games.”

It was Linda who forced Gary to loosen up a little during the toughest years. Around about the time their kids were in middle school, Linda packed up the car one day and told Gary, “We’re going to Florida for spring break. You can get in the car—or not!” Gary is no dummy—he got in that car! After that, they continued to travel to Florida annually, usually with a whole crew of family and friends.

The Toppings have maintained strong friendships over the years. Some of their favorite times were the many years spent snowmobiling with a large group of Stockbridge folks and celebrating at Houghton Lake’s Tip-Up Town.

Currently, the Topping family farms 1,800 acres—370 acres are their own. But it’s their grown adult children and their 10 grandchildren—five boys and five girls—that they are the most proud of. And while they love them all equally, it was that moment when they found out they were going to have a granddaughter that they both recall as one of their most special memories.

“Finally, after raising three boys, Linda could go out and buy some baby dresses,” Gary said, smiling.  But truth be told, it was Gary who recalled the memory first!

Photos provided by Linda Topping