American Beauty Turf Nurseries Inc. a successful business for 62 years

by Roberta Ludtke

Abe and Ruth Ann Parente were both raised in farm families. They met at a young age at the Eastern Market in Detroit. Photo provided by Roberta Ludtke.

An old adage states people don’t plan to fail, instead they fail to make a plan. This does not apply to Abe and Ruth Anne Parente, owners of American Beauty Turf Nurseries Inc. in Stockbridge. Early on, these octogenarians had a life plan.

Abe and Ruth Anne were both raised in farm families. They met at a young age while selling their family produce at the Eastern Market in Detroit. Abe wisely listened to his customers, who were asking if anyone at the market sold sod, and made a plan for himself.

From 1954 through 1956, Abe served his country during the Korean War as a paratrooper. During this time, he sent a portion of his paycheck home to his mother to deposit in the bank so he could buy a 20-acre farm, in Belleville, Mich., upon his return. On this farm in 1956, Abe began growing his first sod, and harvested his first crop in 1957.

In the years it took for the sod to mature, Abe worked as one of the first employees at Ford’s new Lincoln Plant.  He would go to work at 6 in evening, work until 6 in the morning, seven days a week. Then he went to his farm to water, mow and fertilize. Many days he would function on only four to five hours of sleep. In the spring of 1958, Abe quit working for Ford, and went full time into the sod business.

Ruth Anne had her own plan in life to work as a nurse. As fate would have it, Ruth Anne suffered an illness, and had to take a leave of absence from her nursing career to recover. Having met previously and having stayed in contact platonically, Abe mentioned to Ruth Anne that his sod business was taking off, and he could use some help at the farm answering the phone and running the office. She agreed to help out until he found someone else, but was firm in her conviction she was never going to live her life as a country bumpkin.

Well, 52 years later, she is still proudly helping Abe run the business end of the farm. It seems Abe and Ruth Anne got along so well in that after the first six months, Abe suggested they go “rock shopping,” his way of proposing. Because of their work on the farm, they could only get away for a few days for the honeymoon, so they went to Hell, Mich., and stayed at the Inn. Ruth Anne laughs when she says, “ it is remarkable for a marriage to last, when it starts in Hell.”
In 1964, the land for American Beauty Turf Nurseries Inc. was purchased in Stockbridge. When asked if he had any training in growing sod, Abe admitted he was self-taught and learned from attending seminars and experience. He continued to listen to his clients and made changes on the farm as needed. When Landscape Architects wanted sod grown in organic soil, he told them he had purchased a muck farm in Stockbridge, as muck was naturally organic. The muck sod is lighter in weight, making it easier to transport. They continued to grow some of the sod in mineral soil as well.
In 1970, Abe and Ruth Anne bought a home in Florida near Orlando. In the late 1970s, they purchased a 50-acre plot of land, with the plan that their 21-year-old son, Steve, who was tragically killed in a car accident, would run the farm in Stockbridge. That way Abe and Ruth Anne could scale back, and run the 50-acre farm in Florida. In 1981, the seed was planted and in 1983, the first sod was harvested.

While Abe ran the farm in Stockbridge, Ruth Anne went down to get the Florida farm started.

With the building of timeshares near Orlando in the 1980s, the sod business was booming. The Florida climate allowed them to harvest two plantings per year. Abe and Ruth Anne kept a grueling pace, planting both farms for 20 years, and finally sold the Florida farm in 2002.

Today American Beauty Turf Nurseries Inc. consists of 505 acres, with Abe, Ruth Anne, and their daughter, Josie Smith, as owners. Retirement for Abe is planting 137 acres; the rest of their land is leased to local farmers.

They credit having a plan, hard work, great employees and clients for their successful 62 years in the sod business. Over time, they employed as many as 11 people. Some of their employees worked with them for more than 30 years. Their hard work was rewarded by trips to Mexico, Atlantic City and Las Vegas. Their clients were located in many states including Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania to name a few.

When asked if they had any plans to officially retire, perhaps to spend more time with their grandson, Ruth Anne just smiled.

“I guess we have to get rid of the 1 ton of grass seed Abe just bought for his fall planting before we can do anything about retirement,” she said.