At age 89, Mark ‘Baler-Man’ Smith retires

Mark “Baler Man” Smith, at age 89, has closed his Smith’s Farm Implement Repair at his home at 5100 Kinsey Road. His specialty of fixing hay balers gave rise to his nickname. Photo credit: Patrice Johnson

by Bob Castle

Area farmers have one less farm equipment repair expert to turn to, now that the “Baler Man” has decided to retire.

Mark “Baler Man” Smith, at age 89, has closed his Smith’s Farm Implement Repair at his home at 5100 Kinsey Road. His specialty of fixing hay balers gave rise to his nickname.

Smith, born in April 1929, has been connected to farming all his life. His family’s farm was located a mile east of Parman Road, toward Fitchburg, Mich. It was there that he experienced his first taste of working the land.

“Among other things, my father raised onions,” Smith reminisced, “and I was in the fields when I was old enough to pull weeds.”

He was first introduced to mechanics as he helped his father fix the steam engine on their farm.

“I would crawl inside and line up the new flues,” Smith mused. “I would come out of there as black as coal.”

Not only did he work on his family’s farm, but also on neighboring farms.

“My sister, Margaret, and I would walk north through the fields and woods to the Baldwin farm and work their onion fields as well,” Smith said.

Smith also worked at the Herman Martin farm on Heeney and Morton roads, the Ted Fay farm, the Don Sommer farm, and the Taylor Brothers farms on Dutton Road and Dexter Trail. He also worked for Emerson Kinsey and Russell Grosshans. Smith said he would board with some of these families as part of his pay.

While working on these farms, there was always equipment in need of repair, which led to the further development of Smith’s mechanical skills. This shifted his focus to jobs in farm equipment repair, and Smith worked as a mechanic at Platt’s Farm Repair in Mason, Mich., until 1989.

Smith has lived through many changes during his years in the Stockbridge area. He mentions names and businesses in this area as though they only recently closed, like the Bachelor School, located on the corner of Parman and Heeney roads, where Smith was a schoolboy. The Cobb and Schreer Co. was located right downtown north of the Stockbridge Township Square, he recalls. They sold Ford tractors, New Holland farm equipment and GMC pickups.

Smith worked for Cobb and Schreer in 1953. By 1959, he was working for the Plainfield Farm Bureau, owned by Francis Platt.

Mark and Aloa Smith, married 61 years as of July 14, stand beside Mark’s workshop and in front of Aloa’s hollyhocks. Photo credit: Patrice Johnson

While working at Cobb and Schreer, Smith caught sight of a pretty young lady named Arloa Proctor.

“I would see her going into the Prescott’s meat locker service,” Smith said, “but I couldn’t get her to notice me.”

“One day I was steam-cleaning a piece of farm equipment as she walked by. The thought entered my mind to send a spray of water her way to get her to notice me,” he said with a chuckle, “but of course, I wouldn’t do that.”

Providence then took over.

Aloa Proctor happened to encounter Marion Taylor at the Millville Store, located across the road from the Millville United Methodist Church. There was a young man she should meet, Marion told her. His name was Mark Smith, and he worked downtown.

Gus and Dorothy Schreer joined in the matchmaking, and Mark and Arloa soon ventured onto their first date on July 14, 1956. They married one year later on July 14, 1957–61 years ago. The couple had one daughter, Deborah Marie, and Arloa Smith was employed at the Abbott and Fillmore Agency for many years.

Over the years, Smith grew frustrated after the closing of several repair shops where he had worked.

“I decided that the next time a shop went out of business and the doors locked, it would be me locking them,” Smith said.

He opened his own business, Smith’s Farm Implement Repair, at his home, in 1989.

Now, after 29 years of being his own boss and earning a reputation as one of the most knowledgeable mechanics in the area, the Baler Man has retired.

Well after Smith’s retirement, local farmers still drop off equipment for him to repair. Photo credit: Patrice Johnson

By his own admission, Smith never wanted the limelight. He has been content to work quietly in the shadows through the years, keeping equipment running for his customers.

Smith’s retirement plans are to take each day at a time.

“I want to thank all the customers who have trusted me to fix their tractors and balers over the years,” he said.

He said he hopes to remain available to help whenever his fellow farmers need him, and on the day the above photos were taken, a farmer had wheeled in a broken hay rake for repair in Smith’s capable hands.