Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/459886
8 FEBRUARY 15, 2015 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com Fred Valentine's philosophy is that exchanging ideas benefi ts everyone. by Geraldine Warner F red Valentine worked as a fi eldman for several Washington State fruit entities in his 60-year career, but always felt he represented the industry as a whole. "He's been a tireless workhorse for the indus- try from the very get-go, and he's still trying to help the industry," said Fred Smith, retired manager of Wilbur- Ellis Company in Cashmere. Valentine worked behind the scene on problems that many people weren't even aware of at the time, he added. Valentine retired at the end of last year and was honored by the North Central Washington Fieldman's Association, of which he is a former president, during the North Central Washington Pear Day last month. Though an authority of pears, he has a broad knowledge of apple and cherry production, too. Valentine, 79, is not from a fruit-growing family. He grew up in Tennessee. His father's older sister was the grandmother of singer and actress Dolly Parton. His father, Theodore Roosevelt Valentine (known as Ted) worked as a logger in the Smokey Mountains and was recruited by the Peshastin Lumber and Box Company in Washington. Valentine was 12 years old when the family left Tennessee for the Pacifi c Northwest. His father later went into con- struction, taking jobs in Montana, Idaho, and Alaska and leaving the family in Peshastin. "He followed the dollar. He was not at home much," Valentine recalled. While attending high school in Peshastin, Valentine worked for local orchardist Gene Boswell, who taught him all about planting and growing fruit trees and became a father fi gure. Horticulture After graduating from high school in 1954, Valentine attended Wenatchee Valley College intending to become an engineer. He found he had a greater aptitude for hor- ticulture than engineering and, after a year at college, he went to work as an assistant to Dr. Ted Anthon, stone fruit entomologist at Washington State University's Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center in Wenatchee. After three years there, realizing he had no chance of advancement without a degree, he got a job as a fi eldman for the orchard supply company Northwest Wholesale, which offered better pay and prospects. After another three years, he went to work as a fi eldman for Blue Star Growers in Cashmere, where he stayed for more than 30 years. In 1968, at the behest of Blue Star manager Jerry Kenoyer, Valentine bought a small orchard so he could better understand the impacts of the recommendations he was giving growers. "I always got along with growers." he said. "I always felt that it didn't make any difference to me whether the grower was in Cashmere, Peshastin, Oroville, or Brewster. My boss asked me, 'How come you go up there all the time and give advice?' I said, 'I learn four times what I give. You benefi t more by traveling than by staying at home.'" In the early 1980s, while at Blue Star, he was contacted by Dryden grower Darrel Caudle, who discovered a new apple variety in his orchard. Valentine became part of a group of industry people who commercialized the variety, which was initially called Carousel and later renamed Cameo. It was one of the fi rst niche apples to come to market. Cashmere grower Randy Smith said that although Cameo never became a major variety, it helped start a 60 years in PEARS GERALDINE WARNER/GOOD FRUIT GROWER )UHG9DOHQWLQHIHOWKHZDVD¼HOGPDQIRUWKHHQWLUH:DVKLQJWRQWUHHIUXLWLQGXVWU\ )UHG9DOHQWLQHOHIWKDVDQLQWHQVHGHEDWHZLWK*UHJ5DLQV KRUWLFXOWXULVWDW%OXH6WDU*URZHUV&DVKPHUH:DVKLQJWRQ ZKHUH9DOHQWLQHZRUNHGIRUPRUHWKDQ\HDUV TIM SMITH/WSU 9DOHQWLQHRQHRI the developers of WKH&DPHRDSSOH WKLQNV:$DQG :$DUHJRRG YDULHWLHV GERALDINE WARNER/GOOD FRUIT GROWER +HHQMR\HGVXFFHVVLQKLVSDVWLPHVDVZHOODVLQKLVORQJFDUHHU TIM SMITH/WSU "The people I've worked with have been so kind to me that they've made me what I am today." —Fred Valentine