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Thornton Academy
438 Main St.
Saco, Maine, 04072
(207) 282-3361
STORY BY KEVIN TATE, DESIREE JANELLE & JESSICA PERKINS
DESIGN BY MICHELLE ROBART & ASHLEY PERKINS
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ASHLEY PERKINS
"Every day is a little bit different," says Jim Leary who has been milking cows since he graduated from Thornton Academy in 1947. The cows need to be milked twice a day every day, including holidays. Until his son Tim took over in 1981, Leary had not missed a milking in 24 years. Before that, he had only missed three milkings during the day and a half it took to celebrate his marriage to Edna Lilley of Scarborough.
The farm was purchased by Leary's father in 1943 from Edwin Gay, Jim's uncle, and consisted of 120 acres. Through buying and inheriting, Jim and his wife Edna now own three farms and 500+ acres of land. This allows son Tim, who now owns the farm business, land for raising hay. It also enables his brother Tom to harvest timber from the wooded areas for use on his band sawmill.
Leary first became interested in farming when he would go to his grandfather's farm when he was eight or nine and help out. He has many fond recollections of his own farm on the Flag Pond Road. One of the most memorable moments was when they filled the old tank to the rim. It is very hard to fill it all the way because Oakhurst comes every two days whether there are two gallons in the tank or if it's full. Leary can only remember one time that they filled the tank. The Leary's have a picture of this special occasion. The tank that they filled has been replaced with a new larger tank. They now have a new goal of filling the newer, bigger tank to the top.
Leary has made a hobby of collecting post cards that capture the buildings and historic events of Saco. A lot of his collection are older post cards from before Route One was heavily populated with businesses. Now with the use of the internet, he is able to find postcards that people are selling on web sources. Leary also has a collection of old milk bottles from local farms which he keeps with antique farm tools in a private museum that is over his garage. Leary also collects old cast iron tractor seats which he hangs on the wall of his garage as reminders of days past.
There have been many changes in the community since Leary started farming. He first sold milk in 20 quart cans to Lades Dairy on Mechanic street behind the Saco Valley Shopping Center. When Lades sold out to the Cole Farm Dairy in Dayton, Jim put the milk in a smaller bulk milk tank. Later they sold out to Oakhurst which is where the Learys currently send their milk. Tim can be seen on recent Oakhurst commercials.
When Jim went to Thornton there were cows in a pasture where the science building is now. There were about 50 dairy farms in Saco then. Now there are two.
Leary's family has changed too. He and Edna have six children, all of whom graduated from Thornton Academy. Five of them went on to college. His four daughters are all professional women: an office administrator, a nurse, a lawyer and a physical therapist. The two boys plan to stay here on the farm and make a living and preserve this way of living for the future generations.
Jim is content now with enlarging his collections of post cards, milk bottles, and tractor seats. He hopes his memories live on through his children, and on down to his twelve grand children. He still helps in the barn and in the fields, especially during haying season.
As the Learys are fond of saying, "Old farmers never die, they just get put out to pasture."
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