Rural Missouri - March 2021 - 51

family divided up the assets. " They ran across an old iron
skillet that no one wanted, " he says. " For some reason they
thought I ought to have it. I really wasn't that interested
and didn't know how to use it. "
At the age of 70, he decided to give it a try and it wasn't
long before he was fully invested. " I started cooking with
them and halfway learning what to do, " the Farmers'
Electric member says. " Then I went down to Tennessee
and met with the folks at Lodge and they were such great
people. I started going to auctions and collecting iron is
just like other things, it's addictive. Once you start buying
it's hard to quit. "
Harold and then-Lodge CEO Bob Kellerman became fast
friends on one of Harold's early trips to their headquarters
in South Pittsburgh, Tennessee. Harold brought with him
a photo of a wooden Lodge display rack he picked up from
an antique shop that now houses a small part of his collection. An employee showed that to Bob and he promptly
found Harold and gave him a hug and an " I love you,
man! " by way of introduction.
" I had no idea who he was, " Harold says with a laugh.
" I guess he helped design those
racks forever ago and didn't
think there were any left. We got
to talking and have been buddies since. "
It's been a partnership Harold has treasured. Before the
COVID-19 pandemic, he visited
Lodge three or four times per
year. He's been a speaker at the
annual National Cornbread Festival in South Pittsburg and was
featured in a video on Lodge's
Facebook and YouTube pages.
" From the beginning I wanted
to learn about their company.
There used to be 200-plus cast
iron companies in the U.S., now
it's really just about one, " he

says. " They've been through depressions and world wars
when you couldn't get iron, but they stayed in business.
It's because they're all one big family. "
While his collection is vast, Harold is especially proud of
some of the more rare items, such as the Lodge lids with
raised numbers indicating the corresponding skillet size.
" I've only seen three of these 14s with the raised lids in my
lifetime, and they're all in this house, " he says, moving to
the next item. " These are hard to come by. There's a 10
here. And a raised 12 over here. "
Harold's current favorites are his size 13 lids. " There's
some other pieces that I don't have but wish I did, " he says
with a grin. " I thought they were too high about 15 years
ago and I was just dumb enough not to buy them. "
He still cooks daily with his cast iron, relying on a much
smaller-scale collection just off his farmhouse kitchen. " I
don't own a piece that I wouldn't be willing to throw on the
stove or in the oven and cook with it, " he says. " If I'm not
ready to eat out of it, I won't collect it. "
Including his friends in South Pittsburgh, Harold keeps
in touch with other cast iron enthusiasts from across the
country. While he says they
may vie against each other to
snatch up those rare prized possessions, they are a tight-knit
group.
" My cast iron friends are
some of my closest, we talk all
the time, " he says. " We compete
like heck, but we're all friends
and help each other. It's the
darndest group I've ever been
around. "
Adds Harold: " I tell people
I suffer from almost perfect
health. If I'm lucky enough I'll
be 86 years old in April. I have
a wonderful family and host
of friends. Life couldn't be any
better. "

Above: Harold's collection includes some of the smallest and biggest
cast-iron skillets you can find. Left: His basement is filled with castiron from many different brands, including now-defunct Griswold Manufacturing. Top: Harold cooks with his cast-iron skillets and pots daily.
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Rural Missouri - March 2021

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