By Joe Kertzman, managing editor, Badger Common’Tater
Having grown up in rural Pardeeville, Wisconsin, Sally Suprise lived next door to her grandparents who were farmers. That was 50 years ago, and at that time, she says, farming was a “bit scaled back compared to how it is now.”
“In my teen years, I worked at a produce farm called Topham Farm picking tomatoes,” Sally relates. “My parents also grew pickles and we picked them daily by hand, taking them each day to the plant to be sorted by size.”
“After my own kids were born, we moved to Plainfield, and that is where I learned what real farming is about,” she explains. “Being a family of six, we had a very large garden and I learned to can vegetables and make jams and jellies.”
Sally and her husband raised beef cattle, pigs and chickens, and the kids got involved in the Waushara County 4-H program and began showing steers and pigs. They had horses on the hobby farm, as well.
INDUSTRY INVOLVEMENT
“As the kids got older, they also worked within the industry in some areas,” she says. “My oldest, Desiree, had a passion for gardening and she worked at the Hancock Agricultural Research Center for several years until college.”
“My son, Ben, worked for Seneca Foods running a bean picker in the summer, and my youngest, Katherine, worked her summers at Pest Pros and loved it. They are all grown now and have families of their own,” Sally continues.
“Desiree works for Waushara County Social Services, Ben is a boat mechanic in Madison, my daughter, Rachel, is a social worker in Outagamie County and Katherine is serving her eighth year in the U.S. Air Force, currently stationed in the Middle East. Please keep our military in your daily prayers!” she pleads.
Sally started her insurance career in the 1990’s, working for American Family Insurance as part of the Sharon LaPorte Agency in Plainfield, and then took on various insurance roles over the years.
“When I moved to the Appleton area, I started a new venture with Ansay & Associates Insurance & Benefit Solutions,” Suprise relates.
“Ansay & Associates is a family-owned, independent insurance agency, founded in 1946 in Port Washington, and is one of the largest and fastest growing independent agencies in the state,” she remarks.
