John Sheda

We all have those exceptional stories about our Mothers! Some funny, some sad, some heart-warming and some just dog-gone interesting. This story would be in the latter category. You see, in our Sheda Family, Mom was clearly the “brains” of the clan. She was meek, friendly and mild-mannered most of the time, but don’t get her riled up. That old Irish temper rose on many an occasion at the exploits of my two brothers and sister. Not me, of course as I was pretty much darn near perfect. Following is a story of my Mom, Sue Sheda.

Among the many things Dad did in his lifetime, sheep-shearing was one. I never actually sheared a sheep, but went along with Dad many times to tie up the wool into bundles, weigh it and then have Dad buy it from the farmer. Dad sheared sheep for a number of years, going out from early spring through mid summer, about 4-5 times a week. He would probably average about 25 sheep each day, buying the wool each time. When we got home, we unloaded the bundles of wool into our old grocery story and at the end of the shearing season we would sell the wool.

I’m not sure who bought our wool, but they would come with a huge semi-like truck and drive to Werner’s Grain & Feed in Chelsea, to get the truck weighed “empty.” Then the buyers would drive the truck down to our place and we’d fill-er-up with all the wool Dad bought over the summer. It was a lot of wool! After all the wool was loaded onto this huge truck, the buyers would return to Werner’s Grain Elevator and weigh it again — this time with all the wool included. That way, everyone knew the weight of the wool. The price was negotiated and the sale completed.

Ok, so what’s this got to do with Mom? Well, you see, Dad had his own “guesstimate” on the overall weight of the wool and it was a long way off from the weight being sold. A LONG WAYS OFF AND NOT IN DAD’S FAVOR.

One time when the buyers came to town, Mom, “Private-Eye” Sue Sheda, with the help of Bob Werner, the owner of the grain elevator, hid out of sight from the buyers. The truck had huge sides to hold the wool and the inside couldn’t be seen by the naked eye.

When the driver pulled onto the scale to get weighed in its “empty” state, Mom waited a few minutes and then proceeded to “climb up and over the side of the truck.” And there she discovered — two or three men the buyer had brought with him to help collect the wool, hiding inside this “empty” truck. The weight of these men added about four or five hundred pounds to the weight of the empty truck, which in turn decreased the overall weight of Dad’s wool.

Mom screamed “Foul,” and the gig was up! Caught red-handed! From one end of town to the other, everyone could hear Mom as she caught these guys. The moral of the story is, “You can’t pull the wool over the eyes of Sue Sheda.” Mom, bless her heart, died in February of 1988. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom and Happy Mother’s Day to all Moms everywhere. Don’t ever miss a chance to say “I Love You” to your Mom. Mom “figured it all out.” So what’s your “Mom” story? Let me know at jsheda@indytel.com or call me at 319-327-4640. Be blest!