Sizes change, efforts same at Iowa egg farms

The Francisco Egg Company, like many businesses in the 1960s, was rooted in Iowa's agriculture community.

Clarence (Frisco) and Marge Francisco owned and operated the business. While attending LaSalle High School, I worked for them. As a senior, I started driving the farmer egg routes. Many times the eggs I brought to the processing shop by 8 a.m. were in Hy-Vee's or Hamburg Inn's coolers by day's end.

Frisco and Marge worked seven days a week. Their only vacations were tending their large vegetable garden and fishing on the Cedar River. Yet neither ever said they wanted their life back, probably because they never lost it.

They sold the business in the 1970s. Frisco died several years ago, and Marge, at the age of 101, died in 2008. During a visit at the care center, Marge described the thrill they both felt when they socked away their first $500 CD from the business profits that often came from paper-thin margins.

For the Friscos and the farmers, providing eggs was a way of life. The egg shop was kept spotless every day and thoroughly cleaned once each week. Farmers kept the chicken houses clean, respected their chickens and let them range outside.

Today, thousands of chickens live their entire lives in large buildings. A cultural artifact has been replaced with economies of scale. However, a quality work ethic, attention to detail and personal and professional ownership of the work product are as alive and well now as they were back then.

David Novak

Cedar Rapids