The Heatons, Whitman County


By Trista Crossley
Editor

The 2024 Heaton harvest crew included (front row, from left) Carmen Heaton, Tru Heaton (holding puppy, Fritz), and Range Heaton. Back row, from left are Jeronimo Reynoso-Heaton, Heather Reynoso-Heaton, Blake Heaton, Valente Reynoso-Heaton, Xico Reynoso-Heaton, Justin Heaton, and Katy Heaton.
The 2024 Heaton harvest crew included (front row, from left) Carmen Heaton, Tru Heaton (holding puppy, Fritz), and Range Heaton. Back row, from left are Jeronimo Reynoso-Heaton, Heather Reynoso-Heaton, Blake Heaton, Valente Reynoso-Heaton, Xico Reynoso-Heaton, Justin Heaton, and Katy Heaton.

Like many farm families in Eastern Washington, the Heaton family’s roots go back more than 100 years, when Julia and Joe Stark settled near Hay, Wash., in 1908. The Starks, with their two daughters, Marie and Alice, grew wheat and raised cattle and hogs along the Snake River above what is now Little Goose Dam. Their first home was near a river crossing, and Julia would often feed Native Americans as they traveled to Spokane.

After Joe Stark died in 1942, the farm passed first to Alice’s family before Marie and her husband, Perry Heaton, took over the operation. Marie died in 1957, leaving seven children. Her mother, Julia, moved in with Perry to help raise the children, one of whom, Blake, would take over the farm by 1995, after helping build Little Goose and Lower Granite dams and working on the Alaska Pipeline and in New Guinea. Blake and his wife, Carmen, have three children: Christopher, Heather, and Justin. The farm is now run by Justin and his wife, Katy, but all three of the Heaton siblings — and their children — are very much a part of the operation.

“When our children and grandchildren were big enough, they rode in the tractor with Blake, and when they were able to reach the pedals and see through or over the steering wheel, they were helping on the farm,” Carmen said.

Although Blake has officially retired from farming, he still goes to the ranch nearly every day to help (or just give advice), and while Justin might handle the day-to-day operations, during harvest, all of Carmen and Blake’s children travel home to help out as much as they are able to. Heather, who Carmen said has not missed a harvest even though she lives in Mexico City and Florida, brings her sons with her. Her oldest son, Valente, moved to the area in 2020 to begin farming himself.

“Since he was young, Valente has been telling grandpa that he wanted to farm. This is the life he, too, has chosen. This makes the 5th generation of Stark/Heatons to farm at Hay,” Carmen said. “Farming isn’t for everyone. We have been blessed, with good yields and some not so good, good markets and down markets. We have made it work. We hope son or daughter will feel it in their soul to come back and have a 6th, 7th, or more generation on the land to continue Grandpa Joe and Grandma Julia’s legacy.”

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