Recipes For Living
By Fern Underwood
Meet Police Chief, Marty Duffus, who tells about his life as follows:
I was born in the small community of Kellogg, Iowa, the baby of the family. My brother and sister were adults when I was born. Mom was a stay-at-home mother/bookkeeper/accountant for Dad’s Amoco tank wagon business.
I grew up in a wonderful time and place. Every kid in Kellogg could run all over town – there was no fear of being abducted. However, we learned respect because in our community most moms were at home, and each was quite capable of enforcing discipline, which had the approval of every other mom and dad. That curtailed some of our mischief.
Kellogg is built on a hill, at the top of which was the school and water tower, at the bottom was Skunk River. In the summer everybody played on the school playground; in the winter, we went sliding on Washboard Hill, which describes its surface. We broke more sleds on it than you could count. When that happened, we used hoods off cars in the junkyard. Eight of us could ride on a hood. The problem was that when we went over one of the wash-boards, we were pretty much airborne, and we’d end in the creek at the bottom of the hill. We would usually break through the ice and have to go home and change clothes. We also rode aluminum grain shovels, sitting astraddle the handle, and down the hill we’d go. That was a blast! These sessions ended when the noon whistle blew. Every kid went home for lunch.
Several kids had motorcycles. I had my first one at age 11. When there were 15 or 20 of us kids who had them, the town built us a motorcycle track. There was an old dump no longer in use, and in 1972, the city turned us kids loose to clean it up. On that land, they built a motorcycle track, probably a mile long with jumps, hills for climbing, and trails through the trees. That is where we bikers spent Saturday and Sunday afternoons. The track existed until about 1975, when the city realized it could get sued. They closed the track, which was a terrible day for us kids.
I attended Kellogg school through sixth grade when Amoco closed the Kellogg plant, and we moved to Grinnell. That was my terrible day! I wanted no part of Grinnell! Their population was about 8,000, Kellogg’s was 650; and instead of our small town atmosphere, Grinnell had one affected by the college.
I didn’t leave behind my love for speed. I went from motorcycles to go-karts, which I raced every weekend spring through fall. However, with the maturity I was gaining in high school, I discovered the joy of performing – acting in school plays and singing.
In 1978, Mom had a brain tumor and died in August, 1980. Dad and I took care of her and I helped Dad in his business after school and weekends. I started to DMACC (Des Moines Area Community College) in September. I worked in security for Younkers and Montgomery Ward, and in 1983, when I was 21, I took a job as police officer in Grinnell. Then for 21 years, I was in the Poweshiek County Sheriff’s office. All this time I wanted to be in administration, which required a degree, so I kept going to school. I was 35 when I graduated from Grand View with a Bachelors Degree in Criminal Justice.
Now, in Osceola, where I settled in February 2004, I have a great life. I have three kids, Cori, Kendra, and Conner. I have great folks to work with and enjoy knowing. I see this as a community that is ready to burst open. There is great potential here!
