Level Ground

A dairy farming father's love for his family lives on in the tools that he left behind.

- CHERYL SPECK

Inside a junk drawer, surrounded by packs of chewing gum and a motley a collection of discarded hardware, I found the tool I was looking for.

It was my dad's old level-neon green and 9 inches long. “Made in the USA–The Boss 591-9" was printed near its center.

Levels and plumb lines offer up proof of accuracy-evidence of a rational and well-ordered world.

Both will probably always remind me of my father, Clayton Stoker.

My dad owned a dairy farm for 40 years. He led his Holsteins into their barn stalls twice each day, 365 days a year, to milk them. At 4 a.m. every day, he was up and ready to start working, regardless of the weather. He rarely took vacations. And when he was forced to sell his herd, he still managed to pay the bills for a while longer by harvesting corn and soybeans.