JANUARY 9, 1942 – JANUARY 15, 2018
Farmer; Essex County Agricultural Hall of Fame inductee. Born Jan. 9, 1942; died Jan. 15, 2018, age 76.
Brenda Anger (née McKinlay) met her late husband Jay Anger at a Junior Farmers’ event in the early 1960s.
That meeting began a life together working what has become a five-generation 3,000-acre cash cropping operation near Harrow. The couple were also active supporters of key agricultural organizations in the area.
Manager of the Harrow Fair at the time of his death, Jay was also a past director of the Essex Soil and Crop Improvement Association, Essex County Federation of Agriculture and Essex County Holstein Club, Brenda said.
Jay and Brenda were the first couple named to the Essex County Agricultural Hall of Fame, after Brenda’s 2012 induction for her role as the first-ever female president of the Harrow Fair in 1990.
“I guess we just grew up on the farm and that was our roots,” Brenda said when asked about their common interest in local farm organizations. “Our parents encouraged us to keep active in the farming community and that’s what we did.
“He enjoyed his family parades, fireworks and going for a drive just to look at the crops and especially the Harrow Fair,” Brenda said of Jay’s interests.
Emma Anger photo
Written by Jim Algie.
Originally published in the April 2018 edition of Better Farming.