Focused by Faith: Roger Pilkenton

Highway 179 makes numerous dips as it takes you down just West of the Missouri River in Moniteau County. The two-lane country road meanders past farms and ranches, unencumbered by traffic lights or many stop signs. It’s a reasonable drive from Columbia, only 30 miles from the Columns at the University of Missouri but another world in spirit. The trees have lost their leaves and the dry winter air liberates the smell of earth from the ground below.

Here, Roger Pilkenton and his wife Mary have purchased a farm homestead. At around a few dozen acres the property sprawls with hills, a creek, stock pond, farmhouse, main house, and multiple outbuildings. It is here where lifelong Missouri resident Pilkenton, 69, will retire and move to with his wife. They have a tall task at hand, to repair an early 20^th century white clapboard home recently de-modernized by Amish inhabitants and left decaying. The building will need leveling, plumbing, rebuilding in parts, and a host of other work to make it livable. In the mean time, Roger and Mary are completing restoring a red barn, garage, and cistern building on the property to use as their temporary residence while the main house is fixed up.

The Pilkenton’s life is in a state of flux. They are fixing up their current home of 37 years in Columbia proper to sell, and will live at the “Pilkenton Farm” full time. Mary and Roger will close the Treasures from the Heartland gift shop and crafts store in Rocheport. Roger will dust off his saddle, which he has not ridden since 1970, and go for a trail ride on his property and teach Mary how to ride a horse. Pilkenton served in the Air Force in the 1970s and was part of a ceremonial horse drawn  battery detachment. Pilkenton does not own the horses on Pilkenton Farm but cares for them on behalf of their owner.

In an era where rural Americans decry urbanization and the death of small farms, the Pilkentons are bucking that trend and moving back to the land to enjoy the fruits of diligence and hard work. The Pilkentons are grounded by a strong faith and are Christians who attend Cavalry Episcopal Church on 9^th Street in Downtown Columbia. “My faith is really important,” Roger says. Roger and Mary regularly attend Sunday services at 8 AM where Reverend Knute Jacobson most recently delivered a sermon on society’s desensitization to sin, using a parable of arrows from a bow missing their mark. After the service Roger takes part in fellowship in front of the chapel, chatting with other members in the congregation while drinking coffee and home baked goods. Pilkenton then prepares to deliver communion by collecting the necessary materials in the Sacristy near the church’s altar.

Following a spirit of service, Pilkenton delivers communion to congregation members who are unable to attend services. Often they are elderly, or ill or bedridden and physically unable to be in Church. He drives around his 11 year old Ford F-150 with 190,000 miles on it, clutching a small wooden box perilously perched on top of paperwork piles in the center seat. The wooden box holds mobile communion supplies complete with wine, wafers, and a cup. The job is entirely voluntary and Pilkenton will usually spend about 45 minutes at each residence catching up and delivering communion. It is usually mid afternoon by the time Pilkenton is done. “I find a great deal of gratitude in something that comes back to me, heartwarming, whenever I can help other people” Roger said.

Another way Roger serves others is through his work at the United States Postal Service Office in Rocheport, near the Missouri River West of Columbia. Roger works there on Saturday mornings from 7 AM to 11 AM. Often he will stay hours later, finishing up receipts, clerical duties, and other checks. The Rocheport Post Office is not computerized, meaning labels are not printed on the computer, but rather hand written and stamped the old fashioned way. Customers can request a digital receipt from the normal PC that is stationed behind the counter.

On a Saturday in early December, business was brisk as customers picked up and sent mail. Roger chatted with customers coming and going, including ham smoker Steve Baumgartner mailing postcards promoting his business. The United States Postal Service has always been present in Roger’s life. As a child, “at 7:30 in the morning  without fail the mailman would come by,” said Pilkenton. Pilkenton got started with the Postal Service when “the postmaster (of Rocheport) had been asking folks around if they might be interested in working on a part time basis.” He has been with them for over seven years now.

Roger says of his work and the United States Postal Service, “We’re out to make people happy.” Three days later, the United States Postal service announced the closure of hundreds of processing centers and a layoff of 28,000 employees to trim over three billion dollars in operating costs to stave off bankruptcy. First class mail has been dropping in numbers constantly over the last few years. Many rural post offices are in danger of being closed, but Pilkenton remarked that the Rocheport office would stay open to the best of his knowledge.

Also in Rocheport is Flavors of the Heartland Store, a gift basket and craft shop combined with a gallery in Rocheport that the Pilkentons have run for the last two decades. They are currently working to close the shop in order to devote their full efforts to restoring their future home on the Pilkenton Farm. Everything is 50% off and Roger’s wife Mary hopes to be out of the shop by “New Years.”

When Roger isn’t working on the farm, at the Post Office, at Church, delivering communion, feeding the horses and fish, fixing up his old home to sell, closing Flavors of the Heartland, or spending time with Mary, he might be at Coffee Zone on 9^th street. He’s a big fan of the Rocket Fuel house blend and is friends with the owner, Osama. Roger goes there almost every time he is in town. Roger also finds time to spend with Mary, and last Friday the two ate fried catfish at a restaurant in Prairie Home, at the senior discount rate.

Last year, Roger had a heart attack. The attack was mild and it was caught early, but it still caught him off guard. “When I had my heart attack, I tried to pay attention to what’s going on in my body.” Pilkenton has since lost 20 pounds and sticks to a diet designed to benefit his heart health. Perhaps this scare has led him to become more philosophical. Roger spends time on the farm meditating. “I got places where I can sit and meditate, a little or a lot,” he says, pointing out a thicket of trees near a creek running through the farm.

Roger takes it slow and easy as he strolls around his acres, taking time to listen to birds chirping and decipher what species they are. The sounds of aircraft from Whiteman Air Force Base and Columbia Regional Airport are the few manmade sounds that pierce nature’s chirps. On his meditations Roger said, “I’m getting older, I think I’m maturing a little bit, wondering just what are we doing here, and are we really enjoying the life?” With his spirit of service and humble attitude, few would doubt that Roger Pilkenton is truly “enjoying the life.”