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Digging Into Retirement

After more than 35 years in business, Larry and Val Parsons set their sights on life after work

By Molly Priddy
Larry and Valerie Parsons, longtime owners of Parsons Tractor, are retiring. They celebrated on March 16, 2018. Justin Franz | Flathead Beacon

To get to Bobcat of Kalispell, you turn off U.S. Highway 2 and drive over a small access road. On any other day, you might not notice the name of this little road, but on March 16 – one of owner Larry Parsons’ last days on the job – the name “Retirement Way” particularly stood out.

That day there was a small party with donuts and pizza, during which Larry and his wife Val Parsons gave a 2004 Bobcat Model A300 loader to the Flathead Future Farmers of America Kalispell group.

The day included friends, family, sunshine, and smiles, a microcosm of the Parsons’ hopes for their future as they head into retirement after more than 35 years as the owners of Parsons Tractor near Kila.

Val has already retired from a career as a popular special-education, kindergarten, and first-grade teacher for Kalispell’s School District 5, and Larry found himself jealous of her freedom.

“Deciding to retire was a business decision, and also a personal decision,” Larry said. “My goal is when I come to town, I have the time to stop and see the friends I’ve made.”

The Bobcat of Kalispell store will close, and Northwest Parts and Equipment has been appointed the new local Bobcat dealer, Larry said. They will be picking up service, parts, and support for the machinery.

Larry and Valerie Parsons, longtime owners of Parsons Tractor, are retiring. They celebrated on March 16, 2018. Justin Franz | Flathead Beacon

Out at Parsons Tractor, which will remain open, Dan and Michelle Hodge took over managing duties five years ago, and will continue running the store.

“I love them like my own kids,” Larry said of the Hodges. “They are my succession plan.”

It’s at this point in the conversation that the air changes, it gets heavier and harder to breathe, and Larry tears up. The day before this party was his son Ben Parsons’ 38th birthday.

A little more than a year ago, Ben was backcountry skiing in Glacier National Park when he was killed in an avalanche. A husband to Jen and father to Rowan, Ben was a popular local endurance athlete and Whitefish firefighter, and his death was felt valley-wide and beyond.

“He’s been kind of coaching me from the other side,” Larry said last week. “He’s telling me it’s time.”

Almost on cue, Rowan, now 2-and-a-half years old, toddled into Larry’s office and demanded a ride on a ‘Cat, which he pronounced “tat.” Fatherly tears turned to grandfatherly smiles immediately, and Rowan found Val to take him on a ride.

“Just to be able to have that time,” Larry continued, after his grandson’s departure. “It’s a change of priorities. Retirement is just moving the priorities from business to family and life and self.”

The Parsons have been Bobcat dealers for 20 years, and started with Kubota products in 1988. The young family earned its place in the community; Larry and Val say independently of each other that their spouse kept the family afloat in those early years.

Decades later, Parsons Tractor is a community institution, and Val’s legacy of teaching continues through her students. The couple still lives in West Glacier, and Val said she knows her husband hasn’t been able to enjoy the park the way she has in retirement.

Larry and Valerie Parsons, longtime owners of Parsons Tractor, are retiring. They celebrated on March 16, 2018. Justin Franz | Flathead Beacon

“He’s had 100s of things on his mind,” Val said, sitting in a tractor after giving Rowan a ride. “Owning a business is hard. It’s been cool and he’s worked his little tail off forever. We enjoy West Glacier, and he hasn’t been able to enjoy it how I can.”

The couple has also found joy in RV travel, and relishes the time they spend with family and friends. Owning a business and making a living is important, it’s what keeps the family alive and kicking, Larry and Val said, but it’s the people they meet along the way who make it all worthwhile, who make it part of them.

“(Business) is all about return on investment,” Larry said. “But what a lot of people don’t know is that their lives are a return on investments too, investments in family and friends and their communities.”