The family farm

Courtesy of The Chinook Observer

By KEVIN HEIMBIGNERObserver staff writer

NASELLE - A basketball player drives into the key, comes to a jump stop and effortlessly crosses over before gliding for a hanging layup. If you are watching the 2007 version of the Comets chances are you'll be seeing either Kyle or Austin Burkhalter perform the move.If you are thinking back to the early 1980s then their dad Gary would be a likely choice to perform the stylish feat, or maybe their mom Susan (Swanson) would score the hoop. In the 1940s grandparent Ted Swanson, with (future) wife Sally as a song queen or grandpa Bob Burkhalter, wearing the visitor's red and blue of the Valley Vikings with (future) wife Lois in the pep band, both could have made the maneuver in the key for the family that has been synonymous with Naselle hoop success for the better part of six decades.Ted says, "We had some good teams back then." Bob adds, "We had some good players (on our team), too." Ted's 1948 Comets squad finished sixth in the state and he scored 33 points in three state tournaments beginning in 1946. Valley finished second Bob's junior year and he scored 22 points that season and 24 more at state for the Vikings his senior season.After college Bob taught one year at Cathlamet and then coached and taught at Clallam Bay for two more before going to Rosburg to teach seventh grade in 1964. He opened the Rosburg Gym mornings and at lunch and along with Principal Dean Carter and Jim Buchanan in Naselle helped significantly in transforming the Comets into one of the most powerful basketball schools in state history at any level. The junior high teams Bob worked with went to state 16 of the 17 years under head coach Lyle Patterson.Lois says, "The main thing for Bob was to teach young kids basketball fundamentals, good sportsmanship and to learn the game. It was great because we always had great kids to work with and their families taught them a solid work ethic." The Burkhalters raised daughters Carmen, Arlene (who is a coach in Auburn), and Lee Ann and son Gary while Bob taught.Gary started every game between 1980 and 1984 for the Comets and scored 90, 236, 166, and 156 points during that run during the regular season. However, scoring wasn't his measure as he was a standout defensive and team player and leader. Kyle relates, "I think it's great when people tell me my dad was a really good player." Gary's teams won 99 games during those four seasons, second only in state history to Brewster of the mid-1970s (106 victories) and tied with Reardon of the late 1960s. His teams were third twice and second twice at state, losing all four years to the eventual champions and in 1984 Gary's picture was on the front of the state program - working as usual to block out his man for an important rebound.Susan was no slouch either, as her basketball team went to state three times and finished sixth in 1982 in Spokane. Ted, Bob and Gary also competed successfully in football and track. Gary played in the state playoffs in football in 1983 and finished fourth in the shot put his senior year. Susan went to state in volleyball in 1983 and was an integral part of each of her varsity squads.Gary followed in his wife's footsteps as student body president at Neselle. Susan was also yearbook editor and in the band. Gary graduated from WSU in Pullman in 1988 with an agriculture science degree. Sue graduated from WWU in Bellingham in 1987 with a degree in recreation. "We had an I-90 relationship," she quips.With the family pedigree they have in sports success, Austin, a freshman, comments, "I don't feel any pressure." Junior Kyle adds, "Pressure comes from inside. We have our own goals, like earning a trophy at state in basketball and getting to state in football." Recently Austin scored 27 points against Valley "on five three-pointers" he says. Coach Brian Macy, a Naselle teammate of Gary's, says, "Austin had his coming-out party against Valley and Kyle is probably the best defensive player in the league, our leading scorer and our team leader. The guys look up to both of the Burkhalters." Kyle was all-league in football and Austin honorable mention. "I suppose when Kyle graduates I'll take his place as quarterback," Austin says humbly.In 1978 Bob and Lois purchased a dairy when the Grays River Water Dept. was first able to supply the area. Eventually they expanded to more than 200 head of cattle and in 1994 Gary and Sue took over when Bob and Lois retired to live close by. Within the last year Gary employed his WSU education to switch to organic milk products and has found a solid demand for his dairy goods.With all the success of the three generations of Burkhalters, one would never suspect that a tragedy occurred in 1997 that completely changed all of their lives. Carson was Gary and Sue's third son and was born a year after Austin. He was diagnosed with biliary atresia of the liver and had a transplant in Chicago in 1993 when he was two years old and another one in 1997 that led to complications that took his young life at age five.Gary and Sue relied on the grandparents to help with Austin and Kyle while they traveled between Portland and Chicago hospitals during the experience no parent ever wants to endure. The family received support from their community and from their church. When Austin was a first-grader and Kyle in the third the Burkhalters decided to homeschool the boys. "We were concerned about their immune systems not being able to handle illness they may catch at school," Gary reasons.Sue says, "I wanted to spend more time with my boys after Carson's death. It wasn't anything negative about the schools here; we just felt this would be a good fit for us." Sue is a former Naselle school board member, worked as a counselor at the Youth Camp, and also is an EMT. A rescue vehicle sits in their driveway, ready to aid the neighboring community.A day in the life of Austin and Kyle begins at 6:30 a.m. with the feeding of more than 200 cattle by moving four 1,200 pound round bales of hay silage. At about 9:30 a.m. the boys are done and ready for breakfast themselves. After that it is homework with no frills. "I have found textbooks that we like and the kids spend at least three hours a day on their studies," Sue says. "Of course if there is an emergency on the farm, they go to help Gary and then have to make up their work later."After studying such subjects as U.S. History, keyboarding, algebra, geometry, literature and GED preparation for Kyle, the boys are ready for a break. "I usually ask if I can go hunting or fishing," Kyle says. "I have no regrets that we aren't in school or that we live here and not the city." Austin quickly adds, "I like it here." At about 2 p.m. the family sits down to supper and then it's off to practice for the boys."We never pushed the kids into sports," Gary explains. "The only thing is they don't care to play baseball, although Austin is a big Mariners' fan, but they love basketball, football and track." After practice at Naselle High School the boys invariably go to Ted and Sally's for dinner and then its home for more school work, some sports on TV, and then early to bed. "They are typical hungry teenagers," Sally says with a smile. Wednesday nights the boys attend Valley Bible Church youth group.At 3:30 p.m, .Gary and Sue faithfully utilize 16 milking machines to harvest their white, organically-produced gold. On game nights parents and grandparents are at virtually every game, home or away "It is a lot more nerve-wracking watching the boys play than it ever was playing," Gary observes.Kyle wants to major in wildlife management with an eye on being a biologist or game warden and being a typical high school freshman, Austin is undecided. "I guess I could always work on the family farm," he muses. Both boys would love to play college basketball. "I want to see what's out there and I want to go to college, but I know I want to come back to a small town," Kyle says. Both brothers agree, "We are content where we are."The Burkhalter family dairy is tucked away 10 miles east of Naselle near Rosburg, just off Altoona-Pillar Rock Road at seldom-traveled Barr Road. Theirs is a place where basketball fundamentals and dairy farming demands haven't changed much in the past 60 years. A place where loving parents and grandparents, responsible and mature boys, and quality time shared will never go out of style, no matter how the ball bounces.

DAMIAN MULINIX PhotoOut on the farm is where Austin and Kyle spend a majority of their day. “There’s parts that you like and parts that you don’t,” said Kyle. The boys began doing chores around the farm at age six and said the workload tends to increase each year. Working together on their own has built a closeness between them. “We are pretty close,” said Kyle. “To get a job done a lot of times you have to work together, so you get to know someone pretty well.” Kyle added that family definitely comes first out on the farm, something that he said has been ingrained into his sensibilities. “I think I’ll take a lot of things from my life here (into his future family life), including that.”

DAMIAN MULINIX PhotoOn the farm, the boys say their minds stay pretty much on the task at hand in order to get done, though they do have a tendency to talk about basketball when they do converse. The sport has been an important one in the family throughout the years. At the Homeplace barn, where the Burkhalter farm began so many years ago, a basketball hoop is set up next to the hay storage upstairs. Kyle said that when their dad is there to help them they will usually end up playing a game of PIG before leaving.