The Windfall Era: How Ev and Jo Shea Shaped My Life

Have you ever known the sort of people where just being in proximity to them is bound to have an impact on your life? My first visit to Windfall Arabians took place in 1987. Our 4-H group was holding a meeting at this beautiful farm.  I was nine years old at the time and remember thinking that I had never seen anything quite like this place.  It was not that everything was breathtakingly fancy.  Rather it was impeccably maintained, yet homey.  The place felt highly functional, yet as pristine as any horse property can be.  Fast forward to the spring of 1993. This was when I first got to know Ev and Jo Shea. I was just about to celebrate my 15th birthday. Windfall Arabians was looking for a show groom. Through my 4-H connections, I was thought of for this role.  The farm had a new trainer named Bobby Lerner. Little did I know at that point that we would become lifelong friends. I was a hard worker and was eager to learn. I think that both Ev and Joe saw something in me and took me under their wing.

I did have a most fantastic upbringing. When I was 10 years old, my parents had purchased a 40 acre horse farm. We had also purchased our first horses that same year. We were happy backyard horse people up until this point in time. I had spent five years competing in the local 4-H and open horse shows. Windfall Arabians was operating on a completely different plane. The Sheas traveled to the "A" circuit Arabian shows throughout late spring, all summer and early autumn. This meant that we would be gone anywhere between three and five days at a time while traveling to compete at a show. 

The Windfall horses were world class and the Sheas themselves were world class. Going to the shows was nothing short of a gala event each time we traveled.  We would go to a show and our "stall set up" was extensive and lovely.  Looking back, I know that Ev and Jo were serious supporters of the Arabian shows that we attended.  Yet he never had the attitude that he "owned" the show or was owed anything because of his standing in the Arabian horse community.  We had some amazing horses and because of that we won many championships.  But some days we did not and Ev was a good sportsman.  He did not fuss or complain to us or offer excuses for why his horse did not win that day.  Bobby was not only training the Windfall horses but was also running a business at the farm and we oftentimes had clients and their horses along with us.  The entire thing was an experience that is hard to put into words.  It was certainly a neat time in my young life!  Ev always picked up special patron passes and seating for me and Bobby.  We were treated as family.  Jo was famous for her egg-salad sandwiches.  Before each show, she would pack a cooler full of goodies plus plenty of other items.  It would be sitting out near the front door and this meant that it was ready to be loaded up along with all of our other barn gear.  One thing that we quickly learned about Ev is that if he said we were leaving at 7 AM, this meant that we were ideally a couple of miles down the road and approaching the "Diamond" in St. Marys by 7 AM.  This did NOT mean that we were going to begin loading horses at 7 AM.  He was not unkind about how he did things.  He was just a person of excellence who had a plan and stuck with it.  We learned to adjust accordingly.

The Sheas did things with style but without a hint of "snobbery".  Ev was an executive at Keystone, a powdered-metal company based in St. Marys.  Jo was the consummate homemaker.  The first time that I had ever heard of a Lexus was when Ev brought one home to replace a former vehicle.  But my favorite ever farm vehicle was the year that he bought the brand-new Ford diesel dually.  The truck was cream-colored and had leather interior with all sorts of extra touches.  I remember how pretty the running lights were!  It had custom Windfall insignia along with the nicest "Windfall Green" accents.  To this day, whenever I catch a hint of diesel (sound or scent!), I am transported back to the many times we loaded the last horse onto the trailer and prepared to hit the road.  Ev or Bobby would drive the truck and the three of us would ride together.  Jo would drive the other vehicle (an Eddie Bauer Explorer for many years!) and she would bring along the dogs and household items.  We were a caravan and would always make a stop somewhere along the way.  We would check on the horses and would typically eat a full meal before arriving at the showgrounds.  If headed southeast, it was Stop 35 on Route 322.  If headed west it was the truck stop restaurant in Emlenton.  Ev especially enjoyed the apple dumplings at Stop 35 and the pie at Emlenton.  The ladies working in the restaurants remembered him, as he was the sort of man to make an impression wherever he went in everyday life.  At this point in time he was in his early to mid-60's and he and Jo had been married for 40+ years and were still just delightful together.  

Through my times at Windfall and out at the shows, my eyes were suddenly opened to all sorts of new possibilities within horse world and life in general. I was amazed! The Sheas were certainly amongst the upper echelon within the small town of St. Marys, Pennsylvania.  Windfall Arabians was the showplace of the town. The best part was that as I got to know Ev and Jo, it was easy to see that they were incredible people.  Ev was a true horseman and spent many years as a President, Officer and Trustee of various International and Regional branches that related to the Arabian Horse.  Jo is a most gracious and beautiful woman.  They would have us over to their place for lunch every now and then.  Jo would usually ask me to come over from the barn a bit early so that she could show me some things in the kitchen.  I learned so much from her.  I had picked up the goodness and warmth of down-home farm cooking in the home where I was raised.  With Jo, I learned all about how to properly set a table.  How to make anything look "nice for lunch".  She would talk to me with such kindness and interest.  Jo was known for the scent "Opium" and to this day I can catch a whiff of that aroma and my heart just aches for those times that are now 20 years past.  Their lovely home was quite different from the farm house of my youth.  My parents' home has since been refinished in a way that is high quality and quite lovely.  They have remodeled extensively over the past 26 years!  But when I was 15, 16, 17 years old, the main house at Windfall was indescribably grand to me.  It was just the feel of the people and the entire place.  

Here is a key factor that I believe greatly shaped my self-confidence, self-perception and self-presentation throughout my life: Ev and Jo treated me so well.  There was never a hint of "putting on airs".  Yet from them I became much more refined, well-spoken and more comfortable with certain things than I would have been otherwise.  Throughout different times in my life I have held positions where I have worked for some powerful, high-profile people.  I think that spending my formative years with the Sheas laid much of the groundwork for this.  When I was in 10th grade, I read "If" by Rudyard Kipling.  One particular section there made me think of the example that I was seeing in how the Sheas lived life.  See the entire work here. 

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son! 

 

Ev Shea passed on September 19th.  He was 84 years old, and he and Jo had been married for 63 years.  When I heard this news the next day, my heart was so heavy for Jo and the family.  During my Windfall days, their four children and 10 grandchildren spent quite a bit of time coming to the horse shows and to the farm itself.  Jo and I have kept in touch over the years and our last correspondence was a couple of months ago.  For the past several days, I have been been preoccupied with the Windfall years and the people and experiences which did much to shape the woman that I would become.  The Sheas were exceptional people.  I have never met anyone else who is quite like them.  Looking back, I learned the most about horses during the years that I spent working at Windfall.  I learned much about life and myself during this time.  I went on to have some pretty neat experiences in the equine world and I owe much of this to Ev and Jo Shea, plus their incredible horses who taught me more than I can say.

 

 

Windfall farm was bought by another family when the Sheas made the full-time move to their home in Hilton Head, South Carolina.  It meant the world to me when Ev and Jo traveled back north for my wedding during the summer of 2005.  The people who bought Windfall have since ceased to utilize the place as a working farm and it has sat vacant for years.  Whenever we travel down to St. Marys, we take a drive out that way on N. St Marys Road.  The property sits in a little valley and is on the most beautiful piece of land. At first, I am awash in all that was and then I begin to ponder ... what will be next for that place?  At times, we have pulled in the driveway and before my eyes, my mind and heart transform the place back to the grand days of the Windfall era.  I can hear the laughter, I can see my favorite horses, I can smell the freshly crimped oats and the hay from the fields across the road.  I picture Ev and Jo Shea as they were in those days and my heart is full.  I am challenged myself to do things today that will have a positive and long-lasting impact on those in my own life.  It is not so much about what you do.  It is more about who you are.  I thank the Lord that I had the opportunity to know the Sheas.