Welcome to Garry Makamson Farms

Loyce Makamson Story

Loyce Makamsons' Farming Story.
Loyce Makamson was born in 1910. His family lived in "the hills" (Sturgis, MS). When he was about eight years old, his family moved to the Mississippi Delta in search of new financial opportunities.
Shortly after their arrival, his father began work as a sharecropper (a tenant farmer who gives a part of each crop as rent). Loyce married Mildred Fondren in 1929. She came from a similar background. Since during the great depression resources and money were scarce, Loyce used his skill and love of hunting, trapping, and fishing as a source of survival and income. He would sell his furs, fish, animal meats, etc. to help supplement his income from sharecropping. The Great Depression gave him the incentive to grow and rise above the challenges he faced. He was an underdog and determined to overcome the hard times he lived. He used a very hard time in his life as motivation to succeed. In addition to being a good farmer, he was a smart business man. After World War 2, the government began to issue low loan rates for land and housing. This was Loyces' opportunity to become a successful independent farmer and landowner. Loyce, Mildred, and seven children worked long, hard hours to ensure the success of the farm. Loyce would do the farming with assistance from his children ranging from 5 to 27 years old. Everyone had their role no matter how young they were. Mildred would cook 3 meals a day from scratch, can foods for the winter, maintain the house, raise seven children as well as stay up all hours of the night sewing clothes for the children. Loyce began as a sharecropper and ended as an entrepreneur owning 700 acres. Loyce Makamson died in 1983 and distributed the land he owned among his seven sons and daughters. All of Loyce's children continued to farm and all continued to use farming as their primary source of income. The original farm is still in the family today.

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