KALAMAZOO, Michigan — Michigan is loyal to their colors.
Honolulu blue, Michigan maize — but for Gene Rhodes, an 88-year-old in Kalamazoo, his heart belongs to orange.
You may know him by his other name.
“I could be Gene the Apple man, I could be Gene the Peach man. I could be this or that. But I like the Pumpkin Man," Gene smiled.
At Gene the Pumpkin Man's farm, orange is more than a color. It's more than a fruit. It's a livelihood.
Gene drives around his pumpkin farm in a bright orange Cadillac with the license plate "PUMMAN."
"That Cadillac is as much of a icon as I am," Gene laughed. “Now there’s orange cars but they're not orange Cadillacs."
“I sleep between the orange sheets and under a pumpkin bedspread," he said, gesturing to the orange-coated room surrounding him. "Well, look at this. Everything is orange. And this pleases me. It pleases me.”
But, where does it stem from?
“My father's father bought the farm in 1885," Gene said. “I said ‘Dad, let's try pumpkin and squash’ and so we did. The parking lot out here was my first pumpkin field.”
"That was 67 years ago," he said. "If I had a ton or such matter that first few years, today we are pushing 200 ton on the retail market. Unheard of!”
“I try awfully hard not to boast. When I gotta be proud. I gotta be proud.”
It would be just as easy for Gene to sell his pumpkins, then go home to normal, pumpkinless wallpaper, tissue boxes and cabinet knobs. But, orange you glad he doesn’t?
“I honestly believe are born with it. I always enjoyed orange. I begged my mother to get me an orange notebook when I was in grade school. They weren't available. In fact, I never I never got one. I've got four or five of them now of course," he said.
In a house full of sunset tones, you'll notice just one spot of green. It's a Christmas tree up in February.
“I could take it down, of course I could, and I may do it some of these times. But it's only been 11 years since she died," Gene said, through tears. "That was my wife's favorite tree. She was known as a Christmas lady.”
Once a young clementine, he's now sweet with age. And ready for wherever he’ll bloom next.
“Tomorrow's not promised. I have no idea how long I'm gonna be around. But I'm gonna live until the Almighty says you need to inspect these perfect pumpkins," he said.
In Michigan winter, the roads are long and winding out of the dreary gray. Except for M-43, which leads straight to Gene Rhodes — and the world he's created in color.
“I've got memories coming out of my ears and I cherish every one of them," he smiled, "I cherish every one."
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