Who

Ronnie Garner, standing in front of his home, doesn’t remember a lot to love about working as a farmhand as a youth.
Rod Aydelotte / Waco Tribune-Herald

Ronnie Garner, auctioneer at Garner & Associates Auctioneers, which he started in 1980. He founded the company in 1980 after starting off as a part-time auctioneer in 1978.

Garner also has served as vice president (1995-96) and president (1996-98) of the Texas Auctioneers Association.

First summer job

Worked as a farm hand chopping cotton, driving tractors, pulling corn, bailing hay and other odd jobs on his father’s farm in Dawson, located between Waco and Corsicana. The Garners’ farm covered several hundred acres.

Age

Garner did not have a driver’s license yet and was only 12 years old when he first started working on the farm. He started because his dad had told him to and it was expected in the ’50s, Garner said. He had a strong work ethic instilled in him at an early age.

Pay

“A grand total of $4 a day,” Garner said. “I spent it just as fast as I could get it. But there weren’t a lot of places to shop in Dawson.”

Loved

“I can’t figure a lot of anything. It was work,” said Garner. “It was actually a true depiction of the word ‘work.’ It was hot in the summer in the fields and cold in the winter feeding the calves and pigs.”

Hated

The confining work of the farm. When “town” kids would be playing outside, he worked from around 7 a.m. until dark. It was just something expected from a kid living on a farm, he said.

Lessons learned

“Do what you’re supposed to do,” Garner said. “It’s part of getting by.”

He applied that same ethic when he started his business, which has sold items at auction for numerous businesses and individuals including, the federal government, the state of Texas, Waco Independent School District and several other colleges and universities.

Advice on summer jobs

“Work hard and tell the truth,” Garner said. “Find something you enjoy that you can get paid to do.”

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