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October 2022 | Vol. 08 Iss. 10
CLINGING TO THE RURAL LIFE IN WEST VALLEY CITY By Darrell Kirby | d.kirby@mycityjournals.com
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tep onto their three acres in the 3800 block of 6400 West and you step into what life was like before West Valley City was a city. Billie Burke, his son Bob, and their families have lived on that plot of land in the Hunter area for more than 70 years. On a Saturday afternoon in September, Billie, who’s 92, and 72-year-old Bob sat in Dad’s modest decades-old brick home on the north side of the property and recalled the life they’ve lived in what was once a rural area with homes few and far between and where farms dotted the landscape. The back half of the Burke acreage is pasture, and the front half facing 6400 West is fronted by three homes — one is Billie’s, the middle one and newest (finished in 1980) is occupied by Bob and his wife, and the third is the first one built on the property about a century ago. Between the pasture and the houses is what you might call a small farm where a variety of fruits and vegetables are still grown to this day. Bob Burke, who is retired, spends a lot of his time toiling in the giant garden/mini farm. Along with corn, cucumbers, cantaloupes, peaches, and beans, the main crop is tomatoes — lots of tomatoes. Bob put in more than 600 plants this year, but a bug of some kind killed off about two-thirds of them. If that sounds like a lot, Bob said he used to plant as many as 3,000. He and his wife can and store some of the produce and sell the rest Bob Burke walks through some of the three acres where he lives and farms in West Valley City. He and his family have lived there for 70 years. (Darrell Continued page 9
Kirby/City Journals)
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