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The Pecan Man gets crackin'
By Bill Hankins
The Paris News
Published October 17, 2009
He is fast becoming the Pecan Man of Northwest Paris.
But Paul Huber started out life 98 years ago as the son of a farmer.
Growing up as a farm boy peaked his interest in plants, but he turned to other endeavors to get through the Great Depression years.
“There are those who have said the depression was not so bad, but they obviously did not live through it,” Huber said.
Huber will be 98 on Tuesday, Nov. 10.
During the depression years he first worked as a carpenter, a trade he excelled in so well he learned all about wood and wood products.
He also worked for a hardware store for a time, and learned even more about the various types of woods and their uses.
His knowledge of wood created the next level of work for Huber.
When a lumber yard needed a worker, the contractor who employed Huber as a carpenter recommended him for that job.
Those jobs were in Marlin, Texas, where he lived most of his life.
Huber was the second youngest of six brothers and one sister.
His father died of a ruptured appendix when he was 2.
“It was on the 14th of October when he died,” Huber said. “After that we had to scramble to survive, then a few years later the depression hit.”
Then came the war years.
Huber recalled the days of rationing, when almost everything was rationed and stores often did not have enough to go around.
“Everything had to be bought with food stamps,” he said. “And we often did not have enough to buy the food for everybody.”
It was after Huber retired his interests returned to the soil.
His daughter, who lived in Paris, moved him here to be close to her, but she died two years later.
By that time most of his siblings had died, but the family showed great longevity.
One brother died at 95, another at 96, and his youngest brother, still alive, is 96 now.
His youngest brother and Huber are the remaining survivors of the family.
After he moved to Paris, Huber turned back to gardening and raising plants.
He developed his own tomatoes by crossing various tomato types until he reached what he called a perfect tomato.
“It is a yellow tomato, with a meaty center and great taste,” he said.
Huber also has a bright red honeysuckle vine he is proud of.
“It blooms vigorously each year, and its color brightens the spirits,” he said.
Huber is best known for another crop, however.
His huge pecans, produced in his own yard, amaze almost everyone who gets a chance to see them.
“I have one tree that in most years will make more than 200 pounds of pecans,” he said. “Another tree’s pecans are smaller. I refer to the pecans on the trees as the ‘sellers’ and the ‘shellers.’ I shell the big ones and sell the smaller pecans.”
Huber said he shells approximately 100 pounds of pecans per year “in a good year.”
“People come from all over to buy my shelled pecans,” he said. “I have a pecan cracker, and I sit around and shell the pecans during the cold days.”
He measures the pecans in a quart fruit jar.
“It takes about one quart to make a pound,” he said.
Huber said one man came by and bought one pound of the pecans.
“The next day he was back and bought 30 pounds,” he said. “He told me those were the best pecans he has ever eaten.”
Huber said one woman almost always buys up to 20 pounds of the pecans, and others buy two or three pounds each.
People have started recommending to friends they should go to The Pecan Man to buy their pecans each year.
This should be a good year. Huber’s pecan trees are so loaded, their limbs are dragging the ground, especially the tree with the big pecans.
Though he is hampered by using a walker, Huber is getting his pecan cracker ready.
“They (the pecans) are beginning to pop open on the tree, and they soon should begin to fall,” he said. “The best time for pecans to fall is late November and early December.”
Huber has a car, but no longer drives.
“I eat lunch on Sundays at a center on Stillhouse Road,” he said. “They send someone to pick me up, and I always get them to drop me at Walmart after the lunch and leave me for two or three hours to do my shopping before they pick me up and take me home.”
Huber’s family holds an annual reunion, but he missed last year’s.
“It was the 62nd reunion, and it is the first I have missed,” he said.
Most of the time, he spends at home.
“My son lives in Fayetteville, Ark., and that is too far to drive to see me often, but he comes when he can,” Huber said.
Others in the family check on him at least once a week to see if he needs anything, and to help him.
As for his plants, each year he lets the cold weather get them and replants the next year.
The pecans just take care of themselves.
“Last year, the pecan crop was not big,” he said. “This year they are great. It seems every other year is a good crop.”
Neighbor Judy Moore said she was amazed at the size of his pecans.
“They are as big as lemons,” she said. “And that red honeysuckle is fantastic.”
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