Ray Preston used to tell his young townie daughters that life on the eastern Kentucky farm where he grew up was so rugged that he was afraid one of his legs would be shorter than the other from plowing corn on the side of the mountain.

When the young daughters repeated the story to Preston’s sisters, they hooted with laughter and told the girls there is no escape from chores on a family farm and by the time
the farm child becomes a young adult the rhythms of the land are a part of him forever.

So it was for Preston, who left the farm for college, married, served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and Korea, and finally settled in Henderson, the hometown of his wife Hattie Louise—affectionately known on the farm as “Miss Hattie”.

During the next four decades Preston built up a commercial commodities distribution business from a one-truck operation into one of the 10 largest companies of its kind nation-wide. At the same time, Preston built a personal reputation as someone who can be count-ed on to give back to his community.

But there was always that yearning for the farm life he’d left behind, for the livestock
and the crops, particularly the fields of corn undulating in the hot, humid Kentucky breezes.
On winter nights, he missed the cozy farmhouse fires and his all-time favorite snack, popcorn.

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