Farmer Bill

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William D. Click was known to thousands of Herald-Dispatch
readers and WSAZ-TV viewers as “Farmer Bill.”

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HUNTINGTON — For years, The Herald-Dispatch farm and garden column
 written by William D. Click — better known as “Farmer Bill” —
 was one of the newspaper’s most popular features, and
 his regular broadcasts onWSAZ radio and
 television were equally popular.

Click was born in Jackson County, Kentucky, in 1889. The
youngest of 12 children, he graduated from Berea College.

In 1914, he came to West Virginia as an agricultural extension agent in
Nicholas County, traveling from farm to farm by horseback.
 In a 1949 interview, he recalled helping build the
first silo ever erected in Nicholas County.

Continuing to work as an extension agent, Click moved to Lincoln County in 1919,
 to Wayne County in 1921 and Cabell County in 1930, traveling the countryside
 and encouraging farmers to adopt the latest agricultural methods. He began
writing his newspaper column during World War II, encouraging
readers to plant “Victory Gardens” to help ease
 the nation’s critical need for food.

Click retired from the WVU Extension Service in 1952.
 After that he devoted full time to his radio-TV
 and newspaper activities.

Over the years, he not only dispensed expert advice to farmers, but he
was happy to help home gardeners as well. He offered a newspaper
 reader or TV viewer with a sickly plant in his or her backyard
 the same attention and encouragement he gave someone
with a 500-acre commercial farm.

“Farmer Bill” Click was 71 when he died in 1960.

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Note:  This Article and picture appeared in the Herald-Dispatch Newspaper on May 26, 2020.

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