Melvin H. Borton (1927-2021)
Jul. 25—OTTAWA, Ohio — Melvin H. Borton, a Fulton County farmer whose advocacy for small farms and farmers became his life's work through the Ohio Farmers Union and the National Farmers Union, died July 16 at home in Sun City, Ariz. He was 94.
He had heart problems, his wife, Linda Borton, said. The couple moved to Arizona in 2017 from Ottawa, where the Ohio Farmers Union is based.
"He was a man of compassion," said his wife, a retired executive director of the Ohio Farmers Union. "He spoke it and he meant it and he was a believer. He was one who didn't want to fuss about things. He wanted to make sure other people were taken care of."
Mr. Borton in 2013 received the National Farmers Union's highest honor, its meritorious service award for his contribution to agriculture, humanity, and the union, at the organization's 111th anniversary convention.
"Mel has been very instrumental in the building and maintenance of the Ohio Farmers Union and the National Farmers Union for a lifetime," Joe Logan, president of the Ohio Farmers Union, said Saturday. "We certainly appreciate his strong efforts to make our organization strong and durable."
Mr. Borton's wife said: "Farmers Union was his life. When you're a farmer, you don't have a 9-to-5 job. Even in the '80s, when all the bankruptcies were happening, Mel was in the office, taking phone calls late at night, trying to help people."
Mr. Borton grew up on his family's Dover Township farm, established in the 19th century by a great-grandfather who was a Civil War veteran. The family grew tomatoes, corn, soybeans, wheat, sometimes oats, and had a small dairy operation, and he helped, his brother, Lyle, said. He joined the Farmers Union in 1948, the year he started farming on his own. By the late 1950s he got 20,000 hens for an egg-laying operation — and started writing and visiting lawmakers on issues affecting poultry and dairy producers, his brother said.
"He had a real capacity for intellect, and he had a real capacity for talking to people. He could listen well. He was smooth," his brother said.
He left hands-on farming behind by the end of the 1960s, although he still owned the family farm, his brother said. He became a regional director for the National Farmers Union. He was based in Denver as the national director of organization and of field services. He moved to Ottawa in 1985 to become the Ohio Farmers Union's director of marketing.
From 1993-2001, he was the state committee chairman of the U.S. agriculture department's Farm Service Agency. His focus was on making sure federal farm programs helped farmers as intended. Afterward, he returned to the Ohio Farmers Union offices in Ottawa, where he handled phone calls and answered questions on agriculture.
"He was a real advocate for small farmers, for agriculture generally, but certainly for family agriculture, and at looking to see that folks didn't get crossways with the agencies that were out there to serve," said Steve Maurer, retired head of the Farm Service Agency for Ohio. "His focus was not on himself, but on others."
He was born Feb. 7, 1927, to Doris and Hazen Borton, the second of what would be seven children. He was a 1944 graduate of the former Chesterfield High School.
He was Uncle Melvin to a large extended family, of which he was the patriarch, his brother said.
He married the former Onalee Garrison on May 17, 1944. She died July 3, 1983.
Surviving are his wife, the former Linda Jones, whom he married Feb. 14, 2003; sons Melvin, Jr., Mark, and Mitchell Borton; brother, Lyle Borton; sisters Vonda Dunn and Shirley Wohlford; 10 grandchildren; four step-grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; 10 step-great-grandchildren; seven great-great-grandchildren, and five step-great-great-grandchildren;
A service will begin at 10 a.m. Thursday at Willowbrook United Methodist Church, Sun City, where he was a member. A memorial service will begin at 11 a.m. Aug. 14 at Trinity United Methodist Church, Ottawa, where he'd been a member, with visitation after 10 a.m. Arrangements are by Best Funeral Services in Arizona.
The family suggests tributes to Trinity United Methodist Church, Ottawa; the Ohio Farmers Union, or a charity of the donor's choice.
