New work is old hat for correspondent

By ANNE KAZMIERCZAK

anne@iolaregister.com

HUMBOLDT — When longtime Humboldt correspondent Vada Aikins decided to retire recently, there was a bit of worry as to who would take up the torch, getting the news of Humboldt out to Register readers.

In stepped Terry Broyles, Humboldt resident and owner, with her husband David, of Broyles, Inc., a Humboldt-based business that sells, installs and maintains service station equipment. “The underground tanks, the pumps, the nozzle you put in your car,” Broyles said, “We do everything.”

Broyles father-in-law, Jim Broyles, began the business in 1972, she said. It has since grown to have offices in Topeka and Springfield, Mo. Terry does the bookkeeping for all three branches, she said.

The Broyleses have two grown children, daughter Claire in Ada, Okla., and son Clayton, in Ottawa.

Broyles is no newcomer to the world of print. 

“I worked for the Humboldt Union for 12-15 years,” Broyles said. Before that, she worked for Jackie Witherspoon when the latter started “The Marketplace News.”

“It was just a little tabloid,” Broyles said. “Eventually we became the Humboldt Union.”

Broyles left the Union in 1998 to join the family business, she said. 

Although she is active in the community, she figured acting as the new correspondent could only help her get more involved.

“I belong to GALS FCE,” she said, and Chariots of Light Christian Motorcycle Club.

The club is more than a hobby. 

“My husband and I rode 26,000 miles on that motorcycle this year,” she said. “From April to October we went from the East to West coasts, to Canada, Montana, Louisiana and Alabama,” she said. 

Along the way, club riders evangelize to other bikers they meet, Broyles said. “People are curious,” she said when they see a big group of riders. “They come up and ask questions.”

Broyles has also recently taken up another sort of biking — the non-motorized kind.

“Just the last two years I’ve taken up bicycle riding,” she said. “I did a 500-mile four-state ride my first year.”

Broyles said she and a friend, Peggy Hillman, began at the northeast corner of Kansas intending to venture southwest. “We got about half way when she broke her arm,” Broyles said. “That ended our ride.”

But Broyles went on, signing up for the four-state tour. 

Just weeks after returning , “I was having open heart surgery,” Broyles said. 

Until then, “I did not know there was anything wrong with my heart,” she said. “I just had a little congestion. I figured it was form riding so much.”

Urged by her son to see a physician, Broyles discovered she had a n aortic aneurysm. “I had to have a valve put in,” she noted of the surgery.

“Once I got over that, I started riding again,” she said.

Broyles is not currently planning any major trips for the coming year, but, she noted, “My sister had since taken up bicycling” and she could see the two of them on such a jaunt.

For now, though, she’s easy enough tot reach.

“In winter I go to the Fieldhouse” to stay in shape, she said. She also can be contacted at Broyles, Inc., 473-3835, at home, 473-3727, or tlbroylesks@yahoo.com.

12.21.10