Atkins Farms Country Market
ROUTE 116 & BAY
ROAD
1150 WEST STREET, AMHERST, MA
01002
413-253-9528
Winter Hours: 7:00 am to 7:00 pm,
Daily
www.atkinsfarms.com email:
info@atkinsfarms.com
Customer Couple of the
Month
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by Pauline Lannon,
President
PAUL & PATTI
PIERCE
Each of the Pierces' children are a story by themselves and
here is a bit of information about each of them:
Michelle, now 43, was born while Paul was
attending his one semester at law school. Michelle is married to
Terry Hopper and the have two sons; Tanner, 12 and
Kyler, 10. They live in Brentwood, N.H. Terry was a pro-baseball
pitcher for the Brewers until he sustained an elbow
injury.
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He is the General Sales Manager for Cider Jack
Beverage Company. Michelle attended UMass-Boston. She is
very creative and artistic and for three years, used her talents in
her "Favorite Things" gift basket business located in Portsmouth,
N.H. Last year, she sold the business because its success was
keeping her from her young family. She is a "Super-Mom", very
involved in every aspect of her son's lives.
Sean, 40, and wife Katie have three children and
one due in March. Anxiously awaiting their sibling are Nathaniel,
6; Ella, 4, and Michael, 2. The family lives in Greenfield
where Sean also operates his coffee roasting business with his
brother Darren. Katie worked for Sean for four years during
the Java Hut retail store days while studying at UMass. She then
received her Master's degree in Education. At the
present time, she loves being at home with
her children and is very involved with them and their activities. She is
a jazz singer and likes to play piano in her spare time. Sean
is a very devoted husband and loving father. His parents
say he is and excellent parent and a devout man. He
too is musical and like to play the guitar when he can find
some free time, which is not too often. Because we purchase coffee from
the Pierce Brothers, we have come to know both Sean and Darren.
Matheu Campell who works in the coffee department here at
Atkins said that the two brothers "are the nicest people that I
deal with" and are "great people".
Paul belives that the family that
prays together, does in fact, stay together.
Sandy Dise our coffee buyer who has
purchased coffee from many different companies, is glad to be able
in increase our buying from them. Sandy says they are very
accommodating, bringing our orders right away and if there is an
equipment breakdown, one of the brothers is there that day.
She also appreciates the fact that they are socially conscious, now
dealing with 100% Fair Trade coffee companies and 100% certified
organic. Not only is their coffee good quality. The two
brothers care about their company and are diligent in their
work. Both Sandy and I agree that they are going far, already
on their way to being very successful. We are privileged
to be able to do business with them.
Darren, 38, is married to
Rachel (Reffsin, an Amherst girl) and lives in Greenfield. The
have a girl Maya, 2½, and are expecting their second child in
January. After graduating from Springfield College, Darren
moved to San Francisco to join his sister Michelle and while
bartending at Kuletos (Darren was San Francisco's Bartender of the
Year 1993) he met a purveyor of premium coffee who talked to him
about the coffee business. When Darren returned to
Massachusetts in 1993, he and Sean decided to go into the coffee
business as equal partners. They first wholesaled coffee from
San Francisco for about two years, the decided to begin roasting and
producing their own coffee. Sean and Darren maintained a
coffee cart at the Newman Center at UMass for 7 years and their
drive-up coffee shop (Java Hut) in Sunderland for 10 years.
They began roasting their own coffee at that location, at the same
time learning about the retail business. Two years ago they
decided to close Java Hut, to concentrate on roasting and
wholesaling their coffee. Their coffee roasting business in
Greenfield has been expanded three times. They are importing
beans from several countries including Costa Rica, Nicaragua,
Honduras, Peru, Guatemala, Indonesia, Colombia and Mexico. All
their blends start with 100% organic, 100% Fair Trade, certified
kosher, shade-grown and air-roasted beans. A percentage of the
proceed form their special blends go directly to support the Food
Bank of Western Mass. in its fight against hunger. In
Darren's free time he plays Bass guitar in a local group of
friends. Darren paints in Tempura and oil as well as
sculpts. Rachel is a graduate
of UMass-Amherst, and she and her mom, Nancy, run "Homeland Adoption
Services" (international adoptions). They travel to China each
year to facilitate the adoption of children.
Youngest daughter Nicole, not to be ignored with all this talk about
the coffee company, is 37. She is married to Craig Freeman
(from Greenfield) and they live in Shelburne Falls with their three
children; Myles,8; Kiernan, 6; and Avery, 2½. While at
Springfield College, she was active in Theatre and Dance. Most
recently, she danced in Rosemary Chain's production, "Wilde Irish
Women". She is also a full-time mom at home and is considered
the best gourmet cook and baker in the family. Whenever there
are family gatherings, she always outdoes herself with her marvelous
food. Having been born just 11 months apart, Paul and Patti
refer to Nicole and Darren as their "Irish Twins".
The Pierce family was also fortunate to have had a student from the
ABC house of Amherst. Alex Morales stayed with them once a
month during the three years he spent at Amherst High. After
graduating, he jointed his parents in Puerto Rico. He is now
married, has two children and is with the FBI.
Although
Pattie often looked on (busy with the children), as Paul expanded hi
singing career, she is also extremely talented. Singing since
she was 10, Patti and Paul also sand together when in High
School. She took voice lessons while in college, just as did
Paul. While members of St. Brigid's church, Patti often sang
solo at
...Patti and Paul also sang
together when in High
School.
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 weddings
and funerals. Paul jokes that he allowed Pattie only three
numbers on his CD, fearing that she would show him up! Having
heard Patti sing at my father's funeral, I can attest to her
talent. I once had the opportunity to listen to
Patti at a church in Nova Scotia. We were with a few other
acquaintances and spoke with the priest who was in the church at the
time. He invited Patti to sing. In this very large,
lovely but empty church that afternoon, Patti's voice cam on so very
strong, clear as a crystal and just magnificent as she sang "Where
you there?" I was moved beyond any other experience of my life
and we all stood there with tears in our eyes when she was done - we
were as close as we could get, in fact, to being There! In
addition to her singing, she was on many church committees and
taught CCD for a number of years. Each year for 12+ years, she
directed Christmas Pageants at St Brigid's. After their own
children were beyond the age of participating, they each would help
out in
Paul sang with the Glen Miller Band
and did guest appearances on television.
some way, the whole family became involved. The true meaning
of Christmas was omitted from the public schools, when they were in
grade school; so that is when Patti decided, that she wanted her
children and others to be able to experience and learn the true
meaning of Christmas. Patti also enjoys sewing for herself,
her children and her home. She has made several banners and
Altar cloths for various churches in the diocese and made Priest's
Vestments for some of their priest friends. During the summer
months, Patti was fortunate to have been able to do the flowers for
all of her children's weddings (although, she would never recommend
to the Mother of the Bride or Groom, to take on such a large
task).
While at St. Brigid, Paul & Patti were
the Choir Directors in 1974 and 1975. A folk group was later
formed at the church for which Paul & Patti, Marge Johnson,
Jeanette Ennis, Shirley Perez, Architect John Kuhn (a fine
guitarist) and David Ostendorf performed for 10+ years. Paul
sang with the Glen Miller Band and did guest appearances on
television. He cut demo albums for the Mills Music in New York
Show. Shortly after they moved to Amherst in 1968, they
flipped on the TV and saw two members of his former group performing
on the tonight show! Paul even asked for God's guidance
regarding what he should do, and in the end he told Him "Thy Will be
Done". As deals continued to fall through (missing the Merv
Griffin show offer by one day, etc.) Paul realized he had
received his answer. And in the end, Paul was glad he made the
choice not to go into entertainment. Family was most important
to him and the performing business was not conducive to having a
family.
Ten years ago, Paul and Patti joined the Dan
Kane musical group after listening to them perform, singing "The
Impossible Dream." At the time they joined, 52
people belonged to the band, today there are 160 vocalists plus the
band. Paul said that Dan Kane is a special teacher, a
magnificent musician - a genius. This years Christmas show at
the Mass Mutual Center was their last Christmas
Spectacular.
Besides his terrific family of which
Paul is so proud, he is very pleased with the production of his CD,
"All My Bright Tomorrows". Paul and Dan Kane did all
the arrangements for the CD and it consists of music from the Big
Band era as well as popular music. He sells the CD here at
Atkins and at numerous shows. Phil D at WIZZ radio often plays
various songs on his radio show.
The Pierces have
been shopping at Atkins since first moving into Amherst (when
they lived on Ward St.) over 39 years ago. They would make the
trip to Atkins frequently and now living closer to the Fruit Bowl
they are here just about every day. Patti says she will often
stop and take stock of what she needs just before dinner, taking in
to account whether or not they will be having family over, and then
shoots over to the store to fill in. I often meet Patti at the
fish case which is their favorite spot to shop. If not fish,
she will by meat fresh daily. Besides the fish and meat, they
purchase all their produce, flowers and often gifts. Patti
said that Paul will sometimes bring here a fresh bouquet of flowers
just to show that he loves her. Head Cashier Jon McMahon was
glad to see that the Pierces were the Customer Couple of the Month,
claiming that they are truly frequent shoppers at Atkins and
'delightful people'. Both are very friendly so that they "make
his day" when he cashes them out.
Patti and Paul
always wanted a large, tight-knit family, which is what they have;
each of their children are 'great people' they quickly agree.
Their kids are very nice, considerate, compassionate and close to
each other. Their faith has always been important to them, and
has helped to make their family connections even stronger. The
take care and watch out for each other; even the small
grandchildren support on another.
The family would
always have their last meal of the day together no matter how late
it was. This was the important time to be together and to
share their thoughts about the day, and a laugh or two. On
Fridays, they always had pizza together along with at least three or
four extra kids (friends of their children). These were
memorable times for them. Paul says Patti is the 'glue' that
holds the family together just by her constantly keeping in touch
with each family, caring and babysitting for the grandchildren and
encouraging family gatherings. Sean says his parents have been
very supportive, always telling their children that whatever they
chose to do, they would support them. It was always obvious
how much Paul and Patti loved children, their own and certainly now
their grandchildren as well. Sean looks back at his childhood
as having a happy upbringing. Even in times of stress, their
parents found a way to shield them. They also learned valuable
work ethnics form Paul and Patti. Sean remembers how he
couldn't wait to go to college, to get away from "happy valley" for
a while but as soon as his father dropped him off at school in
Colorado, he was homesick!
This
family of high moral standards has affected Atkins in two ways; one
as our frequent, loyal customers who add class and distinction
to our business just by shopping here. If their satisfaction
in our service reflects how we operate our business, then we should
be able to succeed well into the future. And second, by their
sons selling us their coffee that is fair trade, they are helping us
to be more valuable, concerned members of our community. We
are pleased to have on more opportunity to patronize a local small
business. Atkins is fortunate to have these two relationships
with us an extraordinary
family.
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