The first thing Gracee Workman will tell you about her story is that she is not a victim. But her story is not easy to take in and most people, try as they might, will never be able to understand what she’s been through.
Workman grew up far from hog barns and oblivious of the industry she’s come to love. The obstacles she’s overcome to flee the streets and build a career that’s included working in a sow unit and vet clinic to managing the Ohio State University swine farm is inspiring.
The daughter of two addicts, Workman’s parents divorced after she turned one and were constantly in and out of jail. She and her sister slept on a cement floor as their mother’s addiction grew worse and she gradually sold everything in their house for drugs and alcohol.
“She would wake up and immediately we’d count whatever change we could find and walk with her to the liquor store,” Workman says. “She’d get her King Cobra first thing in the morning so she could start drinking or get high or whatever she needed to do. On good days, we’d go trash picking. We’d go from dumpster to dumpster to see what we could find.”
By the age of 5, Workman’s father received custody of the girls and moved them away from the streets of Columbus, Ohio, out near Buckeye Lake to be closer to his family. Her father was an addict, too, but functioned at a higher level than her mother – most people had no idea about the struggles that went on behind closed doors.
Her father dated several women throughout Workman’s childhood. He stayed with one woman for a longer period of time. During this time, she struggled with mental health and attempted suicide several times. One day they got into a fight and he took the girls to their grandparents’ house. While they were away, she hung herself in their garage.
“My dad took my sister and I down to the basement where she had made her first attempts to commit suicide,” Workman says.
Suicide was an all-too-common theme in Workman’s childhood. Her mother struggled with mental health, too, and attempted suicide. She died of a drug overdose when Workman was 18.
“My mother was bipolar and was committed to the pysch ward once,” Workman says. “I have seen firsthand what happens when your mental health isn’t diagnosed correctly or isn’t treated properly – oftentimes, people look for a way to numb it.”
Fallen Heroes
Growing up, Workman’s dad was her hero. She looked up to him and loved spending time with him. During her childhood, he was in and out of hospitals for nine different back surgeries and became addicted to opiates.
“There were times my father wouldn’t get out of bed and there were times he would be gone for weeks at a time,” she says. “Meanwhile, my mother remained absent as she struggled with her addiction, too. They weren’t bad people. Unfortunately, addiction took over their lives and the choices they made.”
Before long, families in the community began to notice and offered Workman support and a place to live.
“I started working at a young age doing different things such as pool concessions, babysitting and cleaning houses,” she says. “I was pretty mature for my age. Everyone around the community knew that I needed money and would often pay me to do something for them.”
Looking back, she believes those families are the reason she pushed through nearly impossible circumstances. “I don’t really know how I coped as a child,” she says. “I had amazing people provide me with support to get down a better path.”
Having an addict father made her a very fearful kid, she adds. She knew if she upset her father, he would move her from wherever she was living at the time.
Friends also kept her mind busy and off of other things. “I didn’t know anything different. That was my life. I didn’t realize that wasn’t how it was supposed to be,” she says.
For example, when Workman was 10 years old, her older sister got her high for the first time so she would go to sleep while her sister had parties.
“I was in the atmosphere to become an addict due to the choices that were put in front of me at a young age,” she recalls. “But I knew I wanted something else. I did not want to go down the same path as my parents.”
An Introduction to Agriculture
Although she grew up disconnected from agriculture, she quickly uncovered a passion for agriculture in high school while helping take care of a friend’s horse. They moved the horse to a new farm one day that also had a pig finishing barn.
She helped this family with some of the farm’s chores – not the pigs – and realized how much she enjoyed working with animals. She became pregnant in her senior year of high school. After graduation, this family helped watch her baby while she took college classes and worked various jobs.
“One day they asked me if I was interested in playing with pigs,” Workman says. “And that’s where it all started.”
This family connected her with the production manager at a Heimerl Farms sow farm in Pleasantville. She was a young female with no experience, and she had never been around a pig. Fortunately, her work ethic and positive attitude helped her land the job.
“She was young and energetic, but had no experience with hogs,” says Jim Heimerl, owner of Heimerl Farms. “She learned quickly and seemed to really like what she was doing. The manager at the sow unit, along with the Keller family, made her feel welcome and comfortable with her jobs.”
The transition to work at a sow farm wasn’t easy. In fact, it was downright overwhelming at times.
“Working on a sow farm is a lot of hard physical work and long hours for what you get paid. And you don’t get to go home until the job’s done,” Workman says.
She also struggled to fit in. But she says that was the fuel she needed to rise up and prove people wrong.
“Everyone, except the manager, doubted me at first. They were far from welcoming,” she says. “But after what I’ve been through in my life, that just fueled my fire. You don’t think I can? I’ll prove you wrong.”
And prove them wrong she did. She stuck it out, gaining respect from her co-workers and developing great relationships with them.
“In the beginning, I was just sticking it out to prove that I could do the work because I wasn’t who they thought I was. Then, I just fell in love with it. I had no idea that world existed,” she says.
For the Love of Pigs
When she started working at the sow farm, she had no idea where her food came from. As she learned more and more about the industry, she says she was simply amazed by it.
“Everyone I worked with cared so much about what they did and the animals they raised,” she says. “The people in agriculture are so different than other people. It’s hard to explain – they are just genuine.”
She continued to complete her college vet tech degree while working for Heimerl Farms. Read the rest of the story here.
