Lensman, who has raised show pigs to auction off for 4-H and other farm projects for 30 years, said the jacket was in style when he bought it. Similar to a baseball warmup jacket, it was bright red, made of satin and had the name of his farm embroidered on the back.
“It was really expensive back then,” Lensman said.
But as the style changed, the jacket was stuck in the back of a closet for several years. Mindy Lensman, Kenneth’s wife, said it stayed there with good reason until he found it and decided to take it on a business trip in Oklahoma about a year ago. As soon as they saw it, Lensman’s friends immediately started in with the jokes.
After a while though, they began joking and asking him where it was. Eventually, they joked about buying it from him.
Kenneth said a friend suggested they turn the jokes into something serious, and sell it at a pig auction that took place last week. The money raised would go to the American Cancer Society’s local Relay for Life.
Kenneth Lensman said he believed the jacket might bring about $250. Instead, it sold to a group of friends for $2,000.
The donation was particularly touching, he said, because his father-in-law, Don Dallas, died of cancer not long ago.
Ron DeOrnellas co-owns the Cutting Edge Showpig Sires, based near Mechanicsburg, with several other individuals. He said the jacket will be framed along the office wall of the business.
“It’s kind of a hideous-looking jacket for today’s society,” he joked. It’s definitely out of style.”
However, when they learned the money would go to the American Cancer Society, the decided to spend more than they had planned.
“Most of us have all lost someone to cancer and we just wanted to do something good for the public,” DeOrnellas said.
Kenneth Lensman said he had trouble believing how much money the jacket raised.
“I think it brought a lot of awareness to the cancer society,” he said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0355.
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