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Gene A. Armstrong JULY 15, 1933 - JULY 16, 2007 I’ve known of kids doing various jobs to make spending money, you know lemonade stands, washing cars but my Dear Friend Sonny, well I bet he didn’t know catching black crickets in Glennville, GA over 60 years ago to sell to local fisherman would turn into the oldest and largest cricket farm IN HISTORY! Gene Armstrong, was son to Talmage and Myrle Armstrong. Tal and his family traveled to Glennville, GA in the early 1940’s. Tal was a prominent plumbing contractor. I’m sure upon moving to Glennville, Tal didn’t expect to give up his plumbing business to raise crickets with his son, Gene. You see; it all started one morning when Tal went out to the barrel to get some crickets to go fishing with. He called for Sonny to “get up” he had ants in his cricket barrel. What they thought were ants were baby crickets in the barrel. After discovering this Tal and Sonny’s wheels got to turning and so did his truck as they went back to Montgomery, AL to gather the grey cricket they had fished with in AL which was native to a trash dump in Montgomery. Tal, being a advid fisherman knew the grey cricket to be a much better fish bait over the black cricket, and well the rest is HISTORY! The Armstrong’s built their first cricket farm in Glennville, GA . in 1946. This was the first time ever the grey cricket had been available to be shipped all over the USA. The business continued to grow. Armstrong’s opened a second cricket farm in West Monroe, LA in 1955. Tal’s eldest son Bill, joined the company to manage the LA farm. Yes, who would have thought a boy of 13, catching crickets under logs for pocket change would have produced two farms in less then 10 years and is known to be the “WORLDS LARGEST, AND OLDEST cricket farm in history. Heart felt THANKS go to Sonny for the many jobs the cricket farm brought to this small town of Glennville, and the families he helped through the years. He and his family certainly proved, you can do anything if you put your mind to it.
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