Jerry Kluver used to operate a backhoe and a dragline, tending to the secondary roads of Crawford County. Even the noise, grime and heat generated by the heavy machinery as it tore up, repaired and leveled the road surfaces was preferable to what he had escaped.

Kluver grew up on an Iowa farm with seven siblings. The family was poor, and their situation became more difficult when Kluver’s father died. As a teenager, he helped the family by getting a job working for a neighboring farmer before and after school and on weekends. After high school, Kluver joined the National Guard. He served six months of active duty, and was granted an honorable discharge in 1966. Six weeks later, he was asked to re-enlist and go to Vietnam. He declined.

As hard as it was to work on the roads, it felt like a reprieve to him. Kluver said it was hard not to appreciate what he had after that. The Crawford County engineer, one of his supervisors, saw his potential.

“He looked right through my window and saw my personality and love for people,” he said.

In 1969, the county engineer suggested that Kluver apply for a job with his son-in-law, Glen Rundlett, who worked for Earl May Nursery and Garden Centers. Kluver did so and was promptly hired. For a year, he was a clerk in an Earl May store, and in 1970 he was made a manager. He has been managing Earl May stores ever since.

He started out in a small store with few responsibilities, but as the years passed and his experience increased, the company put Kluver in charge of larger locations in Greater Des Moines. The first store he managed there was at 5910 Douglas Ave. in Des Moines in 1983, then at 22nd Street and University Avenue in West Des Moines in 1986 and at 245 50th St., West Des Moines, in 1999.

It was in 1992, however, that Kluver started down the road to becoming a local celebrity. Employees of WHO-TV had shopped in Kluver’s store and noticed his “gift of gab.” A representative from the station approached him and asked if he would be willing to appear on the air to discuss gardening. For years he appeared on the now-defunct Van and Connie television program, but now he is on WHO’s news shows Saturday at 8:20 and 9:20 a.m. and Wednesdays at 12:40 p.m. He hosts a call-in segment and tapes occasional segments from remote locations.

In the beginning, Kluver had a garden on the station’s roof and carried all supplies, including dirt and water, up the 41 steps from the top floor to the roof. Eventually WHO moved him to a 16-foot by 30-foot plot under it’s 400-foot-tall tower.

Although he is now accustomed to appearing on television, he can still recall the nervousness he felt before that first segment on caring for a poinsettia. The response to his television appearances has been “overwhelming,” with fans coming from 100 miles away to consult with him for a gardening problem. In addition to his television work, Earl May officially appointed Kluver its local spokesman. He appears in all the company’s local ads. He is also often asked to do speaking engagements. Kluver says he speaks at more than 20 events from March 1 to July 1 each year.

Kluver loves his work and boisterously calls out to customers he passes, willing to answer any question. He says he loves his job because of the variety: waiting on customers, unloading trucks, planting things, and learning about new products and service. His only frustration is negativity, whether from an unmotivated worker or a customer complaining about the rain.

“It’s money from heaven,” Kluver exclaimed. “You have to appreciate what you have.”

Kluver says his only regret is that he didn’t attend college. He and his wife, Faylene, have four sons and four grandchildren. When his boys were younger, he continually told them, “Get educated, young men.” Now they are all educators. Three of his sons married teachers, too.

“My goal now is to be around my grandkids and family more,” he said. “I just want to stay healthy and enjoy life.”