He’s run nearly 20,000 sales as an auctioneer, Derry Camp figured when he realized that this Thursday, Jan. 6, will mark his 30th year in business.
“My daughter sat down with us, we figured up that at our barn alone we’ve done between 17,000 and 20,000 sales,” Derry Camp said. “Sharon said it couldn’t have been that many, but once we thought about it, we realized it was - we’ve done a sale a month, at least.”
Camp has been auctioneering around the area for more than three decades. He has run auctions in Mt. Vernon and Pineville, Mo., and Grove, Okla., as well as a few other places.
Wearing a cap with D&S Auction embroidered across the top, Camp remembered a humorous event.
“One night I was selling and my teeth fell out. I caught ’em before they hit the concrete. I throwed ’em back in my mouth and just kept going.
“The people started laughing. I said ‘Shut up, I’m trying to sell,’” Camp laughingly recalled.
“The doc wants me to quit. I’ve had eight major surgeries - everything from open heart to gall bladder. I guess I could give it up for golf or go fishing, but there ain’t anything more stressful than playing golf or going fishing,” Camp smiled.
Camp, 70, and his wife, Sharon, 66, will have been married 48 years this coming June. They have two children and four grandchildren.
“The only thing is, we didn’t keep notes or take pictures of everything,” Sharon said. “We’ve had some pretty exciting moments.”
“We’ve enjoyed ourselves,” the couple said together, smiling.
He worked as a lathe operator at TRW for 22 years. She stayed home and raised the children. Together, they travel the backroads looking for items for their sales, which have waxed and waned over the years as the economy ebbs and flows.
“I’ve done ’em all over the country,” Derry said. “I was raised up in a livestock barn with my dad - Arlo Camp. I went to the sale barn with him all the time.”
“We travel quite a bit every week - 500 to 700 miles every week - looking for stuff to sell,” Sharon said.
“We’ve got a good auction family,” Sharon said, elaborating that the employees were their family as well.
Sandy Tygart was the auction clerk for 20 years before ill health forced her to retire. She died about 10 years ago and Carolyn Marrs from Cassville has been with the Camps since then. Also part of the “family” are Jenny Isgrigg, Calvin Isgrigg, John Renfroe, Brian Stanley, as well as their daughter, Christy Camp.
“I’ve lost all my kinfolks, but I’ve got one of the biggest families there are,” Derry said.
Right now, furniture is selling better than glassware, the Camps said.
They’re preparing for a big auction this Thursday night and were arranging furniture and accessories.
“It tears me up to see the personal stuff sell,” Derry said, mentioning that sometimes he’s surprised at personal items that are in the sale.
He used to collect lunch buckets and once sold a Beatles lunch box for $500.
Now, he collects children’s pedal tractors and several sit atop a wall in the auction house. “You’ve got to have a hobby to do or you’d go crazy,” he said.
The auction barn is a metal building that encompasses both the Camp’s home and business. It was built there several years ago when they realizedthey needed more room.
Previously, the couple lived just west of their present location and had added on to the auction barn several times.
As business decreased, the Camps reduced their sales from two a month to one a month, but said they have enough items to sell that they’re increasing that back to twice a month - on the first and third Thursday of the month.
The next sale is at 5 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 6.
The Camps’ auction barn is located at 980 E. Pickens Rd., on the west corner of the intersection of Pickens and Patterson roads.
News, Pages 1 on 01/05/2011