by Carol Flaherty, MSU Communications Services Marcia Lipp Klinker, '87 Nurs, and Marty Klinker, '87 AgBus, say they like to "fill the spaces" in their lives. With four children, both an irrigated and dryland farm, and a property maintenance company that stretches from Great Falls, through Helena and Bozeman to Billings, the Klinkers seem to have done a pretty good job of filling in the spaces. The US Jaycees, John Deere and Pioneer Seeds named Marty National Outstanding Young Farmer in 1996, and Farm Journal named him it's Top Producer in 2000. Marty, who came to MSU from the Fairfield area in 1988, made the basketball team as a walk-on, and earned a degree in ag business while leasing and working a farm near Fairfield during spring and summer quarters. Marcia, whose family moved to Lewistown from Alberta, Canada, when she was in high school, worked her way through college to get her nursing degree. While not from a farming family, she and her parents (Jan and Jim Lipp) had lived on a ranch long enough for Marcia to vow to "never marry a farmer." That lasted until the she met Marty while both were working at Karl Marx Pizza on College St. (which morphed into Colombo's in 1988). They were married 15 years on Sept. 5 of this year. Marcia took a job as a clinic nurse while Marty farmed. By the middle of the first winter, Marty says he was looking for additional businesses, partially for extra income but also to "diversify and spread the risk." That theme prevails in their businesses. This year he raised cattle, malt barley, alfalfa, spring wheat, winter wheat and canola. Marty says he tries "to guarantee profit with diversity," adding that "this year will be a true test of that." His studies at MSU were driven by the farm lease his freshman year, Marty said. From then on he took finance, accounting, economics and agriculture courses that helped his farming operation. Marcia says most of her college years were focused on work and her nursing degree. Given a chance to begin college again, she says she would fit in more extracurricular activities. "It's important to enjoy school, but an education is so important. It's something they can never take away from you, and it's something you can fall back on," says Marcia. "We've had tight years, but we always knew we had the degrees and could do other work if we had to," says Marty. Marty tried custom seeding and combining, but they competed with his own farming. "To maintain growth, I went to the off-farm businesses, but at the end of the day, I'm still a farmer." Their children are a combined focus. Tyler is 11, Molly 8 1/2, Liz 6 and Natalie 3 1/2. Marcia works at home, doing bookkeeping for their businesses and being available for their children. Marty also stays involved with the children, coaching their teams and being a member of the school board.