735 Riddle Road Cincinnati, Ohio 45220
Tom Hall firing his 22 HP Keck-Gonnerman, serial number 1765. On
viewing the scene, Rhode was inspired to write ‘
‘Keck-Gonnerman Memories.’ Look for his story inside this
issue.
Born and raised a Hoosier, I may be a bit partial when I say
that, for charming scenery, few places rival southern Indiana in
the summertime.
That charm is evident in the picture on this month’s cover.
Here, under a spreading sycamore, Tom Hall fires his 22-horsepower
Keck-Gonnerman (serial number 1765). The early-morning sunshine
glistens from spokes in the flywheel and driver wheel. Parked
nearby, Tom’s water wagon with fuel box on top holds the
engine’s food and drink.
The occasion is the Keck-Gonnerman Reunion, held near Mt.
Vernon, Indiana.
I suppose nearly everybody feels a certain admiration for his or
her home state, but, at this show, my nostalgia was profound! My
mother (Ida Marie Coan) grew up near the Keck-Gonnerman factory in
Mt. Vernon. As a girl, she and her friends played among the engines
at dusk after the whistle announced ‘quittin’
time.” When I was born, she and Dad (Joseph C. Rhode) were
farming in northwestern Indiana. We would attend the reunions at
Pontiac, Illinois, where Mom enjoyed watching each and every
Keck-Gonnerman steam engine.
Mom passed away a number of years ago. While Tom Hall carefully
stoked the fire in his engine, I recalled her enthusiasm for
Keck-Gonnerman machinery, and I realized that she indeed might have
played hide-and-seek with the younger children beside this very
engine. The soft sunlight, the drowsy sycamore leaves, and the
peacefulness of this scene conspired to play a momentary trick on
my imagination making me drift back to the 1920s. I hope my
photograph may inspire a similarly satisfying feeling in readers of
IMA.
