EARL S. HADDOCK, 91, passed away February 23, 1986, at his home
in Battle Creek Michigan. He was a retired garage owner, and was a
member of the National Threshers Association for many years
He worked as a young boy with his father and uncle running their
10 HP Advance, and also their 16 HP Advance, in their 55 years of
custom threshing and silo filling business in this area. In 1922
they bought a new 24-40 Rumley Oil Pull (which we still have) to
finish their last 20 years of their threshing business.
He loved the Steam Shows and would attend at least six of them
every year. We miss him dearly. It was so hard to give him up.
Submitted by his son, George R. Haddock, 160 S. Wattles Rd.,
Battle Creek, Michigan 49017.
STANLEY MACK of Bethel, Ohio, passed away February 24, 1986 at
the Christ Hospital. He was born May 24, 1928. He had been retired
about 3 years from the Ford Motor Company.
He was one of the original founders of the Ohio Valley Antique
Machinery Inc., of Georgetown, Ohio. Stanley was very active in the
machinery shows for 16 years.
He will be greatly missed by his many friends from the Tri-State
area.
Submitted in behalf of his wife, by John Metcalfe of
Milford, Ohio.
AVALYN O. SCOTT passed away March 6, 1986 in Riverside Methodist
Hospital, Columbus, Ohio. She was 47 years old.
Avalyn was the secretary to the Marion County Steam and Gas
Engine Society, Inc.
Those who knew her best, remember her as a loyal friend and a
joy to be with. She knew no strangers and stood ever ready to help
wherever she was needed.
She was considered one of the very best women tractor drivers
and many times won first place in tractor pulls at various shows in
and around this area.
She will be sadly missed by her family and friends.
Submitted by Delbert and Dorothy Rush for the Marion County
Steam and Gas Engine Society, Inc.
Winfried J. Kern passed away at the age of 77 years on March 15,
1986 in Frankenmuth, Michigan. A self-taught engineer,
‘Winnie’ Kern’s last effort was the restoration of the
Nickless-Hubinger Flour Mill. For 40 years Mr. Kern ran a 100 HP
steam engine that operated the mill at the Bronner Lumber Co.,
front-runner of Furstenberg Lumber. At the closing of Bronner
Lumber in 1967 Mr. Kern went to work for Weiss Farm Equipment from
where he retired in 1974.
Mr. Ken’s love of the steam engine found him working toward
the restoration of a 1922 Port Huron steam engine and a Baker
Threshing machine, owned by Wm. Zehnder Jr. Winnie replaced every
part of the engine that could not be fixed, and made it work again.
The mechanical equipment purchased for the flour mill was over 100
years old and was brought back to operation through Winnie’s
efforts. He and two other volunteers recast many parts no longer
manufactured today. His most recent work was to see that the stone
grinding mills operate with water power.
Submitted by Wm. ‘Tiny’ Zehnder, Jr., Frankenmuth,
Michigan.
EMERY (MIKE) HURST CORDILL passed away on February 13, 1986. He
was one of the Pioneer Harvest’s oldest members.
Mr. Cordill was born in 1896 in Bern, Kansas and lived in the
Ft. Scott area his last 50 years. During his earlier summers he did
custom threshing throughout Bourbon and Crawford Counties. He later
sold his equipment to Ross Dugan, a neighbor who continued using
the machinery until the modern combines came into fashion. Cordill,
however, never lost his admiration for the lumbering giants who
changed the waving wheat fields into stacks of straw and bins of
grain, and after they were acquired by the Pioneer Harvester, he
again became their master.
As a member of the Pioneer Harvest Fiesta, Cordill operated the
tractor and thresher for several years at the annual show in
October.
Both men are gone now, but the big 18-36 Hart-Parr Tractor and
its 28 Red River Threshing Machine are here in our present
collection. They are still continuing their work in stately dignity
a visual tribute to those men who loved them so long ago.
Submitted by George Jackson, President, Pioneer Harvest
Fiesta, Ft. Scott, Kansas.
WILLIS A. SALTER died April 5, 1986 at the Garden Valley
Retirement Village, Garden City, Kansas.
Mr. Salter, a Hamilton county farmer, was a resident of both
Garden City and Syracuse for many years. In addition to his farming
operations here, he operated Salter Implement Co. in Syracuse for
several years.
He was well-known for restoration of old farm machinery and
tractors and was instrumental in establishing the antique machinery
show at the Hamilton County Fair. His antique steam engine tractor
was one of the highlights of that show and of the fair’s parade
for several years.
Submitted by his wife, Ethel Salter, 1610 N. Main, Garden
City, Kansas 67846.
M. C. DeBRUIN passed away December 29, 1985 at the age of 94. A
great lover of steam engines, he ran an engine on a threshing run
when he was young. Later, he owned a steam engine along with some
stationary engines. For many years he ran engines at Midwest Old
Threshers at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. He was active until the past year
and still enjoyed the steam engines.
Submitted by his daughter, Mrs. Homer Hasselman, R.R. 3,
Oskla loosa, Iowa 52577.
