Rural Fairfield couple's Oliver selected OT's 'Tractor of the Year'

By NICOLE HESTER-WILLIAMS

Golden Triangle News Service

FAIRFIELD ? When Dwight Copeland purchased a dilapidated 1946 Oliver 60 Row Crop tractor a few years ago, he made restoring it a family affair.

?I did it with the boys,? he said of his three grown sons, who helped see the project through to its completion. ?I thought it was something that we could do together.?

The tractor, which Copeland?s son Jason said might be in better condition now than it was when it rolled out of the factory 68 years ago, was recognized at this year?s Midwest Old Threshers Reunion in Mt. Pleasant as the ?Tractor of the Year.?

?I think it was kind of cool I put a lot of time in on that tractor so it was nice to see it recognized,? Jason said.

Terry McWilliams, interim CEO of Midwest Old Threshers, said directors in a particular area pick a tractor ?brand? to focus on each year. Once the brand is decided upon, they seek out a candidate who they know to have a nice tractor in that particular brand. The selected tractors then lead the way in the Old Threshers annual Harvest Parade in downtown Mt. Pleasant.

?Obviously, they had a great tractor plus they [the Copelands] are great volunteers for us,? McWilliams said. ?It?s nice to have them show off their piece of equipment.?

In addition to voluntary activities, Copeland and his sons restored two tractors for Old Threshers in the past.

?It?s something we?ve always done together; even if we can?t get together most of the time, we can all get together and do things like this,? Jason said.

Jason worked extensively on the Oliver 60 ? putting in 10-hour days for about three months.

?For the most part, it took about that long to do the bodywork on it,? he said. ?Every bolt was painted; we stripped it to the bare frame and took it apart and painted everything and then put it back together.?

?It?s a hobby I?ve been into ever since I was little,? he said. ?My dad was into it and I?ve done it with him.?

Jason works for the Van Buren County Road Department. His brothers, Justin, who is a sixth-grade social studies teacher at Fairfield Middle School, and Jacob, who works at Vermeer in Pella, helped locate original tractor parts for the project.

?Justin and Jacob helped find parts on the Internet,? Jason said. ?We didn?t want to use new manufactured parts, we wanted to use original parts from an original tractor somewhere.?

Dwight initiated the project by restoring the motor first.

?I did all of the mechanical work,? Dwight said. ?It was a lot of hard work and a lot of days in the garage,? he said, adding that everyone in the family was involved in the project in some capacity, including his wife, Anna.

?I prepared the meals when they would work on it,? Anna said. ?I was a support there.?

Anna also assists Dwight when he volunteers as an announcer at the reunion.

The Copelands say they take advantage of the Old Threshers Reunions, using them as a time of fellowship with their children and grandchildren.

?We try to get the whole family involved,? Dwight said.

?We have a lot of fun and we meet a lot of people,? Anna added.

The Copelands? commitment to family and their passion for tractors haven?t gone unnoticed.

?I?ve worked with Dwight for about 27 years. I knew Old Threshers was part of his passion,? said Copeland?s co-worker, Alan Melcher. ?He?s a family guy who loves his wife and his kids and his grandkids; it?s neat to see him pass that down through the generations.?