SunnyBrook residents treated to antique tractor show

FAIRFIELD – Residents at SunnyBrook Living Care Center in Fairfield were treated to a blast from the past Tuesday when they were visited by a group of antique tractor collectors.

The care center’s parking lot was full of tractors from yesteryear, and the tractors’ owners stuck around to chat with the residents who came outside to get a closer look. Barb Bristow, a 96-year-old resident of SunnyBrook, said seeing the old tractors brought back memories of her family farming during the Great Depression.

Bristow grew up in Indiana northeast of the city of Kokomo. Her father was the editor of the Fort Wayne newspaper, but her uncle worked on the farm. She remembers that farmers often worked on each other’s land, and at the end of harvest season, they would all gather to divide the revenue.

“I wouldn’t call it a party since it was pretty serious,” she said.

However, the gathering did include a large and festive meal.

“There was so much food,” Bristow said. “Our contribution was always the ice cream.”

Her uncle came close to losing the farm, so her parents lent him $500, and that was enough for him to hold on. Today, she said that farm is worth more than $1 million.

Many of the antique tractor owners who brought their vehicles to SunnyBrook Tuesday have a personal connection to their tractor. Don Bekel brought his 1951 Model B John Deere, a tractor that belonged to his dad and which he used on the farm when he was growing up. Mike Fleig drove his 1958 John Deere 820, a tractor that belonged to his dad and which Mike still uses on the farm to this day for planting.

Aaron Sheetz and John Weissheier both brought 1954 Farmall Super MTAs. Sheetz said his tractor belonged to his uncle.

“When I was young, I ditched this tractor and nearly killed myself,” Sheetz said.

Melvin Mullikin is a tractor collector extraordinaire with 22 of them, mostly Massey Fergusons and John Deeres. He brought a 1956 Ferguson Model 40 to SunnyBrook Tuesday, a tractor he’s owned about a year. He said he had one very similar to it when he was growing up, a Massey-Harris. Massey-Harris and Ferguson merged to become Massey Ferguson in the 1950s.

Katy Anderson, office manager at SunnyBrook Living Care Center, said the tractor show was part of SunnyBrook celebrating National Skilled Nursing Care Week, with a different theme each day of the week.

“We used our local contacts and called people we knew who had tractors,” Anderson said. “The residents loved it. It gave them a chance to get out in the sun, and they had fun reminiscing about being on the farm or visiting a farm. It was a great walk down memory lane for them.”