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My 'Deere' Family

My obsession with tractors, namely John Deere, all began at an early age. My mom loves to tell the story of my first words...."tracto shhhhhhhooooo" and "come trak'er" for combine. My first toys were well you guessed it....toy tractors. Dad worked midnight swing-shifts at a factory so mom was often left to do a lot of farm work. You might think well she would surely leave her bouncing baby boy with a babysitter...well, you though wrong. I put in many hours of seat time before most kids had even seen a tractor. I recall helping dad out quite often. At the age of 3, I even managed to climb atop our 4020 diesel while dad was working in the shop, start the engine with the throttle wide open and was quickly found by dad both with surprised looks on our faces.

Along with Mom and Dad mentoring my tractor obsession came time spent with Grandpa Edgar and Uncle Dwayne. Dwayne wanted to make sure that I got out of Missouri once in awhile and took me to see the famous Two-Cylinder Club expos. I got to know Marvin, a 80+ year old JD factory trained mechanic (who's famous for saying, "I've forgotten more about these darned tractors than any young man will ever know"). Marvin has become my and brother Alex's tractor mechanic mentor. In 1 hour spent working with Marvin in his shop I've learned more than 1 semester in a college course...that's no lie!