Happy Father’s Day to my dad, who is up in the grain bin of a Gleaner combine leveling the grain. His dad, my grandfather Herb Wanrow, is standing below.
These are some of the later–1940s–self-propelled farm machines my grandfather sold, but I’ve been digging through our family history and talking to my dad about their steam engines.
Laurel, I ran across the picture of your grandpa Herb and your dad with the Gleaner combine while I was surfing the web. I choked up on my memories. that could have easily been my grandfather. He had the same posture, size and wore what I think is a nice strawhat on your grandpa. It looked like a fedora made of straw.. We used a Farmal H as well on the Gleaner. I spent any number of hours riding the hopper. While there was a task to move the grain around, it was like a carnival ride with chaff and grassshoppers thrown in. Interestingly, my grandfather was also a steam engine operator in the 20-30’s running sawmills and portable threshing machines in southeast Iowa. Just thought I would comment.
Hi Greg! Thank you so much for writing. I love our old family photos and to hear that they evoke memories for other folks is exciting. I love your additions to the feel of riding in the equipment: A carnival ride with chaff and grasshoppers. This is such a great image! I’m copying your note to send to my dad and my aunt, because they will enjoy it a lot! Thanks for commenting! Laurel