This is what makes this forum / members the best!

[19richie66 17,498]

Better pull up a chair...... I used to go over to my Dad's house and he would be on the computer or out in the garage working on a tractor. Kept mentioning this thing called "Red Square". I didn't know what he was talking about. Some Russian website or something? Meanwhile he keeps getting more and more tractors. I would go over and help him work on them here and there. They were his thing. I had my interests also but at the time it wasn't tractors. Time passes and Dad keeps trading and dealing his tractors. He had gotten rid of most other brands and Wheel Horse became his thing. He gave me a 1056, 857 and a Commando 8. I tried to get into them but had a lot going at the time. They sat under the back awning. I would still weld up stuff and help him wire up things. One day I am at his house and he was Skyping with Stevasaurus. We were trying to get a 3 speed tranny back together. Dad had always talked about skyping with different people he had met on here. Not many but he enjoyed it. So more time passes and then so does my Dad. We had been working on the 418A that I now have, welding up a lift bracket. I didn't know that that would be the last time I got to talk to my Dad. He had a massive heart attack the next night at work. A week after he passed,that's when I joined Red Square. I talked to Karl and explained what happened. He let me have my Dad's password so I could go on and tie up any loose ends on deals that he may have had going at the time. I sat for hours reading his posts (and still have the bookmarked). I started learning things about the tractors I had, people he had talked to and things he wanted to do.

  So I have been on here now for almost 4 years. I have learned a lot and have met many nice people via computer. There is not a whole lot of wheel horse people down here in Florida. But I did get to meet RacingBob. I spoke to Bob one day and set it up for him to come to my house where I welded up his suburban hood. Right then I knew Bob was alright. Met a couple more around Florida in the past year or so. Bob however blew me away. I had sold an engine to Aldon but had no way to get it to him. Bob said "I can take it with me to the show". Well that is what he did. Not only taking stuff up there, but also bringing me back a stack of parts. Bob had posted a want list in the big show for sale/ wanted thread. I had half the stuff he was looking for. He came down to my house, picked up Aldon's engine and I gave him all the parts he needed for transporting my stuff. Bob asked me what he owed me and I told him that Dad would have wanted the parts to be used by someone rather than getting thrown out or laying on a shelf. No money exchanged hands. I did ask Bob to get me a wheel horse decal at the show. So then the big show rolls around and Bob told me he got my parts and we set up a day to meet up. I went today to pickup my parts and Bob got my decal out and handed it to me. Then he tells me he also got me a supporter plate from Karl. After that he pulls out this little cardboard tube. He starts unrolling something.......... You see, Bob took it upon himself to get in touch with Terry(Vinylguy) and he had me a supporter banner made with my Dad's picture and screen name on it. I was almost speechless. I stood there trying to keep the tears from my eyes. Didn't work. Someone that I met from an internet forum about tractors had went so far above and beyond and gave me something that I will cherish till I am gone. THANKS BOB! You are the man. I also want to thank Terry and his wife for making the banner and Karl for the plate. My Dad had always wanted to go to the big show and I planned to attend the last two years but things kept coming up and my tractor wasn't done anyways. Now I am shooting for the 2017 show and hope to meet & thank all of you in person. I thank you for the friendships I have made even if only from behind a keyboard. This forum and the people on it are what makes it so great. Thanks for letting me be a little part of it. Your friend, Richie

Edited July 12, 2016 by 19richie66

[KC9KAS 4,741]

Very moving story!

Thank you and to all the great folks on Red Square.

[ztnoo 2,298]

[Fun Engineer 859]

19richie66

Thanks for sharing such a heart warming story with us. Your dad sounds like he was a great guy. I belong to several different forums and RedSquare has the finest ladies and gentlemen of all of them. Everyone here wants to help each other and there are thousands of friendships that have been created. Thanks for sharing and I look forward to meeting you someday. 

Dave

[Daddy Don 905]

Great story thanks.

[wallfish 16,980]

Thanks for sharing that story with us!

Did not remember that was your father until now. I remember his screen name and he was a pretty active member on here.

Very nice gesture Bob, way to go!

[SylvanLakeWH 25,485]

...All of that.

[ACman 7,618]

  ... All the above  !

[wrightorchid 261]

Thanks for sharing.  Sometimes it is about much more than just the tractors.

[19richie66 17,498]

36 minutes ago, wrightorchid said:

Thanks for sharing.  Sometimes it is about much more than just the tractors.

Exactly! 

[stevasaurus 22,698]

Rich, you and your Dad are very special.  He and I spent many hours talking on Skype.  If you remember, you got him set up on Skype so we could talk.  That banner is fantastic.  I still miss talking with him. 

[WHX?? 48,749]

Had the the honor of meeting Bob and his wife Nancy at the BS and yes Bob is a one of the real good guys. I just wish he would quit hanging around with the likes of the Dino...don't want his bad habits to rub off on him!

 

Thanks for sharing Ritchie

 

Oh and glad to see you are using his pic as yours...better than a stupid spinning ketchup bottle!

Edited July 12, 2016 by WHX7

[953 nut 55,021]

So glad you are on RedSquare with us, you contribute a lot and though I never met your Dad, I'm sure I would have liked him. @Racinbob is first class! Last year when I needed haulin help he was the first one to reply, as it turned out Van and James came to my rescue, but Bob was instrumental in making it happen.

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,294]

I met Bob and his wife at the Big Show ,they are great folks.

[muz123 1,191]

Thanks for sharing the heart warming story! If it wasn't for these Red tractors i wouldn't have met ALL of these awesome nice people on here! Thanks for sharing! 

[dclarke 4,032]

Richie, thanks for sharing the story about your Dad, that's what makes this forum so special. I got to meet Bob at the show this year and you're right, he is a great guy. 

[Lane Ranger 10,943]

Richie:    Your dad was a very special person -no doubt about it.    I sent him a seat pan for a Wheel Horse that he was having trouble finding to redo a tractor for one of his grandsons.    My brother David and I had the great pleasure of meeting him in 2010  when we came down to the Florida Flywheeler's Show in February.   We scheduled one day to go to your dad's place (which was a very circuitous route from the Flywheeler's show grounds) as we had  shared the interest in Wheel Horse tractors and had given each other parts for projects, etc.   Your dad even had your mom take a sickle bar mower off od a tractor wrapped in newspaper and placed in the back of her Toyota Camry to eastern Tennessee during a family reunion for us to pick up in a family member's barn!    We visited in his house for a short time and then hit the barn and workshop with his  collection.     We did take a few pictures that day and I am glad to see one of those has made it to  your banner Terry made.     That picture shows how much your dad loved these tractors -no doubt about it.     I think you told me once that you and your mom did not have any pictures of your dad with his tractors.    After I learned he had passed away  I think that is when I mentioned I had several and sent all I had for you and your family to keep.

My brother and I still talk about the generosity of your dad and the special love he had for these Wheel Horse tractors.  

 

 

[19richie66 17,498]

Lane, that is the only picture that I have of him with a wheelhorse other than the one of you & your brother with him. I am so glad that you guys took those. I wish I had more but at least I have that one. This post wasn't meant to be about me and my dad. But that is the common ground we shared to get me here to the best forum on the internet. I wish I had helped him more than I did but life gets in the way sometimes. I know everyone out there has stories of their fathers. This is just a little part of mine as having to do with the wheel horse tractors. I urge everyone out there to take the time to spend moments with your family members. Here today and gone tomorrow is so real. Thanks everyone for the comments. Means the world to me.

[TDF5G 2,069]

I think this is the best thread I've ever ready on any forum anywhere!  Kudos to Racinbob and thank you richie for sharing another great  story.  You have been truly blessed.

 

The Red Square members are some of the best, most helpful, caring and polite group of folks I've known.  The Red Square forum is the best forum I've ever been involved with also.  Kudos to Red Square and all the helpful members also.

[Racinbob 11,034]

23 hours ago, WHX7 said:

Had the the honor of meeting Bob and his wife Nancy at the BS and yes Bob is a one of the real good guys. I just wish he would quit hanging around with the likes of the Dino...don't want his bad habits to rub off on him!

 

Thanks for sharing Ritchie

 

Oh and glad to see you are using his pic as yours...better than a stupid spinning ketchup bottle!

 

Too late! It's already happened but I wouldn't have it any other way. I even found some Rock & Rye down here.

 

So many well said comments about the folks in this hobby. The little red tractors we all love happen to be the catalyst for what brings us all together but all I can think of is that there’s something a little special about those blessed with incurable WHA. I never had the pleasure of meeting Jerry but, based on the wonderful comments here, I’d say that there’s no doubt that Richie makes his father very proud as he watches down on him.  I am happy that I was able to do this for Richie as well as the others things I’ve done but it pales to what so many of you have done for others as well as me. The two brothers that I became acquainted weren’t Wheel Horse people were going to sell all four Wheel Horses they inherited but decided to keep one of them and fix it up. That wasn’t because of me but rather because of them getting on this forum and being so impressed by the camaraderie amongst all the folks on Red Square and the willingness for everyone here to help others. It would be futile and unnecessary to try to list names. Just look at the member list and there you have it.  

[c-series don 8,652]

It's all good folks! Plain and simple. God bless America. 

[JimD 3,345]

Richie, I too had the pleasure of talking with your Dad and Stevasaurus on skyp and it is one of my best memories about being on skype. I don't talk much on there anymore. People have kinda gotten away from it so I don't get many calls anymore. I haven't reached out either because all my Horses don't have many serious issues these days, and there isn't much to talk about other than illness and I get sick of that. Let me not forget to say what a great guy racinbob is too. Another favorite memory on skype, along with squonk (Mike), Suburban550 (Ray Baker) and who could forget  the   ??