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They both grew up on small family farms. His family was mostly involved in dairy and grain farming, along with raising a few hogs. Her family was involved in a little of everything including grain farming, a few milk cows which were milked by hand including her hands, a few pigs, and a coop full of chickens. His family used Allis Chalmers tractors. Her family had Allis Chalmers and Ford tractors. Neither family had Massey tractors or equipment.
They both attended Alexandria Technical College following high school graduation in 1968. He participated in diesel mechanics and she attended practical nursing training. They did not meet each other duing that year.
They went on their paths which didn't cross until January, 1983. By that time they'd both been married and had kids, 4 daughters and a son between them. They married in November, 1983 and currently have 11 grandchildren.
Prior to their paths meeting, he managed a family owned Gambles store for 3 years, worked in Wyoming uranium mines for a year, was the service manager at a John Deer dealership for 14 years and ultimately landed on the doorstep of Anderson Chemical where he has been a supervisor of the liquid department, mixing commericial cleaning products for the past 21 years. She worked at acute care hospitals, a nursing home and landed at the Willmar State Hospital, working for the State of Minnesota, as an LPN. She went on to earn her RN degree in 1992, became a nursing supervisor in 2003. In August of 2006 she was involved in opening a 16 bed state operated community behavioral health hospital as their nursing supervisor, where she is currently working.
It was upon graduation from the RN program she received her first two Precious Moments figurines, which has grown to the current collection of about 1500 pieces of procelain. Most of those figurines are on display in cabinets throughout their home. Through the collecting of Precious Moments many friendhips have been made with people from throughout the United States. Probably the most notable part of the collection is the "original 21" in no mark status and all personally signed by the artist. Trips with collectors have included an Alaskan Cruise, a Caribbean Cruise, an event in Texas, and ultimately a Hawaiian trip last year. In September they will accompany fellow Precious Moments collectors on a New England Cruise which will go to Halifax, New Brunswick and back to New York. They have attended many events at the Precious Moments Chapel just outside Carthage, Mo. Perhaps her favorite trip was in '05 when a group of Masey ladies accompanied her to the chapel and shared in some of the attractions she has loved and enjoyed for several years. Another favorite Precious Moments event was an auction she attended with Barb Pace during one of the winter Massey get-togethers. That venture resulted in quite a high level of anxiety once she realized she'd purchased just over 100 figurines and when he would see them he'd probably be expecting some kind of explanation.
While employed at John Deer he bagan collecting 1/16th scale toy tractors. He has a collection of about 200 toys including both tractors and various pieces of equipment. Most of these toys are also displayed in cabinets in their home.
In 1983 they moved to Atwater, MN. They became involved in the Atwater Threshers group and decided to purchase a tractor with which to participate in the annual shows. He wanted a brand that wasn't usually represented at shows, or represented in very small numbers. Thus was born the collection of Massey Harris tractors and equipment. Most people know of his original purchase, which was a MH 101 Jr., but Ponys ultimately stole his heart. He currently has 18 variations of Ponys. They also now have several cream separators, plows, rippers, tools, seats, a cook stove, gas engines, a corn sheller, grinders, a hay trolley, snowmobile and lots of literature, posters, and signs which adorn the walls above and beside the toy cabinets.
Traveling throughout the United States, Canada and Great Britain has become the norm for them, both showing and demonstrating pieces of the collection and purchasing additional pieces for the collection. One of the favorite Massey trips was their participation in a charity tractor run along the west coast of Scotland, which wound through fields, farms and castle grounds. They saw parts of the countryside that couldn't be seen from the roadways.
In 1995 the National Massey Expo was held in conjunction with Atwater Threshing Days. To promote that event S&S Collectibles came to be. The first order of shirst was a one color tee, and consisted of 32 shirts. They thought they were really sticking their necks out, wondering if they'd ever sell that many shirts. Well, there were several reorders of that shirt because of the interest and support of collector friends. It's difficult to predict how many hundreds of shirts have since been sold to Massey enthusiasts since then. His mind is always in gear, thinking about the next design. She has made quilts that have been donated for fund raisers for Massey events and charity events. She enjoys sewing, cross stitching and working on crafts of many kinds.
Greater than their collection of Precious Moments and Massey Harris, though, is their collection of friends all over the world. The common denominator is collection, but friendship goes so far beyond.
Our fall 2007 feature folks - Steve and Sandy Miller of Atwater Minnesota!!