KENNETH L. GULLETT, 41, of Bethel, Ohio, died unexpectedly
following a motorcycle accident near Ripley on May 30, 1983.
Kenny was one of the founders of the Ohio Valley Antique
Machinery Show, Inc. of Georgetown. He had bought and restored a
Bell sawmill and an RC Case tractor to help get the show started.
Through the years, he had served as a Director and Vice-President
of the Show.
He was a Service Technician for the Clayton Manufacturing
Company.
He will be greatly missed by all who knew him.
Submitted by friend, Edwin L. , 2466 Bethel-Maple road, Bethel,
Ohio 45106.
FRED SIMM passed away on May 17, 1983 at the age of 79. Fred was
born in England. His father was a blacksmith by trade and Fred
learned the trade and worked along with his dad and continued until
around 1976.
He enjoyed working with antique tractors at the Austin Museum.
His favorite tractors were the Titans and Moguls which he at one
time owned and operated. In the past four years he built miniature
windmills and gave them away.
Fred will be missed by all.
Submitted by Bob McMillan, Box, 52, Miami, Manitoba ROG 1
HO.
HORACE GRIFFITH passed away April 28, 1983. He was a great lover
of his four gas engines and enjoyed them very much. That was his
hobby and he spent many hours working and playing with them. In his
passing, we have lost a much-loved person. His engines were his
pride and joy!
Submitted by Mrs. Horace Griffith.
‘JORGIE’ JORGENSEN of San Jose, California, passed away
in his sleep the afternoon of November 17, 1983, after a brief
illness. He was born in Des Moines, Iowa, July 29, 1897. He went to
night school studying to be a machinist. As a young teenager he
apprenticed at the Bean Spray Pump Company. His job was assembling
orchard sprayers and installing Novo engines in these rigs for
$1.00 a day. This soon became old stuff; and when World War I
created a real demand, he went to work in a ship yard in Oakland,
California. When the war ended, he went to work for the Fageal
Truck Company also located in Oakland, doing machine work on rear
end assemblies for the Fageal tractors. He then decided to return
to San Jose where he went to work for the Murison Label Company
which made labels for most of the canneries located in the San Jose
area.
The first gas engine to catch his interest was a 1 HP Lennox
which his step-father purchased and installed to run the pump on
their farm in the East foothills of San Jose. This took place about
1910. In the mid 60’s he decided to pick up a gas engine he
located on a ranch owned by his wife’s cousin. The engine was a
1 HP Associated Manufacturers ‘Chore Boy’ which had been
used to power a spray rig. The engine had been replaced with a more
modern unit when it became hard to start. When Jorgie located the
engine it was practically buried in the ground. He brought the
engine to his shop and worked on it over a period of a year or so
when business was slow. As a result of working on this engine
Jorgie became one of the first collectors/restorers of antique farm
engines in the San Francisco Bay area.
By word of mouth he learned of E.D.G.E. & T.A., Branch
6 and attended this group’s second meeting November 1968 at the
Dick Squire’s ranch in Hughson, California. At this gas-up he
joined Branch 6 and was an active member until Branch 3 was formed
in 1978. He was active with this group until his failing eyesight
forced him to give up this hobby and sell his engines to fellow
club members.
Since 1968 Jorgie did a lot of machine work on fellow club
member’s antique engines as well as restore approximately 25
engines for himself. He was an expert on Novo, Model S, engines,
and he restored about ten of them for himself and club members. He
took great pleasure in restoring engines which were in very rough
shape and appeared to be impossible to fix. One such engine was the
last one he restored. It was a 1 HP Fairbanks-Morse, headless,
which had spent its working years in Mexico.
Jorgie was quick to share his knowledge of machine work and he
took great pleasure helping fellow club members restore their
engines. He was very well known to engine collectors throughout the
San Francisco Bay area and Central California. He will be sadly
missed, but well remembered by all who knew him
Submitted by Richard D. Hamp, San Jose, California 95124.
