When Cash Macy took his place in the Hennessey Homecoming Parade last Friday, September 11, he wasn’t simply driving an old tractor down Main Street. He was taking the wheel of a piece of his family’s history.
Cash drove his grandfather David Simunek’s restored Model D tractor while pulling a wagon Cash restored himself as an Ag class project. Together, the tractor and wagon told a story spanning several generations.
The Model D has been part of Cash’s family since 1941, when it was purchased by his great-great-grandfather. Years later, the tractor was passed down to David, who put his own time and work into restoring it and preserving an important piece of the family’s agricultural heritage.
Now Cash is following in those footsteps.
For his Ag class project, Cash took on a restoration project of his own, bringing new life to an old wagon. The homecoming parade provided the perfect opportunity to put the two projects together. Cash climbed behind the wheel of the tractor his grandfather restored, with the wagon he restored rolling behind him.
It was more than a parade entry. It was a picture of one generation carrying forward the work of another.
For a family with agricultural roots stretching back generations, the sight was especially fitting. A tractor purchased 85 years ago is still making its way down the road, cared for by the same family and now driven by another generation.
Some family traditions are passed down through stories and photographs. Others are passed down with a steering wheel, a little grease on your hands and the willingness to keep something old running for the next generation.
Photos by AAH Shelley Muzny and Tracie Macy
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