Herald-Journal_359707

BY ROBERT HOPWOOD Delano Herald Journal Editor Lee Johnson’s red tractor along River Street is a memorial that reminds us of life’s most precious bond that connects generations and holds families together – love. Lee’s father, a farmer in North Dakota, bought the tractor in 1953, one of the most pivotal years of his father’s life. It was the year his parents got married, his grandfather died, and Lee was born. It also was the year that changed how Lee’s father worked his 640-acre farm. “They did all their farming with horses until they bought the tractor,” said Lee’s wife, Linda Johnson. The tractor has been part of Lee’s life since child- hood, and it contains a lifetime of his memories. “I spent a lot of my childhood on it,” he said. Lee, who grew up near Napoleon, ND, remembers working sunrise to sundown on his parents’ farm. They used the tractor to cultivate elds, mow hay, stack hay, clean the barn, and much more. “It was pretty versatile,” he said. In 1993, Lee’s parents went to Washington to work for the summer. While they were gone, he went to Napoleon and got his friend to repaint the tractor and Annandale | Bu alo | Cokato | Darwin | Dassel | Delano | Glencoe | Howard Lake | Hutchinson | Kimball | Lester Prairie Litch eld | Loretto | Maple Lake | Maple Plain | Mayer | Montrose | Mound | New Germany | Norwood Young America Rockford | Silver Lake | South Haven | St. Bonifacius | Waconia | Watertown | Waverly | Winsted Senior Con n e c t ion s is distributed to: September/October 2023 VOLUME 5 | NO. 4 Senior Con n e ct ion s HJ.COM More JOHSNON on Pg 2 Memorial turns tractor into public ar t in honor of parents PHOTO BY ROBERT HOPWOOD Lee and Linda Johnson sit on the red tractor that Lee has turned into a memorial to his parents.