Wives' Part in A Man's Hobby

Image Gallery William Rogers' Taylor Vacuum engine, 1928 type C, #15091 bought in 1983.

6637 Pendleton Avenue NW Roanoke, Virginia 24019

I have been a dedicated fan of GEM from the very first time it was introduced to me over twenty years ago. When the new monthly copy arrives everything goes on hold until I have read it from beginning to end. The stories, the ads, the classifieds, I devour the whole bit.

Over the years, I have discovered the stories and articles month by month primarily fall into about four or five categories: The prize find and getting it home; the step by step restorations; the participation in shows; and the technical and historic articles. All are quite interesting and enjoyable. The technical information, from time to time, is very helpful in many restoration projects and most appreciated in the special problems one encounters every now and then.

Only on very rare occasions do I ever hear about the wives. Where are they when all of this collecting and restoration is going on? Occasionally a story will include the wife, but generally the wives are given little mention or credit. Where are the stories and articles by women collectors? I believe they are about as scarce as the proverbial 'hen's teeth.'

I know in the early manufacturing days of the engines and tractors being collected and restored today, the women of that time were supposed to cook, keep house, quilt in the winter time, and raise a garden and prepare the family's winter food supply in the summer. In the fall, they made a kettle of apple butter, filled a ten-gallon stone jar with cabbage for sauerkraut and another with pickled beans. However now we are generations down the road. Women nowadays climb utility poles and fight in our wars. They work in the factories and help build our tractors and engines for our automobiles. Come on! There surely have to be some wives out there with their own collections and restoration stories.

Two separate occasions in recent months prompted me to write this article. Both involved women. The basics are factual; however, facts sometimes are a bit more interesting if a little fiction is injected here and there.

The parts women have played in the few stories and articles I have been obliged to observe have fallen into three or four distinct categories: enthusiastic, tolerant, cooperative, and hostile, as demonstrated in the rest of this article. Some wives went on the 'witch hunts,' with their husbands who had gotten a whiff of an old engine somewhere in the boondocks, usually miles away and in the mid of winter. Rain, snow, or sub-zero weather only made the hunt more interesting. Often the engine was located in a creek bed partly covered with sand and water or in an old shed half-rotted down, way out in the 'back forty,' or sometimes in a patch of brush and briers, lying on its side with a six-inch sapling growing through the flywheel spokes. In looking the rusty hunk over, a few mental notes were made of a part or two missing. The carb or the mag or maybe both are gone-probably been robbed by someone long before this visitor came along. There was a great feeling of exuberance over the 'find,' along with a feeling of satisfaction when they returned to where the old pickup was parked. Start her up. Turn the heater on for the cab to warm up, while the wife took off her mittens, blew on her hands a few puffs and poured two cups of coffee from the Thermos. As the heater warmed the cab, a cheese and bologna sandwich, dampened with sips of the hot coffee, had never before tasted so good. With lunch finished, and the conversation centering on the 'find,' the three-hour return home was over before they hardly realized just how long they had been traveling. On the way home, they had the return trip to retrieve the 'prize' all planned. They would make the return next week on his day off from the shop. She would take a vacation day from the store. Through a few phone calls that night, additional help was rounded up sufficient to make loading of the engine a relatively simple chore.