Photos taken over 80 years apart make a connection between generations of a local family and also serve as a tribute to preserving history.
In one black and white photo taken in front of the family house in 1940, a one-year-old Wes Vanstone is sitting on the family tractor with his father George.
In a recent photo recreation at the Pembina Threshermen’s Museum, Vanstone is now in the driver’s seat, with his great grandson Kasey Rempel sitting atop for a ride on the same tractor.
It was a fun, special moment for them, and it made Vanstone thankful that there is a place like the museum to care for the vintage tractor and to make something like this possible after all these years.
“I’m grateful for the fact that it’s there and it’s cared for and it will be there for eternity now perhaps … so thanks to whoever had the foresight to start this museum,” said Vanstone.
He recalled that his father had purchased the tractor from someone in Roland, and it was ahead of its time at that point with some of its features.
“The tractor was used on the farm until the 1950s,” said Vanstone, who suggested back at the time it may have not gone much faster than perhaps 22 miles per hour.
“But that tractor never ever sat outside. No matter what the weather was, Dad would put that tractor in reverse and back it into the garage,” he added.
He recalls stories like around 1949 or 1950 when his father was helping pull up hydro poles, and one came down on the fender, narrowly missing hitting his dad.
And Vanstone recently met someone at the museum who had family roots somewhere near the Mexico and Belize border. The women was admiring the tractor and proceeded to share how her family would put platforms on their tractors so the family could climb on and use them to go to church.
“She said it was not uncommon at all to see a lady all dressed up, going down the road on the tractor,” said Vanstone, recalling his family sometimes used the vehicle in much the same way. “We lived only two and a half miles from Rosebank, where I was going to school … back then, there were no roads … so with this tractor, [Dad] could run into town.”
Today, Vanstone enjoys still being able to go to the museum every so often to drive the tractor in event parades.
“What I really want to do is recognize the people, the volunteers who do the work so that we, the people of the Pembina Valley, can take stuff like this family heirloom and donate it there and have it looked after so well,” he said.
“The care that they take and the responsibility they take on … I can’t say enough about the men and the ladies who are involved there,” he continued. “I ask to volunteer two or three times a year to go drive the tractor.
“To think that we have something like this in the Pembina Valley where everybody can come and enjoy it and take part in it … that weekend could be an inspiration for a lot of children … this is something special for the younger generation to enjoy.”
Stephanie Rempel, mother to Kasey and granddaughter of Vanstone, said the recent parade experience was a special moment for the family.
“To me, something like this is really important cialness of it all,” she said. “It was really special to have my son climb up on there and go for a ride on the tractor in the parade with his great grandpa. It was just a really special moment.
“It’s important to make time for these kinds of things,” said Rempel. “We’re a very close family. It’s really cool, and it’s really special.”
