Posted on 03/16/2005 4:32:15 PM PST by SJackson
BUFFALO, MINN. - At an age when he has every right to slow down and take it easy, Johnny Poirier, 96, still goes to work every day.
Each morning, he climbs into his pickup and makes the one-mile commute to his Johnny's Tractor Shop in Buffalo, where he can be found about six hours a day, Monday through Saturday, tinkering with magnetos, carburetors and starters.
He even has business hours on Sunday afternoon, although he confesses to the occasional nap in the shop on those days.
Bernie Lachemeier, one of his six children, watches every day from her house as, almost without fail, her dad pulls up the driveway to his shop, where his five cats eagerly await his arrival, she said.
"He lived for this place. It was never the money for him," Mrs. Lachemeier said.
It's often said that old habits die hard, and, even as he closes in on 100, Mr. Poirier can't - and doesn't want to - retire.
Part of his dedication is due to his love of the work, but most of it is for the chance to visit with friends who drop by.
Even heart bypass surgery at 88 and, more recently, two knee replacements couldn't keep him away for long.
In fact, until last summer when his arthritis became too bad, he was still fixing smaller tractors, although on the last tractors, Mrs. Lachemeier and her husband, Ron, had to do the physical work as her dad gave directions.
"He's not allowed to fix any more tractors because I'm tired of putting them back together again," she said with affection.
In almost 10 decades of life, Mr. Poirier has seen a lot of change, including the coming and going of many farms and a bumper crop of retail development out his window.
Once on the quiet end of town, Johnny's has several new neighbors, including a Taco John's and a Super Wal-Mart. Surrounded by modern development, Johnny's stands as a silent reminder of a past era in agriculture.
In his time, he also has gone through a number of moves and job changes, as well as about five different shop buildings.
At his side through all of it has been his wife, Elsie, almost 90, who could do it all, from the housework and milking cows to making parts runs and restoring pedal tractors on the side.
Growing up
Born in 1909, Mr. Poirier, the oldest of 10 children, spent his early childhood on a farm about a mile from the Canadian border near Lancaster.
The family faced its share of challenges, he recalls. They had to buy groceries early in the spring before the river flooded. He remembers his mother baking pies and setting them in the windowsill to cool, only to have them stolen by Indians.
He also remembers, at less than 9 years old, being left alone to care for his younger sisters for a few days at a time and hearing wolves howl.
In 1918, his father was drafted into World War I and his mother moved the family closer to the Twin Cities, near Waverly.
Up until they moved there, Mr. Poirier spoke only French and had never been to a formal school; his mother had taught the children at home.
He often missed school in the fall to move cows to graze fields after corn was picked and in the spring as planting got under way.
He remembers walking the railroad tracks to school and, sometimes, hitching a ride on a passing train.
But school wasn't a priority, and after sixth grade, he quit to focus on making a living for the family.
Learning the trade
When he was about 12 and his siblings were old enough to pitch in more at home, he got his first job. For about two years, he worked on Model T's for a local mechanic.
He didn't get paid in wages, he said, but he was lucky to get $1 at Christmas. But that wasn't important; what mattered was that he learned a trade.
"Mom wanted me to start the trade," he said. "It was the best thing to learn the trade."
After leaving that job, Mr. Poirier farmed and moonlighted, fixing neighbors' cars.
In the early 1930s, he met his wife at a house dance. Mrs. Poirier often showed up where Mr. Poirier, a self-taught musician who can't read music, played accordion.
The two married in 1933 and moved several times before settling in Buffalo.
During the Depression, Mr. Poirier did what he could to make ends meet. He drove truck, hauling machinery and boxes of ice harvested off the lakes from Minneapolis in his one-ton Ford, and later did road construction. He also farmed and did custom work for other farmers.
In 1939 an unexpected turn of events launched his career in the tractor and implement business. He had loaned out his F-20 Farmall to his brother-in-law, who got the tractor stuck while doing fieldwork.
"He unhooked the plow and gave it the gun to get out," breaking the tractor's front end, he said.
Mr. Poirier took the tractor for repairs at Peterson's Implement, an International dealer in Buffalo, under the condition that he would pay half of the bill and his brother-in-law would foot the rest.
"A year later, they said that he didn't pay yet. I said 'I'll work it out.' So they hired me to work it out and I had to keep on working," he said.
What was supposed to be a short-term stint turned into a 16-year career, where he frequently put in 18-hour days.
"They were busy and he was handy," Mrs. Lachemeier said. "He raised six kids on $1 an hour."
Out on his own
Mr. Poirier worked at Peterson's until 1955, when he decided to go into business for himself, borrowing on his life insurance to get started.
Mrs. Lachemeier said he has always had a knack for coming up with new ideas to make things work - or work better - and it didn't take long for business to boom.
"He was a damn good mechanic, and a lot of people knew that," she said.
He invented his own spark checker for magnetos and has worked on hundreds of them. The shop attic once was so full of magnetos that the ceiling was at risk of crashing down, she said.
Business grew from humble beginnings: His first shop was a small, remodeled garage where the family's priest had stored his Model T. Mr. Poirier's makeshift hoists included three trees in the yard. Mrs. Poirier did the bookkeeping in a playhouse that the children had outgrown. At five feet high, it was just tall enough for her as she stands 4 foot, 11 inches.
A few years later, about the time he put up a new, bigger shop, Mr. Poirier was contacted about starting an Allis-Chalmers franchise because the Ford garage in town was looking to drop the line.
Allis-Chalmers stocked him with parts and inventory. He said it was exciting to sell some of Allis-Chalmers' tractors that were new for the time - the D-14, the D-17 and the WD-45.
"They had good tractors then," he said.
Johnny's, which also carried lawnmowers, snow blowers and pedal tractors, was the top A-C sales venue in the state for several years.
It was a family affair: Mrs. Poirier was the "original parts runner" and kept meticulous records, said Mrs. Lachemeier, who, with her siblings, also did her share of parts runs to the Twin Cities.
"Every other day sometimes Ma was running down there to get parts," she said.
Son Danny was a jack-of-all-trades at the shop from 1969 to 1977. At its peak, Johnny's had four full-time mechanics - two providing on-farm service.
But when the farm economy went bust in the 1980s, so did Johnny's equipment sales.
He got stuck with lots of parts as the company refused to take them back. They also began demanding that dealers pay for tractors before they sold them. All the local dealers lost money, he said.
"I sold to some other dealers to get it out of here 'cause I can't sell it," he said.
He sold his remaining inventory, worth about $10,000, to Cokato Tractor Parts for $2,000 just to get rid of it.
Family a top priority
Mr. Poirier's reputation as a good mechanic still stands, and he has plenty to keep him busy. But the workload is much less than in years past, giving him time to spend with his growing family, which includes 22 grandchildren, 41 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.
A highlight of his week is Sunday mornings after church when he and Mrs. Poirier, along with about 20 to 25 of their friends and family, meet at a downtown restaurant for breakfast and catching up.
But not long after that, it's back to the shop.
Exactly why we need privatization of SS so his family can keep his INVESTMENT!
Love your family, love your work and you will be blessed with long life!
Just one of the little people shrillary was going on about
With all sincerity..."Good for you Johnny!"
It would be interesting to hear him weigh in on that. I understand your sentiment, but actuarially he's an argument for the other side. Social Security paid off for him. And I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't care a whit.
Thought you'd find this interesting.
If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.
What a role model for families today. They should make a movie of this man's life.
Great story, thanks
I knew a guy who ran a sawmill until he was 92. He used to take an ancient (model A or T ) Ford truck into the woods on his property, cut down a tree drag it out and mill it. This was in the early 80s. The guy had a Polish sounding name. He was about 5'4' and looked like a thick wire. He was invited to leave home when he was 10. He ended up working in a German arms factory. Being in his company was like being in a time machine.
If only all our parents could be like this.
Actually he probably takes the place of 3-4 young full time workers. Or 7-8 of Jesse Jacksons followers.
My grandfather died at 93 years old. He worked his 200 acre farm all his life, until 6 months before he died, when pneumonia forced him into assisted living his last 6 months.
On good days, the people at the nursing home had to keep an eye on him, they caught him a couple of times walking home to work his farm, 2-1/2 miles away.
He was never the same, not because of the pneumonia, but because he loved his land so much, he couldn't stand being couped up with a bunch of old boring people. He wanted to work.
Just wow! Americana as we all wish it was......
But did he not pay in for not 96years but say 60+ years? Should he/family not get something back?
Exactly why we need to carefully review options under a privattization plan. With a private account, you set up an annuity and he would probably have outlived any normal annuity. If he got a life-time annuity, there would be no INVESTMENT to pass on.
He DID get something back.
Self-respect and the respect of everyone who ever met him.
Great Story!
Thanks for sharing, now I gotta call my Dad.
I never met him and I respect him! God bless! But W's plan does sound logical.
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