CARIBOU – For Clayton Turner, his mother and one red tractor, Sunday was a special day.

Turner was among the score of antique-tractor enthusiasts taking part in the first tractor trek sponsored by the northern Maine chapter of the Antique Tractor Club of Maine to benefit Hospice of Aroostook.

“This was my dad’s first tractor,” Turner, a Fort Fairfield native, said of the 1947 Farmall M. “The first year they had a tractor pull over [at] Fort [Fairfield], he said I could give it a try.”

Turner’s father, Erland Turner, died last October from cancer and was a client with Hospice of Aroostook.

“I’m doing this for him,” Turner said.

The 37-mile round-trip trek took the riders on their Farmalls, John Deeres, Massey Harrises, Fords, Olivers and Allis Chalmers from Caribou through Washburn and Presque Isle.

“Think this is just wonderful,” Ardith Turner, Clayton’s mother, said as she watched her son clamber aboard the family tractor. “This is such a great group of special people.”

Ardith’s late husband Erland owned and operated Erland’s Service in Fort Fairfield where for 30 years he serviced the tractors that fueled central Aroostook’s agriculture.

“For years he worked on those tractors,” she said. “When he retired, he played on them.”

There was a tear in her eye as she watched her son start the tractor, and her voice was a bit wistful.

“This tractor that Clayton is on was the first tractor my husband bought,” she said. “There’s a lot of history there. Now we have the grandkids involved.”

Seventeen tractors putted and roared their way out of the Save-A-Lot parking area Sunday morning, and event organizer Robin Holmes, volunteer coordinator with Hospice of Aroostook, said it would take the better part of the day to complete the trek.

“Most of these tractors max out at 12 miles per hour,” she said. “It’s going to be a long day [and] I’m just so impressed with everyone who showed up.”

As part of the event and the major fundraising component, more than 60 people paid the $25 donation to have their loved one’s name written on a memory board, which was placed on an antique farm truck leading the trek.

“The whole idea of hospice is to provide not only care for terminally ill patients, but for the family as well,” Holmes said. “This is a very intimate time for a family and hospice is there for support.”

That support comes in the form of nursing staff available for consultation 24 hours a day, social workers, medication, home health care aides and volunteer caregivers to step in when the primary family caregiver needs a break.

“We can’t come and do it all,” Holmes said, “but we can support the family of that patient who wants to be at home at the end of life.”

Holmes estimated the event brought in close to $2,000 for Hospice of Aroostook and already is planning for a bigger turnout next year.

“The word is going to spread and we’ll have more people taking part,” she said.

Among those will be Ardith Turner.

“I wish I’d had one to drive this year,” she said. “Next year I’ll be part of it.”

jbayly@bangordailynews.net

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