[AT] Passing of John Girard

[Gene Dotson]

    Keith;

    Thank you very much for making this video and for posting it to the 
list. Brought the tears to my eyes watching and will forward it to some of 
the family.

    Those not familiar with the Groundhog separator, it was the first 
mechanical device made for seperating the grain from the straw. Prior to 
this, it was threshed by hand, a long, lengthy process.

    This machine would not pass OSHA standards as it has a rotating drum 
with long heavy wire fingers and would be very painful if one got their 
hands too close. Threshed grain  fell into the shaker below the drum with 
the straw being thrown out the back and grain dropped to the shaker and then 
into a tub. Grain was then sifted or winded to remove any leftover straw.

    John was very proud of this acquisition, especially being in working 
condition.

    John was layed to rest this morning in his bib overalls with his corncob 
pipe and a fresh pouch of Carter Hall tobacco in his breast pockets. Also 
accompanied by a couple old Farmall toy tractors.

                            Gene






: Re: [AT] Passing of John Girard


> Sorry about that.  Should be fixed now.
> Keith
> On Dec 30, 2010, at 2:05 AM, Dave Merchant wrote:
>
>> The video is private.
>>
>> Would like to see it...
>>
>> Dave Merchant
>>
>>
>> At 02:05 AM 12/30/2010, Keith Kinney wrote:
>>> Gene
>>> Thank you for letting us know of John's passing.  I had the pleasure of
>>> meeting him at this past years Portland show. John had asked Gene to see
>>> if he could find a gas engine to run the little ground hog
>>> thresher.   With Genes help we hauled my daughters 2.5 HP Novo back to 
>>> the
>>> threshing area.   We belted up the engine and thresher and for the rest 
>>> of
>>> the show John would hand thresh some wheat to show the spectators how it
>>> was done in the 1850's.
>>>
>>> I'm sure glad I had to opportunity  to meet and work with John even if 
>>> it
>>> was briefly.  He will be missed by the folks at Portland but I'm sure 
>>> his
>>> family will carry on his legacy.
>>>
>>> I just posted a Youtube video of John running his Ground Hog Thresher at
>>> the Portland show.  Unfortunately while taking the photo's I was more
>>> concerned with the engine, thresher and process and didn't get too many
>>> good shots of John.
>>>
>>> Here's a link to the video.
>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_otw7HnzT4
>>>
>>> Keith
>>>
>>>
>>> Keith Kinney
>>> kkinney at herculesengines.com
>>> WWW.HerculesEngines.com