Over 90 years of friendship

FARMINGTON - Four long-time residents and farmers met to catch up and celebrate a lifetime of friendship and their birthdays together.

Bill Heise, born Jan. 30, 1928; George Robinson born Sept. 22, 1927; and Bud Wagner born Jan. 13, 1928, met in the first grade in Farmington.

The three men gathered at the courtyard in Colfax on Wednesday, Jan. 15, accompanied by Mrs. Betty Wagner, wife of Mr. Wagner; Mrs. Dolores Wagner-Robinson, wife of George Robinson and first-cousin to Mr. Wagner, as well as Lori Heise, daughter of Mr. Heise for cake, ice cream and to reminisce.

The room filled with laughter, as the Farmington raised men recalled their childhoods meeting in first grade and causing trouble.

"I lived on one side of the railroad tracks, he lived on the other," said Heise, laughing about the time they put oil on the train rails causing the train to chug slower as it went by.

Heise said they came and talked to him and Wagner's parents and Wagner told them the train had a leak.

"I think he saved our neck," Heise laughed. "I remember they had a heck of a time, we must have been 10 or 12."

Robinson said being a couple miles out of town, he did not participate but heard about it later.

"I seen the old train, I remember, boy, she chugged steam and, boy, when she hit that oil," he laughed.

Robinson still resides just outside of Farmington, he recalled how his dad built a house there in the early 1930s.

"So you were real little when he built that house," Heise said to Robinson. "You were three or four years old."

The men talked of different times when the neighbor would bring wood over to their families and they had to find ways to entertain themselves.

There was no shortage of laughter as they recalled all the mischief they would cause doing just that.

"Remember that time we found those cigarettes, Bud? Underneath the church there?"

"Yeah," Wagner said.

"Didn't you guys smoke the whole pack?" Heise's daughter asked.

"No," he responded, with laughter from Robinson.

"You told me you did and would never touch another cigarette as long as you lived because you got sick," she said.

While the men spent most of their formative years in school together, they did not finish high school and Wagner was sent to an academy, so he was not able to spend some years with the other two.

"I was getting too sweet on a redhead," said Wagner, adding his parents sent him away.

"Are you sure it wasn't a reform school?" Heise joked, followed by laughter from the group.

Robinson and Heise recalled working at the Volunteer Fire Department together and how after years money had been put aside to return to them for their service.

The memories kept rolling out as they recalled how they spent their time together.

"Can you remember when we were real little they didn't have the gasoline gas in tanks outside, we just had 50 gallon barrels?" Heise asked Wagner.

They laughed as they recalled screwing off the top of the barrel, laying over it and breathing in the fumes until they go dizzy.

"Why now they would say that would kill ya," Heise laughed.

The men recalled stealing Robinson's dad's truck from the shed to drive to Garfield to see girls.

Robinson was drafted, and after, the men would go on to be farmers together. Raising kids and grandkids who would continue the legacy of friendship.

Heise and Robinson recalled how mechanically inclined Wagner was and how he would ride motorcycles and build trailers.

"I built six trailers," Wagner said.

"He was the one with all the toys," Heise said of Wagner.

They recalled taking trips to go snow mobiling, boating and spending time at the lake.

"I remember getting on that old D6, take off for the mountains with our rifles with our tractor and dozer," Robinson said. "Flood lights, boy had some bright ones on that tractor."

He laughed, recalling how they could see the deer clear when they turned them on.

"You went around the United States on your bike didn't you Bud?" Heise asked.

"That was a neat trip," Mrs. Wagner said.

"You stop and think about it, that's quite an undertaking isn't it." Robinson said.

While they don't see each other but for maybe once a year, the men were excited to be able to get together again and enjoyed recalling the community they grew up, the connections between their families and the people of Farmington who filled and informed their 97 years of life.

"Birds of a feather, flock together," Mrs. Wagner-Robinson laughed.

The men gathered together to commemorate the reunion and enjoyed a lunch talking about the life they have had the opportunity to share.