It has been a very busy month since the last newsletter. It seems the months of July and August are prime tractor time. Everything from 4th of July at Bonfield to Pull in the Park at Chebanse in early September goes by so quickly. I wanted to take a minute to thank everyone personally for helping out with the Club trailer. As you may know we had an idea at OTFS to combine OTFS and CIGC trailers to help cut down on the amount of work to do at the Half century Show. CIGC members worked side by side with Dan and Denise and others from OTFS to make that happen. I think it was a big success. Bill Hengl and Carol Churilla and many from CIGC manned the tent all weekend. I missed an opportunity to take pictures of the display and workers but I will tell you it looked very professional. Thank you so much.

Our trailer also went to Pontiac to the Thresherman’s Show. Thanks to Nancy Evans, Ann and others who were able to man the trailer. It looks like they had a good show and sold lots of tickets. Speaking of which. We really need to have members step up and sell some of those tickets. I’ll have them at the meeting.

This month’s feature is Don and Judy Buck. They are long time members of the Green Club, Olde Time Farm Show as well as volunteers for other organizations. They are people I think you should know more about.

Don Buck lived in Grant Park, IL until he was 7. His family then moved to Limestone Twp. to the farm we all know as the Stoney Brook Farm owned by the Small Family. It’s located at the intersection of Rt 113 and 3000N Rd. He and his father farmed many acres in the nearby area. They also raised cattle. Don graduated from Herscher High School. While working for both Sale Barns (a place to bring animals for sale, one near Rt 50 and Larry Power and one Located near Exline) he met his lovely wife Judy who also worked at the Sale Barns serving food with her mother. They married in 1963 and had 3 children, Tina, James (Jim) and Michael. In 1968 the tenant farm was sold and Don went to town to work at Armstrong’s until 1994. After retiring from Armstrong’s in 1994, Don worked for Benoit Farms loading planes (crop dusters) and helping Benoit’s farm their large farm for 18 years.

Judy was born in Seattle, WA. Her family came to the Kankakee area when she was quite young eventually settling in the Herscher area. She also attended Herscher High School but did not know Don until after high school. Judy worked at St. Mary’s as a nurse’s aide for a time before having children. After Tina was born, Judy became a stay at home mom for the most part. Here is the interesting part… while caring for their own children, Judy and Don fostered more than 35 other children. Wow! Judy says the children were brought to her mostly by Catholic Charities and many were infant but some were as old as 16. Wow! Today, Judy still volunteers at St. Mary’s one day per week. She also gives one day per week to Hospice of Kankakee. She reads to patients and provides companionship. Wow! Talk about that helper gene!

I happened to be at the Half Paddy Day at St. Patrick’s Church in Kankakee a few years back. They give away a trip to Ireland each year and guess who won. Don and Judy of course. They
talked to me about what a good time they had with 8 of their friends some from Green Club. They also talked about the same group going to Alaska and having such a good time. It does sound like they would like to go back to Ireland. Me too.

So, this is my thought. Did you ever notice that whatever activity we are doing that the Bucks are always there, helping. If we are serving food, Judy is helping. If we are working on the Ride the River, Don is helping. If we are trying to sell from the trailer, guess who’s there? Did you know that your newsletter is picked up by the Bucks in Manteno, stuffed in an envelope and mailed in a timely fashion by guess who? The Bucks. There are many people in our Green Club family who help our organization do whatever we need to do but, I think credit should be given where credit is due. To the Bucks, thank you for all you do for us, it is noticed and we all appreciate what you do.

— Craig