Ruby has found a loving home.
The 1959 Massey Ferguson tractor belonging to Jeff Shearer was put up for adoption in the spring when he and his wife Reet decided to leave Sweetwater Farm north of Creemore on Fairgrounds Road and move to Nottawa.
“Moving to town, we needed to find a home for Ruby and Ruby is such a special tractor and has been involved with our family for almost 20 years…” said Shearer. “It became a special part of our family and we wanted to make sure she went to a good home.”
Shearer, publisher of On The Bay magazine, first laid eyes on Ruby perched on a hill north of Cashtown Corners on one of his many drives north from the city. There were two tractors with for sale signs on them.
“This was before I moved up here. I was still a weekender working in Toronto as a publisher. Every weekend I’d drive up and I’d see this and finally I was drawn to drive up the hill above Airport Road and I met the owner of both tractors. His wife had decreed one tractor had to go, and two tractors is one too many. He said, they were both the same price. You can have either the gas or the diesel.”
He said he took the gas because those old diesels didn’t always start very well in the winter.
“I could see them on the top of the hill and they just caught my interest every time I drove by,” said Shearer.
Ruby has spent the years working on the farm, carrying firewood, bush hogging and pulling people out of the ditch.
“The tractors in the 50s and 60s literally farmed Ontario. It’s not a big tractor like the tractors of today, a Massey 35 meant it had 35 horsepower but I could pull a Cadillac out of a ditch with that 35hp because the torque is so powerful in those old tractors,” said Shearer.
But it’s not all work for Ruby. She has also spent many happy hours giving the grandchildren rides around with property, perched on Shearer’s lap as he drives.
In May, he ran a classified ad in The Creemore Echo, advertising that Ruby was for sale but they couldn’t find the right buyer.
Not until, a person close to him called to wish Shearer a happy Father’s Day and to see how the move was going.
The call came from Mitchell Sharpe, who Shearer was paired with through the Big Brother program in Toronto many years ago.
“Mitch did not have a father living with them and he lived in a household with sisters, a mother, a grandmother and an aunt and he was already getting into trouble so the Big Brothers people thought that we would make a good match. I am fairly strong willed and not afraid of a lot and I needed to be with this little seven-year-old. He’s turned out to be a terrific guy, a father and a business owner. He has built a real life for himself and we’ve stayed in touch for some 40 years.”
When Sharpe learned that they hadn’t been able to find a buyer he said he would be happy have her.
Shearer told Sharpe he’d love for him to have Ruby and he would give him the friends and family price.
Ruby is moving to Cornwall where she will join an Allis Chalmers tractor of the same vintage on Sharp’s property.
“So Allis and Ruby are going to be girlfriends,” said Shearer. “We couldn’t be more delighted that my little brother is going to end up with this fabulous antique tractor that hopefully he’ll use with his grandkids.”
Shearer is happy that Ruby will be in good hands with Sharpe, who is a tool and die maker and has his own shop.
“He can fix anything,” said Shearer.
He said the tractor is in excellent condition, having been meticulously cared for by Creemore resident Dennis Millsap during her time at Sweetwater Farm.
“I never left Ruby out, ever. I always put her back in the barn. That ruby red finish is still beautiful because of that.”