Page 59 - Senior Link Magazine Summer 2025 - Online Magazine

EXCEPTIONAL SENIORS

After farming with his dad and brothers, Ted and Martha them play. He said he didn’t have many toys on the farm
moved to Seminole where he farmed from 1972-2005. when he was growing up. “There were so many of us
His crops were mostly cotton, maize, and peanuts. They kids, we couldn’t afford it.”
had chickens and a garden. He and Martha also reared
four children on that desert farm: Kirk, Kent, Keva, and Rare tractors in need of restoration are becoming
Kelli. Throughout his farming career, he fought sand increasingly difficult to find and so is talent and love of
and tumbleweeds, boll weevils and hailstorms; he woke the process like Ted’s. A repeat customer of the rarest
early to turn on wells and work fields and stayed up late units has said on more than one occasion, “No one does
to check circle systems. Work on the farm was constant it better than Ted Jackson.”
and demanding. In retirement, he found that he needed There is a green John Deere in need of attention currently
a hobby.
on his workbench. It will join the others in their neat
“I just always loved tractors,” Ted said. rows soon, shining like new money.

After collecting almost 300 Ertl 1/16 scale tractors (a
story for another time), he moved on to restoring pedal
tractors. He restored several for his grandkids and found
that he really loved the process and found satisfaction
in the finished product. So, he and his family started
keeping an eye out for forlorn pedal tractors in yard
sales, antique stores, and junk yards. He’s even found a
few on Facebook Marketplace and eBay.

The thrill of the hunt is something he loves—the
drive down back roads and through farming country,
wandering to the back of dark and dusty rooms in junk
stores, and meeting the person who is ready to part with
a piece of childhood. Some pedal tractors have sat in a
yard for years. Those serendipitous adventures are as
much a part of the process as the restoration.

He orders most of the replacement parts “from a lady
in Kansas; but sometimes, I have to order from a lady
in South Dakota,” he said, as he sat in his recliner
watching the 2025 NCAA basketball playoffs. Specific
paint comes from the tractor dealer or Lowes or
Walmart.

In addition to the tractors, sometimes he runs across
a tractor’s trailer or a pedal airplane or firetruck. He’s
restored a few of those but really loves the tractors
best. Among his favorite tractors are the 730 John
Deere and “the little Oliver,” as well as the 400 and
450 Internationals. (Asking him that was like asking
him who his favorite grandchild was. He hemmed and
hawed for a few minutes before reluctantly picking a
few then tacking on a few more.)
Ted and Martha moved back to Lubbock in 2016.
With four children, ten grandchildren and seventeen
great-grandchildren plus spouses, the entire Jackson
clan numbers 45. All of them live either in Lubbock or
within an hour’s drive of Ted and Martha’s front door.
When family visits, the great-grandchildren always
beg to go out to the shop to ride the tractors. They
don’t have to ask twice. Ted gets a kick out of watching

Lubbock Senior Link 59