Neighbors: Old tractors and baseballs

Today Neighbors deals with a couple of things totally unrelated: old tractors and baseballs.
Let’s start with the tractors.
Got an old one sitting around you’d like restored? Then Art Jensen might be your man.
Art, who lives in the Eventide Living Center, Moorhead, says he’s just “an old guy looking for something to do.”
Art, who is in his 80s, has been a mechanic and body man for most of his life.
He worked for Travis Brothers Auto Body, Fargo, for many years, switched to Walwork’s, Fargo, in 1953, then got a job in the Twin Cities in 1958.
Now this great-grandpa who lost his wife several years ago says he’d enjoy helping people restore old tractors or just fixing them. And he’d do it for nothing.
“My head and hands still work pretty good,” he says. “I just need something to do.”
Stories in this column about the old branch line trains hit home for Art.
He was born and raised at Laverne, N.D., where he used to board a train that originated in Fargo and went to New Rockford, N.D.
“It was a one-hour trip that took three hours,” he says, “because it stopped everywhere.”
In fact, he says the crew often halted the train so they could feed the pheasants.
That’s Art Jensen, the guy hoping someone will let him help fix up an old tractor so he’ll have something to do.
His phone number is (218) 284-0205.
Ike-signed baseball
Now, here’s a man who’d like some information about a baseball.
Rick Hinton, Fargo, attended a ballgame at Fargo’s old Barnett Field when he was a boy and, he writes, “I was fortunate enough to win a baseball autographed by President Eisenhower.”
Rick wonders if anyone would remember any ball given away in the mid-’50s at Barnett; specifically, this one.
“I obviously am trying to put some history with this baseball, and would appreciate any help,” he says.”
Over to you, Barnett Field baseball fans.
The Shoppers
And one more thing.
Neighbors recently carried a story about local musicians from years ago. It included a note from a man who said he enjoyed the Co-op Choppers.
Well, many of you notified Neighbors that the name should be the Co-op Shoppers.
So this sets the record straight.
If you have an item of interest for this column, mail it to Neighbors, The Forum, Box 2020, Fargo, ND 58107;
fax it to (701) 241-5487; or email blind@forumcomm.com