Friends honor Winfield Township native with tractor procession
WINFIELD TWP — To all who knew him, Randy Thomas was “the tractor guy” — the person farmers in the agricultural community of Winfield Township, and farther afield in Western Pennsylvania, turned to for help with their tractors.
Just three days after Thomas’ death on Friday, Oct. 25, the community repaid Thomas with a procession of more than 40 tractors down the streets of the township.
“There is no one word to describe him,” said his brother, Scott Thomas. “I don’t think he had an enemy. He’d help anybody at any time for anything.”
“He was a nice gentleman,” said Jeanne Fox. “He was very mild-mannered, and he liked his tractors. He was always helpful to all the farmers when they had a problem. He was there to help them with their tractors or whatever they were doing with their tractors.”
While Randy Thomas wasn’t a farmer himself, his expertise in servicing tractors — primarily Farmall and International brand tractors — helped keep farms running.
Fittingly, a large chunk of the tractors that lined up for the procession were old Farmall and International ones.
“Farmers from all over Western Pennsylvania would bring their tractors to his garage to be repaired,” Scott Thomas said. “He was probably the go-to guy in Western Pennsylvania to work on Farmall tractors.”
The route of the procession took the tractors down Leasureville Road before turning onto Bear Creek Road, making a left onto Wetzel Road, and turning onto Bicker Road before looping back toward Leasureville.
The idea of the tractor procession was put together by Cory Fox, a longtime friend and neighbor of Thomas and the owner of Fox Trucking on Leasureville Road in Winfield Township. According to Scott Thomas, plans for the procession came together quickly, and the response from the public was immediate and overwhelming.
“He passed away Friday, and by Saturday, Cory Fox had already started making plans to have this tractor parade,” Scott said.
Fox spread his idea for the tractor procession both over social media and at Randy Thomas’ funeral on Sunday. By the time the procession on Monday afternoon rolled around, more than 40 tractors lined up along the front lawn of Fox Trucking, a testament to the positive impact Randy Thomas left on the community.
“This is harvest time right now,” Fox said. “Everybody should be in the field, but everybody quit for the day to come support Randy. So it's definitely a great turnout.”
First in line when the procession began was a tractor boarded by Randy Thomas’ grandson, Cooper. It wasn’t just any tractor — it was an extremely rare “Super M-TA” Farmall tractor that was produced for only a short time.
“They worked together on tractors,” Scott said. “Cooper was his little buddy, helping him repair tractors in the shop.”
