The U.S. Custom Harvesters Hall of Fame

INDUCTEES OF USCHI HALL OF FAME

Bobby Johnson - (2010)

Bobby was a second generation custom harvester. His dad, Carl Johnson, began harvesting in the 1940’s running a Massey Harrison with an open cab. Bob started going along as the cook’s (his mom) sidekick as soon as he was born (1961). At the age of sixteen, he purchased his first combine, a John Deere 7700. It was love at first sight. He and his dad partnered in the business until Carl’s death in 1994.

Bob and his dad were at the original meeting to start the U.S. Custom Harvesters organization. He was a member from its inception. In the last few years, he had traveled to Austin to lend his support to the CDL issue and was planning on running for the board in the future. As Tony Rattei so aptly put it, “the Lord had other plans.”

In 1982, Bob got his own cook and parts runner when he married Sherri. They enjoyed 25 years of harvest, marriage, and family. Bob’s son, Chad, made his first harvest at the age of 11 days old and was hooked from then on. His daughter, Carly, came along three years later and made the harvest family complete.

Bob traveled to many places harvesting wheat, corn, milo, sunflowers, soybeans, bluebonnets, and grass. Like most harvesters, if it needed to be harvested he would give it a try. He and his dad harvested buffalo grass and built custom headers with brushes to “sweep” the buffalo seed into the combine. Although buffalo grass was the main grass harvested, he also cut western wheat, side oats grama, blue grama, sand drop, anything he could find that there was a market for. He harvested in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Montana during his lifetime and enjoyed many friendships with farmers, fellow harvesters, and vendors across the country. When the fall crops weren’t plentiful or not on time, Bob hauled sugar beets and silage. He had many fond memories of hauling silage for Rex Logan. Bob started with one combine back in 1976 and ran as many as five machines at times, depending on the amount of crops in that year. After his dad passed away, he harvested with his brother-in-law for a year and later with a former employee, Richard McKarns until Richard decided to stay closer to home and not make the long summer run anymore. In 1996, a good friend contacted him about joining the business. That began his partnership with Phillip Greer. This partnership lasted until Bob’s death in 2007. They were much more than partners; they were best friends and brothers in Christ.

Bob ran John Deere equipment most of his career, with the exception of 1986-1993, when he tried Case IH machines. To him, harvest was a family affair and no matter how many hands there were, he tried to help them out anyway he could. He helped several start their own businesses as harvesters and truckers. As local workers became hard to find, he began hiring “Kiwis” from New Zealand and later a few young men from South Africa. He enjoyed learning and hearing about their way of life and breaking them in to our way of life. He loved Mexican food and insisted on taking many of them straight off the plane for their first encounter with some spicy food! As with everyone in this business, he should have written a book about his encounters on the harvest trail. There was the time a hired man stole his pickup and left it in the middle of an intersection on fire, the time a combine driver quit in the middle of the field and walked over twenty miles back to town because lunch was late, the time a truck driver came out of the truck stop and couldn’t find his truck with a combine behind it, the time the loaded truck started rolling backwards down the wheat field in Montana with no driver, or the time we got to the courthouse after the tornado siren and realized one of the guys was wearing nothing but a towel. He was in the shower when the siren went off and was so scared he grabbed a towel and jumped in the pickup headed to shelter, not to mention all the times the drivers got lost coming to and from fields and the many amusing stories they could come up with when things went wrong. They usually weren’t that funny at the time, but usually later on they gave everyone a big laugh.

Bob had a unique talent for designing and building equipment. In the winter, he spent his time building grain trailers, combine trailers, header trailers, and pick-up beds. If he wasn’t actually building them, he was in his office drawing plans and figuring the cost and the materials he would need for the next project. He also spent his off time customizing his semis. He never outgrew wanting to have the coolest wheels in town. He was an avid fan of the FFA program in Vega and supported it wholeheartedly. He enjoyed helping the Ag Mechanics team each year with the many projects they built and showed. He volunteered his time, shop, equipment, and expertise to help these kids get their projects done. He hauled their projects to San Antonio and Houston every year he could and helped sponsor these activities even after his own kids were no longer involved. Bob loved anything that had to do with kids and agriculture. Bob also supported the school and community as a member of the school board and the cemetery board for many years.

The only thing Bob loved more than harvest was his family. When harvest was in full swing and he had his wife and kids with him life was at its best, no matter what was happening in the field. One winter Bob was gearing up for harvest and deciding what equipment needed to be purchased and how many workers he would need, Sherri asked him how they would get it all done and paid for and he replied, “I’ll just work a little harder.” That statement sums up his life. He was always willing to work just a little harder to make life better for those around him; his family, friends, and employees.