Thinking of Hugh

I'm still in shock of the passing of a good friend that I never met. I followed Hugh's post for a long time but we became friends after Bob M posted a photo of Hugh and Marge and Hugh was wearing shorts. I made some comment about his white legs and he shot back about how all guys from MO want to do is eat BBQ. Well he was right about that and Jimmy , Farmall Hal and others jumped in and we had quite a spirted thread about that going for a long time with Hugh. We talked about getting together and showing Hugh a real MO BBQ but it never happened. I half way expected him to pull in my drive way any day. It's rare that I don't think of Hugh when I'm out mowing or pushing snow. I for one will miss him in the worst way. Hugh I look forward to that strong handshake and some BBQ on the other side. Rest well my friend. See you soon

Paul, nice to see your post and yes I certainly remember that string we had going. I was almost certain we were going to have a visit with Hugh after that exchange. I always kidded Hugh about his legs and such. I must have at least 20 off forum emails in a folder that Hugh sent me. He was certainly one of the bright spots on this forum and knew those offset tractor better then anyone I know. He had a lot of good stuff to discuss and always had time for me whenever I needed some information. He was certainly a pleasure to exchange notes with and just wish we could have met up at a RPRU along the way but just couldn't pull it off. Take care and I'll send you a note one of these days and share some information on what's going on up this way. Hal.

There won't be a day for anybody who ever visited this forum before.....that won't think of Hugh MacKay.

I have an envelope containing some 3 point drawings that I got from Hugh less than a month ago. He had sent copies once before and I misplaced them....so he sent more. I sent him a 140 vegetable cultivator manual so he could make himself a copy....which he did. The thing about Hugh......obviously, he didn't think about dying, but living. Why else would a man at death's door, still be collecting Farmall literature?!!

I came to realize, quite sometime ago...that I came here to see what Hugh had had to say and while I mean no disrespect to the other posters here, the rest was just fluff.....simply idle talk.

I miss him out of proportion to our acquaintance, because I only knew him via the Internet.....but I feel like I have lost one one my best pals. I often read posts of people whining about their dog dying.....well, I/we have lost our Hugh MacKay and I confess, I am whining about it. I sure do miss him. The Farmall forum ought to be renamed the Hugh MacKay forum as a tribute to him...lest we ever forget his down to Earth contributions and gritty opinions.

Does anyone have his obituary to post? How old was he? I will miss his posts also.

Put very well Mark

look forward to hearing from you
Paul

Hugh's obit is on the last page of the original thread. He was 67 years old.

It does seem unusual that he never mentioned his illness. His last post was on 13 Oct 09, ten days before his passing. I can understand that he would not want to turn this forum into the Hugh MacKay Death Watch Board but it would have been nice for all of us to say goodbye. And it would have lifted his spirits in the last few days.

I now presume that his absence for the first 10 days in September was not due to a computer problem. He must have been in a hospital.

All-in-all, it seems like his illness had a rapid onset. Not a bad way to go as the suffering is minimal and one gets to wrap up one's life in an orderly manner.

He was a mainstay on this board averaging over 5 posts per day. I doubt if anyone else here could have elicited such a large response to his death notice. I hope his family takes comfort in that.

Paul, glad you made this post. The Canadian I chided for living up in the cold climes was 67. "Hughies" son Sandy posted an obituary in the posting "Death of Hugh MacKay" which has over 100 posts and is approaching 1300 views. Early last summer I was just waiting-hoping for Hugh to post that he and Marg would be showing up at RPRU in Madison, Wisc. I recall Hugh stating something like "...there is no better place for coffee than the table here at..." giving his new address. Me thinks we should park, or better yet ride, some of our red iron Sunday. Here is the obit, that Sandy posted -
Hi, I am Hugh"s son Sandy. Thank you all very much for your kind words.

Dad was heavily invested in farming from a young age and had a lifetime of practical experience with these machines and the implements. He was very knowledgeable and opinionated. Sometime along the way he bought a computer (before I and many younger people did) and eventually we started hearing about this "tractor page." Then we started hearing all these names, user names, from Yesterday"s Tractors. One time I went to visit the folks and Dad was visibly upset and possibly sick to his stomache because because of some argument he had on YT. He was passionate about this site. Eventually, in semi-retirement, he started meeting many of you. This is an impressive community you have all crafted.

We will have a private funeral this week here in Strathroy and a visitation at home in Strathroy on November 1st, between two and four. Mum made sure to include Dad"s love of Yesterday"s Tractors in the obituary:

Hugh Melvin MacKay, 67, of Strathroy, ON (formerly of Middle Musquodoboit, NS), died peacefully in his sleep surrounded by loving family on October 23, 2009, following a brief illness. Beloved husband of 44 years to Margaret (Campbell), father of Marilyn (Scott Geddes) of Windsor, NS, Heather (Duncan Graham) of Toronto, and Sandy (the late Melanie Hicks) of Woodbridge, ON, and grandfather of Munro, the apple of his eye. Brother of Franklyn (Marian), Douglas (Patricia) and Edward (Sandra). He was predeceased by parents Austin and Edith (Dickey) and brother Arthur (Patricia). A career farmer, Hugh had a lifelong love of the land and all things farm-related. He was an avid contributor to “Yesterday’s Tractors,” and had been an active member of the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture and the Nova Scotia Milk Producers Association. Cremation and a private family service have been arranged. A memorial hymn sing was held in his honour October 25 at the home of his cousin Shirley Graham in Upper Stewiacke, NS. Visitation at home will take place Sunday, November 1, from 2-4 pm. Donations are welcome to the Canadian Cancer Society, or a chosen charity.

I am deeply saddened to learn of Hugh’s passing.

I only met Hugh once. But I instantly liked the man – he was both a character and a fascinating person to talk to. And not just about Farmall tractors. We conversed regularly via email where I discovered Hugh was well-versed on wide variety of topics – even local history in our area of NY state.

And Hugh’s wife Marg was a true gem.

He will truly be missed…

I will miss his posts.Ive read this fourm for years now and Im to the place I will read certain peoples answers more than others,and Hugh was one of my favorites,exspecially on off-set tractors,and horse power efficency.God bless his family

jimmy

I was thinking the same thing the other day about the Farmall forum should be named as a tribute to Hugh. Hal

The very first time I asked for help on this forum, Hugh answered. He responded like my own father would have, or my father-in-law. Both of whom I hold in very high regard. He will be sorely missed.

Tim

He will be missed and i too have never met the man but enjoyed his posts . He surely did love his red tractors . as with all of us we do not know when the hour glass full of sand will run out and there is no turning it over for round two . He will be missed .

I appreciate this thread very much and find the responses very touching. Seeing the other ongoing threads on this Farmall board tells us that life goes on, but it touches a raw nerve with me; this board will never be the same again for me without Hugh.
Like many others, as often as I could access this site, I would read what Hugh posted. There was one particular contribution from him that I was strongly reminded of when I read about Hugh"s death. He replied this to a discussion about Old on 01-28-2009:
QUOTE "Ron: I personally don"t agree with Gene"s accessment. Oh yes the item he mentions may well be the straw that broke the camel"s back, so to speak. Old was around here when I came in 1999, a very knowledgable person who always knew the econimical fix to most problems. He"s never made a lot of noise, just good sound ideas.
I"m not certain one can hang around here for a lot of years, doing the kinds of answers Old, George, Jim, myself, and many others provide. I could go on and on about others who have come and gone. I find myself not bothering with a lot of threads I would have just two years ago. I look at it this way, if the guy is getting good advice, let it go. There have been a lot of new and very capable folks come along in the past few years, some of them received most of their training right here, and are doing a great job. Others are completely new to the computer but have a lot of tractor knowledge upstairs.

I haven"t checked lately but I must be approaching 50,000 posts in that 10 years, 5,000 per year, hell that is 13 per day. How many times do you suppose I"ve answered the same question. I"m sure Old is in the same position. You take Allan In NE, two years ago, probably the most prolific poster at YT. He hasn"t been around near as long as Old or I have, probably surpassed us with his numbers. You don"t see him as much anymore. Plain and simple guys, if you answer a lot of questions on here there becomes a point of burnout. Fair warning I"ve almost reached that point.
"
Hugh could not have known then how prophetic his words were....

Note: I find it difficult to express my feelings and emotions in words and writing, let alone in a foreign language, which English is to me. So please bear with me.
Respectfully, Hendrik (from the Netherlands).
Post of January 27, 2009

Hi , Hugh' obituary was posted last evening by Hugh's Son Sandy. It is on about page 6, where the information was posted on Saturday. thanks, Murray

I certainly can understand missing Hugh. I never met him either but he helped me out; and is still helping me. The picture sounds fun, perhaps you could repost it?? It's too bad that we don't seem to appreciate what we have until it's too late.

I never met Hugh but I've enjoyed his posts and have to agree with old saying we don't know what we have until it's gone.Scott

Is this the picture of Hugh and Marge your referencing Paul? I remember Hugh stating he had lost a quite a bit of weight and had not purchased new clothes yet. He complained that it was a poor picture of him because of the poor fitting clothes.


<a href="http://s41.photobucket.com/albums/e280/Scott1066/?action=view&current=View.jpg" target="_blank"> </a>

Sorry to hear of Hugh"s passing. My condolences to his family. Hugh was always one of the first one to answer a question. Didn"t matter if it was a simple one or a much more complicated one. He will be greatly missed by a lot of people.

(quoted from post at 10:48:06 10/27/09) It does seem unusual that he never mentioned his illness. His last post was on 13 Oct 09, ten days before his passing. I can understand that he would not want to turn this forum into the Hugh MacKay Death Watch Board but it would have been nice for all of us to say goodbye. And it would have lifted his spirits in the last few days.

I now presume that his absence for the first 10 days in September was not due to a computer problem. He must have been in a hospital.

Click to expand...

I can confirm that Dad did not know he had cancer until Friday October 9th. He worked a regular work-week that week and went to the hospital on Thursday with what he thought was a bad cold. He didn't take a pain killer until two days before he died. He was an enormously strong man.

He had the 130 half-torn apart when he died in order to replace the front crank seal. This is the tractor we use to plow snow. Not being an accomplished Farmall mechanic I have been scouring the forum trying to figure out how to finish the job. I am happy to report I got the thing ready to put back together. It was weird and funny to find his advice archived here. What a great thing!

I havent been on in a while,, was sad to read this post about his passing, like others I have never met the man, but he was always a pleasure to "talk" with, he helped me a number of times,, he will surely be missed, God bless him and his family,pat

I, as a cousin, am so very proud of the legacy that Hughie left for his family. His father was my mother's brother. His parents were the most wonderful of parents, they would have so loved all that has been written. My uncle was very much similar to his son, his mother born the kindness of the heart. Thanks to you all for remembering Hughie in a way that I had no concept other than he was just a cousin but now have learned he was so much more.