Grandpa's chair

Dad always called this chair “Grandpa’s chair.” And if it seems to have always been around, it’s because it is well over a hundred years old. Presumably, Douglas Fraser, Sr. brought the chair to Pilot Mound when the family came west from Ontario in March of 1906.

The original finish is barely discernible under layers of paint.

When Murray Fraser downsized in January 2012, we were sure to save this family treasure. The chair was indeed showing its age, a little unsteady and held together with strands of strong wire. A careful repair and refinishing job by The Furniture Guy revealed the true character of the chair and details that were hidden under layers and layers of thick paint.

Douglas Fraser, Sr.'s chair, looking glorious in its repaired and restored condition.

It was indeed Douglas’s favourite chair, and he used it a lot. Two knicks on the back are the result of several years of hitting a desk. Douglas's feet have worn the top rung under the seat to half its original thickness. There is no doubt this school teacher spent long hours in his chair reviewing his pupils’ lessons.

The chair is also significant for another reason. Douglas Fraser, Sr. actually died in this chair in June, 1915. The fact was noted in his obituary published back in Turnberry township, Ontario:

Death came very unexpectedly to one of this community’s much respected citizens on Sunday last, in the person of Mr. Douglas Fraser, calling him to his reward in the sixty-seventh year of his age. Of recent years Mr. Fraser had not been enjoying very robust health, but was able to be around pretty much all the time. On Sunday he was feeling exceptionally well, when all of a sudden he expired whilst sitting in a chair, succumbing to heart failure.

His wife Catherine (Kate) noted the same in a very brief entry in her diary. Her next entry is two months later. Ever practical, she reports a hard frost on August 25 that froze the vegetables.

Douglas's death receives a brief mention between more mundane entries in Kate's journal.

A resume in itself

Dad moved to Winnipeg from Pilot Mound to attend the Dominion Provincial Vocational School in 1940-41 prior to being accepted into the RCAF for airframe mechanic training. (He had applied to become a pilot in the summer of 1940, but was rejected for aircrew because of colour blindness.)

Post-war, Dad trained in Machine Shop and Tool & Die at the Manitoba Technical Institute. Within days of completing this training, he was hired by MacDonald Bros. Aircraft Limited. At the time, plants like MBA were struggling to find work. They had the good sense to recognize talent when they saw it, however, and with glowing references from his instructors, Dad landed a job and began his 34-year career with the company.

The Ford Plant - later Manitoba Technical Institute - at Portage Ave. and Wall St., Winnipeg

Dad took more training post-war at MTI, the precursor to Red River College.

I've always claimed that the tractor cab Dad built for his father in 1946 was a resume in itself. This is especially true when you consider that MacDonald Brothers Aircraft was building tractor cabs post-war, too! To maintain production volumes post-war, the company introduced a number of projects, including reconditioning surplus army trucks, producing aluminum cookware, car jacks, and sleigh bodies for tractor trains used in the north to haul goods during the winter. They also produced agricultural components, like crop sprayer assemblies, front loader attachments, sprayer tanks, and - tractor cabs.

A history of Bristol Aerospace Limited, entitled 50 Years of Technology 1930-1980: Volume One: The First Quarter Century describes the company's foray into tractor cab production:

A related product [to swathers and crop duster assemblies], reflecting the extremes of climate on the Canadian prairies, was a tractor cab, designed to be adaptable to the different types of tractor used at the time, giving protection from the elements to the operator, and thereby making possible the more effective use of the equipment.

This was a MacDonald Brothers development, from the basic design, through modifications to the finished product.

The cabs were marketed through a distribution system set up by the Company, until 1954 when all rights to the design and sales, were sold to the J.B. Carter Company, which continued to sell tractor cabs for several years.

Compare Dad's custom-designed tractor cab with that of MacDonald Brothers Aircraft. Call me biased, but I think Dad's design is much more elegant.

Dad poses (for scale) with the tractor cab he built in Pilot Mound in 1946.

See more photos of Dad's tractor cab at http://frasertrunk.blogspot.com/2013/08/i-like-it-when-plan-comes-together.html .

Pilot Mound Sentinel readers would have seen this advertisement, two years after Dad built his tractor cab.

Ad in the Pilot Mound Sentinel, May 6, 1948

Other advertisements at this time were more detailed:

Canadian Farm Implements magazine, August 1948
[Source: Red Power Magazine forum]

[Source: Red Power Magazine forum]

Tractor cabs built by MacDonald Bros. Aircraft Limited:

Early tractor cab development

Installing a tractor cab

Finished tractor cabs

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