Graham Freegard – obituary
GRAHAM FREEGARD: 10th October 1931 – 3rd DECEMBER 2023
Graham Freegard in his happy place – atop one of his beloved tractors. Photo: supplied
Graham Freegard – a man known as much for his ploughing skills and love of tractors as for his brightly painted tin hat – died earlier this month.
The lifetime member of the Waikato Vintage Tractor & Machinery Club was farewelled last week at Cambridge Raceway. He was, said his son Kevin, simply worn out.
That exhaustive work ethic was noted by several speakers at the service, among them family members, co-workers through the years and members of the local vintage tractor club.
They alluded to a man who never stopped working, one who passed his ‘extraordinary knowledge, skill and work ethic’ down to his children and grandchildren and left a legacy among some of diesel in their veins.
“He worked constantly,” said Meshelle, the youngest daughter of six children – three boys and three girls – born to Graham and his wife of 66 years, Marie.
Graham’s first job was working with a hay-making gang, driving a World War 11 jeep with a sweep on it. He also toiled on and early gas pipeline project, driving a D7 winch tractor, sometimes in areas so steep you had to scale the hills on your hands and knees. It was during his time working on the pipeline that Graham acquired his tin hat, one that had US links and ended up taking on the colours of the Chamberlain tractors that Graham subsequently owned and re-painted. He never did like their original bright orange.
A line-up of Graham’s beloved tractors stood in the Cambridge Raceway grounds. Photo: supplied
“He was a very good ploughman and later on became involved with vintage ploughing,” said Kevin, reflecting on how his father used to position the tin hat on fences as something he could spot from a distance to keep the furrow lines true. During the down seasons, Graham would pick up bobby calves from around the district.
Graham’s late teens were blighted by a serious accident that saw him misjudge a bend and drive his Matchless motorcycle under a milk tanker. There wasn’t much left of the bike frame, it was said, and the two motorcycle wheels ended 4.5 metres high in a hedge on the other side of the road. He was seriously injured and in hospital for months. Things looked so bad that condolence cards started coming in and doctors said the teen was unlikely to make old bones.
The National Fieldays Tractor Pull was an obvious attraction for Graham and his sons. In one memorable year, they entered three Chamberlains and took out the top three positions… that was an occasion followed by a change in the rules.
He came home one evening having discovered a huge marijuana plant growing in a maize lot. “Look what I have found,” he declared. Marie promptly tossed the plant on the fire, a move that left the neighbourhood reeling and left the family with a lifelong ability to recognise the distinctive smell of dope.
Graham’s work ethic was etched into him by the sun, with the outline of white socks, a watch mark and white singlet permanently left on his skin by long hours on the tractor.
His penchant for speed was offset during a rare holiday in the green Valiant where cops pulled him up for going too slowly and holding up traffic.
It was the little things as well as the large – his powerful strength, his misspelling of two of his children’s names when registering them, and his love of a cup of tea – that made Graham the special character he was.
Graham’s coffin was driven to Hautapu Cemetery on a trailer he built. Driving the tractor is his grandson, Thomas Mansell. Photo: supplied
