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John Deere Fan - Buford McMillan

Buford McMillan may be 83 years old, but that does not stop him from enjoying weekly rides on Old Faithful, his 20-year-old John Deere riding lawn tractor!

"He gets around better than all four of us kids put together," his daughter, Rita Coker, says. Rita nominated her father for our next John Deere Fan because of his great love of John Deere. "Among all of his John Deere collections, and there's a lot, he loves his "Old Faithful" tractor the most. That's what he has always called it. It is over 20 years old and still runs great."

Buford, a 40-year resident of Kemp, Texas, is first and foremost a family man. He is a widower who remains actively involved and very close to his children. When life's hectic pace begins to catch up with him, Buford heads to his yard, where riding his John Deere tractor mower is his favorite way of relaxing.

"He is the only one allowed to ride that tractor. He keeps it up on the patio where he can keep his eye on it, and he keeps it chained to the house with a chain as big as the tractor!" Rita jokes.

One summer day, while doing his weekly mowing, Buford climbed on his John Deere mower and maneuvered his way through the same yard he had mowed many times before. This particular day, he ended up on Rita's doorstep, looking quite a mess. "He was dirty and looked like he had a fight with something and that's what I told him," Rita recalls. "He was so cute standing their just looking at me as if he had saved the world."

Buford had been mowing the ditch in his front yard when the tractor tipped sideways. After reassuring Rita he was all right, Buford said, "Oh, I am a little beat up, but my old John Deere just got up and waited for me to get on, and here we went, lickety split, and no worse for the wear! I knew you would be worried about Old Faithful but he's OK." Years later, Rita and her father still laugh about this moment.

"My dad has been interested in John Deere for as long as I can remember," shares Rita. Buford's vast collection includes items such as John Deere hats, die-cast models, birdhouses, weather monitors, clocks, a lamp, and bedding. "He was quite upset to learn I was not going to be able to get him the matching bed skirt because they were no longer carrying them. He would not let me purchase another one of some kind because he said it would mess up his John Deere stuff."

Thank you Rita, for sharing your father's story with us, and a special thank you to Buford McMillan, for being such a wonderful John Deere Fan!