By Jami Badershall,Staff Writer
Tractors help pull boy through illness

FARMINGTON – The International Harvester ball cap covers his hair loss, and a constant grin covers any pain he might be feeling, but nothing could hide the pride Eben Quimby’s family has for the 12-year-old boy.

As Eben backs his 1949 Farmall tractor into its space among the others at the Maine Antique Tractor Club Festival on Saturday, a slew of relatives gathered around him to congratulate him on the good job he did in the antique tractor pull. But it’s not only his skill behind the tractor controls that gives them reason to be proud, it’s the way he has faced his leukemia head on and never let it get him down.

Eben tends to shrug his shoulders or just smile when asked questions about himself, but his family members have plenty to say about him.

“He’s remarkable,” says his father Charles Quimby. “You ask him how he’s doing, and he’ll always tell you he’s doing fine. He’s quite an inspiration. He acts like it doesn’t bother him, but I know he’s going through a lot.”

Eben was diagnosed with leukemia around Halloween last year. “I’m in the second phase,” he said, adding that he undergoes treatments of chemotherapy and steroids about once a week. He has another 2-3 years of treatments to look forward to.

For the past three weeks, Eben’s blood counts have not been at the right levels to allow him to have the chemotherapy because his body has not rebuilt the blood cells fast enough. For once, bad news was good news because it meant he could go to the Farmington Fairgrounds for the tractor show with his grandfather instead of having another treatment.

And his grandfather Carroll Quimby couldn’t have been happier to oblige his grandson.

“He told me he wanted em (his tractors) up here, so I hauled em,” the elder Quimby said. “He’s a strong kid to go through this.”

Having grown up on a dairy farm in Albion, Eben is an old hand on the tractors. His aunt Carrie Griffin said Eben was driving tractors “as soon as he could reach the pedal.”

Charles was raised on the family farm, and he wanted his children to experience a similar life.

“I tell them they’re the last of the Mohicans, so they better enjoy it,” he said.

Farming is in Eben’s blood from both sides of his family, and his maternal grandfather was a founder of the Maine Antique Tractor Club, of which Eben is a member. The tractor he drove in the pull Friday belonged to his great-grandfather and was passed on to his uncle and then his brother Lawrence, who was nice enough to let Eben drive it. Eben has his own 1949 Farmall that his uncle gave to him.

“I’ve done a little work on it,” he said. “I help my uncle on em.”

“He pulls garden tractors, too,” Carroll added.

“I’ve got a whole bunch of em,” Eben said.

Eben shrugged and grinned again when asked why he liked the tractor pulls, but his 16-year-old cousin Paul Griffin was there to give an answer.

“He was telling me the other day that he couldn’t figure out why we like pulling tractors. He said, It’s fun, but I don’t know why,'” Paul said.

While driving tractors and farm work seem like grownup things, Eben is still a kid who likes his toys – toy tractors, of course. Members of tractor clubs from around the world send them to him, his grandfather said.

“He’s got hundreds,” Paul said.

“I don’t think I’m quite up to hundreds,” Eben interjected, but he was quickly corrected by everyone around him.

“He has a suitcase of them that he brings to the hospital with him,” his aunt Carrie added.