Page 439 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong

Peterson’s Journal Voucher ledger for 1936-40 lists Hazen A. Dennis with an outstanding note of $2,000 in Peterson’s first full month of business. With a down payment of $430 and a few incidentals, Hazen Sr. paid off his RD4 and bought a Killefer beet lifter in September 1938. (see documents on facing page).
THE DENNIS FAMILY’S RD4
Our earliest memory of the RD4 was around 1968 when it was parked in our grandfather’s shed in Middletown, California next to where dad put gas into his pickup. The gas pump was one of those that you cranked the gas into the glass bowl and then it gravity fed into your tank. We were with Dad a lot
of the time when he would feed the cows at the barn. We may have heard grandpa say once: “That was the first tractor Peterson sold”.
Over the years, we heard the same story repeated by our father, Hazen Den- nis Jr. Dad didn’t say a lot, but when he said something two or three times, we knew it was important. He would tell us: “That RD4 was the first tractor Howard Peterson sold”. Dad passed away at home on January 27th 2009. He loved tractors. We know he felt honored that he could give this tractor back and would feel honored that it is here on display.
—The Hazen A. Dennis Jr Family, November 19, 2009
Mr. Hazen Dennis, Jr. passed away in January 2009 and was unable to see the restoration of his father’s Cat RD4.
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