ARGENTINE FOSTER FAMILY STORY (Part 4 Continued)

The Fosters/Tuduri Olives

John Deere time (1969-1972)

So on the 2ⁿ  of January 1969 I started working in the fairly new established Industrial Department. 

We had the following Industrial Machinery to offer in the local market:

JD200 loader and backhoe and JD730 tractor, both totally built in JD factory in Argentina (refer to previous photo)

On the other side we imported JD760, JD770 Motor Graders and the JD440 Logger:

Although this equipment was for moving logs many clients used it as a front end dozer. Cleaning the smaller trees within the area and leaving the land clear so that the larger trees were available for felling and carting to the saw-mill.

The Industrial Department was manned by the following:

            Manager:                      Edgardo Albertí

            Territory Managers:      Julio Pagani, Powlovsky, Derek Foster

Industrial dealers were named and organized in important areas in the country: San Fernando (Buenos Aires), Tucumán, Corrientes, Córdoba, Mendoza, Comodoro Rivadavia (Chubut), Río Grande (Tierra del Fuego).

I personally named Taverna Hermanos in the town of Olavaria (Buenos Aires).

We attended thorough schooling on the different Industrial and Agricultural models at John Deere factory in Granadero Baigorria, near Rosario, in the province of Santa Fé.  All attending the courses received the following diplomas:

They were three excellent years full of new experiences.

Our first job was traveling down to Viedma (Rio Negro) together with the Mechanic Division for the delivery and service of all the sold JD760 Motor scrapers to be used to open the irrigation waterways for the I.D.E.V.I. (Instituto de Desarrollo del Valle Inferior del Rio Negro).

We became very efficient in attending National, Provincial and Municipal administrations, where we offered, in public tenders, reasonable prices against other competitive companies. Many motor graders were sold this way especially to Municipalities as it was ideal equipment for leveling earth roads.

A big tender was “bagged” in the following way: we presented our bid to the Provincial Road Building in the province of Corrientes for 60 JD730 tractors which we lost. However, as soon as competitor’s prices were known they were informed to main office and we set a very reasonable price for a tender we won, for 160 JD730 tractors to the Road Building Association in the Province of Buenos Aires.

Social life:

No sooner we arrived back home, from Patagonia, we became members of the Lomas Athletic Club together with my friend  Charlie Dodds and picked up playing tennis together with our wives Esther and Antonia. Also became members Mariana and Roberto Didoné. Our sons and daughters were trained in Rugby and Hockey.

On Saturday mornings we used to play a foursome with Sonny Whickham, Charlie Dodds, Donald Savage. On Sundays tennis was played with Charlie and Esther against Antonia and I after which we would all have lunch with all other friends.

At home: Charlie,Jackie,Antonia,Derek,Esther and Charlie (Jr.)

All these years we also attended the Caledonian Balls and the “Camp Week Show” at the Strangers Club starring good old “Chaco Kember” and his crowd of Merry Makers.

During 1970 with Antonia we decided to enlarge our house. To that affect I sold a plot of land I had bought in Cinco Saltos, with plans that, if we decided to settle there, build our own home. With the Chocón dam and advancement within the area, the price of land became so interesting that when I sold it we were able to enlarge our house a further 80 square meters.

Finished enlargment.
Notice: no iron bars in those days.

As the enlargement was taking place and we were arriving to the month of July 1970 and our boys were about to start their School Winter Holidays I foresaw a total family disaster so we urgently took an Austral flight to Tucuman and spent two lovely weeks with my brother and his family at the camp in the Pre-Cordillera

When the flight landed in Tucuman, at the airport was my brother Digby with his car and no sooner we had our luggage, drove the 100 Kms. North to the “estancia”.

We were received by Digby´s wife Estela and all four nieces and nephew (all slightly older than our sons). The cousins, as usual, were friendly amongst themselves and had a very good time riding horses and up to mischief.  

The “estancia” was, I believe, about 40.000 Hects. and parts of them were spread amongst the mountains of the Andes.  So, there was a lot of territory to explore.

Brian, Mariquita, Charlie, María Inés, Digby, Henry, Carola, Derek, Stevie, Patricia. All Fosters

Antonia. At the far back the Andes Mountains.

Foster cousins on horse back at the estancia

Antonia and myself about to go on a ride.

Back to horses

We rode our excellent horses, to the most extraordinary sites; up mountains, plains or rivers. Amongs them the Tala, Barburin, and others. Except for the Rio Tala, that limits the provinces of Tucuman and Salta, the other rivers just flowed a trickle of water. Yet, during summer, with snow melting up the mountains they all could become an avalanche of roaring water and bouncing stones. One summer there was a Catholic School camping near by one of these rivers when one of the foremen heard the noise and galloped at top speed and managed to sound the alarm. Priests and schoolboys quickly left the place but all their belonging were swept away. 

Another time, a few years later following the trail I often rode my horse by the bed of the Barburin river the road had completely disappeared due to an avalanche.  

On this occasion we had arrived on time for the annual branding which was good fun. During the winter months, pastures, up the mountains, become scarce and cattle tend to come down to the plain seeking forage. That was time when the stray cattle was enclosed in paddocks and served by pedigree Brahma bulls.

So we trooped all the cattle into the pens and started parting the calves from their mothers. I had never worked with this breed of cattle before but to make a roundup was something crazy….  cows would go all over the place, break down pens, jump the fences, gallop away, stop and stare from afar. They could be real devils.

The calves having been parted and the mothers led away the branding started. The peones, on foot, trying to lasso the calves were not so good at it. My dear brother Digby had explained how it was done in Corrientes (refer to Saddle Bums). So I had no choice than to run, get calves by the ear and mouth, turn its head and down it would go. Right away his legs would be tied and then dehorned, castrated and check for injuries to be cured and, finally, branded.

After this rough treatment many calves would get up in a bad mood and charge the nearest person about. That is how I nearly was thrown into the cattle dip trough.

That July the weather was especially good: very warm days and cold nights. On one occasion that we walked all the way to the Tala river, towards midday, whilst crossing over a bridge of a fallen tree one of my boys “fell” into the water and all cousins followed suit having an excellent time in their daily clothes totally wet. No harm done they all sloshed their way back home.

Digby had a very good assortment of fire arms. So, at times we got into the Jeep with all the ”artillery” and drove off to practice shooting. During one of these outings we met a deer chewing away at the corn harvest. We stopped the jeep and watched it for a while, my brother’s eyes and mine met and without a word drove away, having decided it was to pretty to kill.

And so the two weeks holydays ended returning home finding that the house enlargement was nearly finished.

We returned to the estancia in Tucuman for Christmas 1971, where we also had a wonderful time but as the swimming pool had not yet been built so we spent most of the mornings at the river Tala where good fights flogging river weeds and mud took place amongst us all.

However, on this trip, arriving at midday we saw a funny happening: frogs were coming out frantically from everywhere. We did not quite understand the reason for this until the children called out “snake”. They had found, at the back of the house a “Yarará” snake. One of the elder boys got a stick and pinned its head but it became loose and hid under a large fallen tree. As a toad came down the veranda the snake, with great speed, came out of hiding, bit the toad trying to drag it under the tree. Digby took his 38 calibre revolver and shot the snakes head off. And that was that.

During that year of 1970 a satellite dish was installed between the towns of Balcarce and Mar del Plata. The manager was Otto Nielsen who had been at school with me.

However, this news played within our family in the following way: my Father-in-Law Antonio, an engineer working in the firm Transradio, and many others, with the satellite communications working, were left without a job during 1971. Meanwhile, in Spain, Dictator Franco signed an amnesty law allowing all those that had fought in the Civil War (1936/39) on the Republican side to return home and to their old job.

So, in 1972 we saw my in-laws return to Minorca, after so many years (in Antonio’s case since the year 1939). They lived happily for some years back in the midst of their family until Antonio suffered a stroke and within a month he had been very handsomely pensioned off as he was unable to work again.

 After this my In-laws returned to Argentina. But until Antonio’s death in 1984 they traveled to Mahon, Minorca, every year, to spend the summer months with their family by the Mediterranean, sea side.

1972 also marked being able to buy my first car from Alvarez who worked in the accounting department. It was what we called locally an “estanciera” a large utility unit that would fit all my family.

Myself and my Estanciera.

As my sons continued their studying at St. Michael’s College Antonia that was fluent in French, having lived in Paris during 1947/1950, entered in the fourth year of Alliance Française after which majored in French Literature and two special courses that would allow her to teach, which she did for many years and St. Patrick’s, St.Alban´s, and at the Alliance.

Back in John Deere the rough internal policy continued: American personal were made to return to the States due to the local political situation. Pawlovsky, Julio Pagani, Fred Bowden, Mr. John Kirton (Accountant Manager) and others I cannot recall also left JD.

As to me, when I walked one Monday morning of 1971 I was called to my boss’s office being informed that as from that moment I belonged to the Accounting Department together with Phillip Fuller.

I was not surprised of the change but I was so for Phillip as he was a specialist in Spare-Parts – and

very good at his job.

So we were bunged into a small office and explained that our job was to finish all commercial ties with ex-dealers who were in debt with the Company. In fact what had happened, and by no cause, we had been “honorably” demoted. This came to my knowledge quite a few years later.

As far as I recollect there were three rough dealers to catch up with.  One in Santa Fe, another in Tucuman and one in the province of Buenos Aires.

I took Santa Fe and Tucuman. If at the beginning I was upset at this change having Tucuman I foresaw week-ends at my brother’s estancia.

I started with Santa Fé, very nice people. We went out hunting their clients all over the territory and got good response. So much so that that account was shortly closed.

Then on to the province of Tucuman, had a wonderful time. Started by, together with the dealer, visiting all their clients. Saw a lot of my brother and had a good contact with the dealers of the city of Tucuman, Carlino Hermanos. Who later branched out: one as agricultural dealer and the other took on the industrial line.

With this ex-dealer at the South of the province of Tucuman I took the same policy as in Santa Fe: that is, with a partner we went out to visit farmers to get them to pay up. This territory took me six months of traveling and slowly but surely we were able to cash in. However there were a few clients the dealer always found difficulties to visit. The situation became so strained that, finally, dealer confessed that they had kept the money. I informed our office and they sent out a Company Auditor, Sr. Bonora, to arrange the final payment and legal matters involved.

I passed on to give a helping hand to Phillip Fuller who had a hard nut to crack and was finding many difficulties with the dealer in the province of Buenos Aires.

The matter was that it was not Phillip’s “piece of cake” as was really, as commented before; he excelled in “Spare-Part” business. He was an excellent person, a veteran of WW2, quiet and very good companion. At our job together we had very many interesting conversations.  However, I did not really know, at the time if he was ill or not, but I often sat in the office with him, or whilst traveling he did not look well. As the months went by he felt worse and finally was taken to home/hospital never to return again.  Quite sometime later I went to say farewell to him at his funeral at the Scotch Church in town.

One of the experiences he mentioned, I will never forget, was having done his military service in Argentina he traveled to England during WW2 as a volunteer. At his first army drill he had the sergeant in charge called him out and pointed “you’ve been in the army before”.

So I traveled South of Buenos Aires to give assistance to Phillip. Having had the experience in Tucuman I immediately jumped to the conclusion that here were not innocent people.

So after a few times we went out with the dealer in his pick-up we realized we were going around in circles. I returned to main office, requested a car and together with Phillip we went to visit customers on our own. When we got to the bottom of the problem we were in a position to assume the dealer had kept the money. So one morning we got the dealer into our pick-up and took him strait to the farmer that had the largest debt and let them clear up the matter. Farmer was so angry he pulled a knife on the dealer. I still do not know how we were able to calm down the man.

So a day later our Company Auditor, Sr. Bonora, popped in and once again ended all payments and legal matters involved. 

So a job that was calculated would take two years was finished in less than one.

And so it came to pass that I was sent to work at the Spare-Parts Department where I also picked up a very good marketing experience.

Faithful JD730 tractor at work at Monte Hermoso beach february 2014

To be continued: SPARE-PARTS DEPARTMENT. (1973-1975)
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