Hawkeye touched many lives, and I feel the need to share how he touched mine. I first met him in 1959 or 1960. My grandfather and his sister owned Split Rock Farm at the time and we kids would be sent up there to spend a few weeks or more most every summer. I first saw him when he would drive past the house in the red and black Packard on the way to the Shamrock Inn in the evening. He would also stop by with one of his fire engine pumpers and fill up at the spring at the bridge on the edge of the property. He stored some cars in my grandfathers barn prior to my arrival and before he had his sheds erected.

I soon wandered down to see what all these old cars were about. I was about 14 and Hawkeye saw that I took a real interest in his cars, asking way too many questions, and wanting to know the story behind them. He soon put me to work helping him move cars around (and some boats). Jacking them up and placing boards under the tires to keep level once they were in the right location. He was a stickler for getting them lined up perfectly straight in neat rows. Being only 14 I always thought of him as that old guy (beard, pipe) when in fact he wasn’t even 30 when I first met him. He just had the wisdom of someone much older.

I had expressed my desire to buy an old car and make it into a hotrod, and naturally he didn’t want to sell me any of his cars, but he was very helpful in telling me where all the old Fords and Chevy’s were hiding. My grand uncle and I drove down many dirt roads with branches scraping the car only to come across a barn find Model A or some other late 20’s or early 30’s car. Most were not for sale at the time. Finally one of the leads panned out and I went to look at a 31 Chevy 3 window coupe owned by Alfred Stutz. After some negotiation I purchased the car for $35. (remember this is maybe 1961 or so) and had it dragged back to the barn at Split Rock Farm. I worked on that car every summer for the next maybe 3 or 4 years. I had a lot of expert advice from Hawkeye. I remember that the head was cracked and he knew that and he told me to go down to Shorty’s garage in Saranac and buy one and don’t pay more than $5 for it. He knew were all the parts were and who had what.

I continued to help him when he needed some muscle, and he continued to help me get the Chevy running. He gave me a brand new old stock carburetor for it that was just perfect. I never did turn the car into a hotrod as after spending time with Hawkeye I gained a respect for the classic car, in its original form, and have been a purest ever since.

I have lived all over the country and a few times I had the opportunity to visit over the last 50 years. The last time being the late 90’s. He never seemed to change, he was always the same guy I met a long time ago.

Some of the cars that I remember are of course the red and black Packard phaeton, he also had I think a white and black Packard roadster that he drove once in a while. The big old 1919 Mack truck that he drove from Hartford at 14 miles an hour! The huge hook and ladder truck that seemed to stay in the same place from 1960 till the last time I saw it in maybe 1998. He also had I think a 1930 Cadillac V12 that had been cut down to act as a crew car for another fire department, it was white, and in later years he had removed the crew part of it.

Hawkeye gave me the old car bug and I have been a car guy ever since. I can’t thank him enough for the hobby that I have loved for so many years now. Case in point I took delivery of a 1925 Buick basket case just a few months ago.

Rest in peace Hawkeye.

Tom Dierks