Meet the Team

Landis hails from Ephrata, PA. and is the author of the "CLETRAC FACTS" articles in each issue of Oliver Heritage. He and his wife, Esther, are parents to nine children and one granddaughter. He owns and operates Zimmerman Oliver-Cletrac along with his son, Steven, and brother, Harold. Their specialty is providing parts and services for the Oliver-Cletrac crawler tractor line since 1987. More recently, they have also expanded into parts and services for the Oliver wheel tractor line. Landis enjoys farm equipment history and this has been an interest to him since the lower grades in school. He has amassed an extensive library of not only Oliver-Cletrac information and memorabilia, but also quite a bit on the broader farm equipment lines. He has had the pleasure of interviewing members of the Rollin H. White family and also former Oliver-Cletrac employees. In 2011, he was part of the team that was instrumental in inducting Rollin H. White into the National Inventor's Hall of Fame.
Landis is also the Chairman of the Antique Tractor Committee at the PA. State Farm Show in Harrisburg, PA.

Luke was was born and raised on a dairy farm where the family used Oliver tractors and equipment exclusively. Growing up, he saw each new series of Olivers enter the farming operation as the years rolled by. Although a back injury took him out of the dairy business, Luke switched jobs to a highway department maintenance operator, plowing snow and paving roads for nearly twenty years. Through those years, he never lost his love for Olivers and collected several full-size tractors, lawn tractors, 1/16-scale toys, and pedal tractors. His life is full of Oliver history, and he's grateful to use that knowledge as a staff writer for Oliver Heritage. Luke interviews Oliver collectors around the country, and his style is to incorporate a combination of human interest with the Oliver tractors and equipment that provides readers enjoyment by reliving the past from their easy chair.

Kenny grew up on a grain and livestock farm in Central Illinois and currently lives only a few miles from the home farm. His family has been farming with Olivers since arriving in Illinois in 1858. His great-great grandfather was employed to feed cattle and plow prairie for the Funk family, which later became home of Funks G Hybrid. His father and five uncles were almost exclusively Oliver users during their entire careers. Kenny also farmed a few acres for 20 years and still has several Olivers of his own which include: 1945 60 Standard - restored; 1951 88 gas - original condition; 1962 1800B gas - second owner; 1974 7300 combine - once owned by his dad; #5 corn picker; #44 planter; #40 walking plow - restored, plus multiple other Oliver plows and implements. While his extended family have in their aggregate stables an untold number of Oliver tractors, his favorites are the Fleetlines. Kenny enjoys researching and writing about Oliver’s history, which has been interwoven with his family’s farms for nearly 175 years.

Fred Hendricks owns SunShower Acres, Ltd. of Bucyrus, Ohio, a dairy cattle consulting business and is a freelance writer on subjects related to agriculture. He may be contacted at email: fwhendricks@gmail.com.