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He crawled for 23 hours

alledanalledan Member Posts: 19,541
edited July 2002 in General Discussion
BILLINGS, Oklahoma (AP) -- An 89-year-old man crawled for 23 hours to report a tractor accident that left his wife dead, authorities said.

Florence Ruth Holba of Billings died Friday after the tractor driven by her husband, Edwin Holba, rolled over her on the couple's farm in rural Noble County, state troopers said Saturday.

Mrs. Holba, 80, was standing behind the tractor when Holba's foot slipped off the clutch, the state highway patrol said. The tractor rolled backward over her, pinning her beneath it.

Holba got off the tractor but fell when he went to check on his wife, the patrol said. Holba, who usually requires assistance to walk, was unable to stand and crawled for 23 hours until he reached his residence and called for help shortly before 10 a.m. Saturday, troopers said.

The couple's son, Jim Holba, said his father crawled about 400 feet from the tractor to his home.

He said his father was hospitalized with dehydration.
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Comments

  • 4GodandCountry4GodandCountry Member Posts: 3,968
    edited November -1
    What the hell kinda buisness has an 89 year old man got opporating heavy equipment anyway? Rediculous, his family should have known better than to allow him to run that kind of machinery at his age.

    When Clinton left office they gave him a 21 gun salute. Its a damn shame they all missed....
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  • kimberkidkimberkid Member Posts: 8,858 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I can only imagine the frustration and other feelings this poor man suffered being only 400 FEET from his home and knowing full well his wife was probably dead because of his actions ... over the last few years I've watched my father decline rapidly (inoperable arthritis in his back due to old injuries) fighting it every step of the way ... going from cane to walker to wheelchair. Still he keeps in generally good sprits saying he's suprised he's lasted this long.

    =================================
    The only bad thing about choosing a Kimber ...
    ... there are so darn many models to choose from!
    kimberkid@gunbroker.zzn.com
    If you really desire something, you'll find a way ?
    ? otherwise, you'll find an excuse.
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  • metalcuttermetalcutter Member Posts: 34 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    We just don't believe in our own mortality. I have a 95yr old male relative that lives with my wife and me. It's sad to see him frustrated by his infirmities. He still believes his arthritic knee and back will get better some day. Thank goodness he voluntarily gave up driving a number of years ago. As our body ages our mind forgets to. A very sad tragedy.
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  • LowriderLowrider Member Posts: 6,587
    edited November -1
    400 feet in 23 hours? That's a .003 miles-per-hour average. Wow! The ol' boy was really truckin'.

    Lord Lowrider the LoquaciousMember:Secret Select Society of Suave Stylish Smoking Jackets She was only a fisherman's daughter,But when she saw my rod she reeled.
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  • He DogHe Dog Member Posts: 51,593 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I figger he must have been on a Harley Lowrider. Lots of stops for repairs!

    Pretty sad, but no way he should have been on a tractor.
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  • MercuryMercury Member Posts: 7,842 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    You guys don't know these old farmers......practically impossible to get to stop messing around with stuff!

    Went over to my 89 year old uncle's house one day. He was on the roof! "Was checking out the roof, he said"

    Sheesh! Crazy old people. :)

    Merc



    NO! You may not have my guns! Now go crawl back into your hole!

    ****************************************

    "Tolerating things you may not necessarily like is part of being free" - Larry Flynt
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  • IconoclastIconoclast Member Posts: 10,515 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Probably his wife was out there to keep an eye on him or trying to talk him out of doing whatever it was he had intended to do! This man sounds just like many rural Yankees of my acquaintance, including my grandfather, father, and probably I when (more accurately if!) I reach that age. People who've been independent all their lives are damned if they are going to let a few minor(?!) infirmities keep them from living their lives to the fullest. I feel very sorry for this man, but I greatly admire him and his spirit. Bet what little Social Security, etc. he received in his elder years was a small fraction of what he contributed to society and he wouldn't know what a welfare check looked like, much less have ever had one with his name on it.
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  • varmit huntervarmit hunter Member Posts: 1,674 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    By God it was His tractor. Just wait till people try to tell YOU, What you can and can't do. It SUCKS!!!!!!!.

    My wife is gone , And I got on my 4 wheeler, And did a bunch I am not supposed to. Felt damn good.

    The most important things, Are not things.
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  • IconoclastIconoclast Member Posts: 10,515 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    More power to ya, vh! I salute you, sir!
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  • HAIRYHAIRY Member Posts: 23,606
    edited November -1
    Man, that really hit home!! My mind thinks the * is still in the 20's but the * knows better. Still haven't found an answer to the wife's question, "Why are you buying all those guns--just to give our son a headache after you go?" (Ain't told her, I aint' going nowhere but to the range!)

    My admiration to the man.

    It's not what you know that gets you in trouble, it's what you know that just ain't so!
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  • Miss. CreantMiss. Creant Member Posts: 300 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    X ring varmint hunter Damn right, IT WAS HIS TRACTOR who are ANY of us to say he can't run it.


    Rural areas of the USA are full of old farmers doing what they have done all their lives.



    4GodandCountry you are way out of line with that thinking. I suppose you want those evil guns taken out of our hands cause we have no business owning those unsafe things. Plenty of young folks killed in car accidents should we take away cars? The most liberal line of crap I have read hear yet.
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  • KnifecollectorKnifecollector Member Posts: 3,267 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I had a neighbor that got run over by his tractor last week. He was in the front yard greasing the raker, getting ready to put up some hay. He raised the lift a little and it run over him. His wife was on the porch and saw the whole thing. He died shortly after the ambulance got there. He was way up in his seventies. That would have to be hard on his wife after 50 + years of marriage.
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  • 223believer223believer Member Posts: 128 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    At some point you've got to realize that you're too old
    and just can't do things anymore. Driving around today
    turning into a shopping mall and an old lady is on the
    wrong side of the divider, sitting there waiting for the light
    to change. She had to back up to let me by, and I rolled down
    my window and politely explained what she was doing wrong.
    The old woman couldn't even understand that! She sat there for
    three minutes waiting for the light to change and finally made
    a left on red. God help us all.
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  • nunnnunn Forums Admins, Member, Moderator Posts: 36,085 ******
    edited November -1
    Sorry to disagree just a bit. My grandmother is 88 years old and infirm. She is mad about it, but I took her car from her and won't give it back. She is simply not capable of driving anymore. She isn't capable of walking anymore. Poor old girl. She doesn't even remember that when she was still at herself, she gave my mother a Durable Power of Attorney, and Mom transferred the car to me.

    I don't know about the old gentleman in this story, but it does sound as though he should not have been operating a tractor.

    Sometimes, those of us with good sense have to step in and make decisions for those who lack the ability to evaluate their current circumstances. Sometimes against their will, for their own good. Darn, that goes against everything I believe!



    SIG pistol armorer/FFL Dealer/Full time Peace Officer, Moderator of General Discussion Board on Gunbroker. Visit www.gunbroker.com, the best gun auction site on the Net! Email davidnunn@texoma.net
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  • RembrandtRembrandt Member Posts: 4,486 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Sad story, can you imagine the agony he went through knowing his life's partner was trapped, God bless him for exerting such effort.

    My great uncle and aunt were in their mid 80's living on the farm that meant so much to them, supported them and raised their family. I'll never forget visiting them and finding my aunt in the bucket of the loader on the tractor, up in the air about 15', running a spray gun painting the barn and out buildings while my uncle drove the tractor around each building with her riding in the bucket......they spent their whole life working as a team, and age didn't matter, they were happiest on the farm....sure we all joked about it, and now they're gone....I only hope I have as much spirit when I get to be that age....
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  • nordnord Member Posts: 6,106 ✭
    edited November -1
    Maybe, just maybe, this isn't the tragedy we all seem to think it is.

    Run over by a tractor? Perhaps not bad compared to some other ways to depart this life.

    And the old gentleman... He did what he had to do. It was the right thing and the only thing. God bless them both!

    Nord
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  • BoomerangBoomerang Member Posts: 4,513
    edited November -1
    I agree with Nunn on this one. If you truly love your parents take their keys away from them before they reach that stage. It is very hard to admit that at some point we may no longer have the ability to drive, or even to run heavy equipment in this case. Believe me, if we all live long enough it will happen to us one day. For those of you that disagree I feel sorry for you, its called denial. Ask yourself, what will it take for you to admit it when the time comes? How about killing your grandchildren in a needless and preventable car accident. Maybe at that point some of you will know what real loss is, and then watch while your family falls apart.

    Boomer


    "Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as it is by the obstacles which one has overcome while trying to succeed."

    Edited by - Boomerang on 07/22/2002 20:25:36
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  • 96harley96harley Member Posts: 3,992 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I sure hate the thought of getting really up in age. At my age I know there are things not done as well as they used to be. I sure hate to think that someday I may have to put up the keys and in so doing kiss
    idependence good bye.

    I met a man last week who is eighty-three and still touring the country on his motorcycle. Now that's cool. I hope I'm able to do that if I reach his age. I guess the key is growing older gracefully.
    Another sad reality other than losing independence is losing friends you've know all your life. Picked up the paper tonight and noticed a guy who graduated high school a year after me died. See more and more of them in the paper anymore. The question comes to mind when's it my turn? That's why it pays to be prayed up and ready cause we don't know when we'll be carried off by the death angle. I sure am glad God is patient and long suffering.
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  • E.WilliamsE.Williams Member Posts: 1,101 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    It is sad he will have to end his life with that tragedy with him being 89 he doesnt have all that much time tocope with it before he is gone.He must have passed out a couple of times to go 400 feet in 23 hours.Riding that tractor probably made him forget his age and transported him right back to 1955 when he was young,strong,healthy and farming.It was his tractor yes but a man that age has no business controlling a tractor especially if he was in bad enough shape that a fall had him crawling 400 feet in 23 hours.He had no more business behind the wheel of that tractor than behind the wheel f a car because as you can see they can be just as deadly.Still sad that he lost his wife at that age like that though.

    Eric S. Williams
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  • hunter280manhunter280man Member Posts: 705 ✭
    edited November -1
    My grandfather was also killed by his favorite tractor at 83 years old.If he would have only driven a newer one with the powersteering it, the wheel might not have yanked out of his hands and went into the ditch...But...It was his choice.

    And he died happy, doing what he loved. Yes we did ask him not to drive cars anymore, and he didn't. This way it was just him in danger.

    Though I was born to royalty, I was snatched at birth, so treat me as the noble I am!!!
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