56 NEBRASKAland • MARCH 2015
The Tools of Eugene Cromwell
Genoa man proves a new passion can start at any time in life.
By Jenny Nguyen and Jeff Kurrus
W
hat will we be doing in 20 years? The question is simple if one
doesn't consider what they were doing a mere 10 years ago, the
day-to-day now that was not even a radar blip back then. Yet we
were faced with this question when we met Genoa resident Eugene
Cromwell, whose antique tool collection, relics of bygone days and
country life, was on display for us during a trip to his hometown.
Each painstakingly cleaned, sorted and numbered, they hung like fossils in a
museum. Mangled wrenches, oil cans, pitchforks and plows, drill bits of every
shape and size – collecting, cleaning and displaying old tools and furniture
became Gene's obsession, a hobby he picked up when he turned 50 and one that
he fervently continued upon his wife's passing.
Now in his 90s, the collection still drives him. Gene continues to go out to the
old tool shed to scrape and polish, to knock off years on unwanted objects so
beaten with time, to give each a home. Why do you do this? "It's just something
to pass the time," he replied in quiet modesty. Though the man revealed little,
his collection was more than capable of speaking for itself.
While our current hobbies often disappear after the end of a gun barrel or rod
tip – Gene gives excitement to think that there's no telling what's around the
corner for each of us in this world. New friends, new purpose, new passions –
the world is still a mystery, if only we keep our eyes open long enough to not let
it slip by. And we thank Gene for that. ■
Eugene sits at his work bench restoring a plow plane.
PHOTO
BY
JEFF
KURRUS
Wooden pitchfork that Eugene restored.
