Chester Michael Ireland

Chester "Mike" Ireland, 62, of Plymouth, passed away at his home on May 10th after a courageous battle with cancer. Mike was born on September 7th, 1951, the son of Chester R. and Lois (Yeaton) Ireland. He lived his entire life in Plymouth, graduating from Plymouth High School in 1969 and New Hampshire Vocational Technical College in 1971. He worked as a truck driver for Yeaton Oil Company for six years before going to work at Ireland Lumber Company in the Spring of 1977. In addition to his full-time work at the mill, Mike ran a light trucking business, delivering cordwood, bark mulch and sawdust to dozens of loyal customers in the Plymouth area. After the 2007 fire at Ireland Lumber, Mike founded his own company, Phoenix Lumber, and expanded his firewood production. He continued to work tirelessly and take great pride in his two businesses right up until his passing. For part of the 1970's, and all of the 80's and 90's he was a loyal fan of Dave Dion and the Dion Brothers racing team based out of Hudson NH, following them to various tracks around New England such as "Thunder Road", Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, Oxford Plains Speedway, to name a few, even going as far as Virginia and Canada! Sometimes he took the boys with him, other times some of his loyal racing buddies. Those who knew Mike in recent years were very familiar with his love of collecting antique International Harvester tractors. He rarely left the house without his IH suspenders, IH hat or a tractor t-shirt of some sort. Mike was known to seek out virtually any piece of antique red farm equipment, but he was especially partial to Farmall "Cub" Tractors. He was enormously proud of his collection of IH tractors and IH farm implements and his library of IH books, manuals and magazines numbered into the thousands. He had been a member of Chapter 18 of the International Harvester Collectors Club since 1996 and served as director and advisor at various points. Beginning in 2009, he was co-founder of the "Power of the Red" tractor show in Dublin NH, an All-International Harvester annual event hosted by Chapter 18. Mike's absolute favorite time of every year was his summer pilgrimage to the "Red Power Round-Up" tractor show. He travelled to Wisconsin, Iowa, Tennessee and a handful of other states to view beautifully restored farm machines, talk tractors and to dicker and deal with other IH enthusiasts. For Mike, The Red Power Round-Up was even better than a trip to Disneyland. He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Jackie Ireland, of Plymouth; two sons, Toby, of Belmont, NH and Mickey and his wife Kathy, of Mansfield, MA; his father, Chester R. Ireland of Plymouth and his sister, Sara Tatham and her husband Steve, of Plymouth. He is predeceased by his mother, Lois Y. Ireland; a brother, Timothy Ireland and a sister, Laurie Ireland. Services: Calling hours will be held from 4-7 pm on Saturday, May 17th at the Mayhew Funeral Home, 12 Langdon Street in Plymouth. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in memory of Mike Ireland to the International Harvester Collectors Club Chapter 18 Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 181, Ashland, MA 01721.

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Chester Michael Ireland

September 7, 1951 - May 10, 2014