He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1958 and a master’s degree in 1960, both from the University of Nebraska, and both in German, and later studied folklore at the University of Colorado and Indiana University.
He married Marilyn Henry in 1958. They divorced in 1975. Along with his son, he is survived by his wife, Linda Welsch, whom he married in 1980; his daughters Joyce Welsch, Jenny Welsch and Antonia Barlage; four grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.
Mr. Welsch taught German at Dana College, in Blair, Neb., and Nebraska Wesleyan University before going to the University of Nebraska in 1973. A few years later, he bought a rundown farmhouse outside Dannebrog and spent increasing amounts of time there, repairing the house and learning the basics of farm life, including tractor repair.
His practical interest in tractors, especially antiques, became a fixation in his writing and speaking, and for years he maintained a popular website full of geeky farm-implement arcana. In 1988, The New York Times wrote that Mr. Welsch “is to tractor restoration, and the Allis-Chalmers in particular, what Thoreau was to the lakeside cabin.”
He wrote more than 40 books about love, tractors, dogs and women, including “Everything I Know About Women I Learned From My Tractor” (2002) and “Busted Tractors and Rusty Knuckles: Norwegian Torque Wrench Techniques and Other Fine Points of Tractor Restoration” (1997) — a book as funny as its title is droll.
He collected stories and wrote his own, often basing them in a fictional town, Centralia, and peopling his tales with characters like Lunchbox, Co-op George, Martin Rosewater and Uncle Grover Bass.
Frustrated with the herbicidal tendencies of the county weed control board, he won a seat on it in 1974 with a pro-weed platform and the motto “If you can’t beat ’em, eat ’em.” The story drew national attention, including that of Mr. Kuralt, who made it the subject of their first interview, over a meal of 12 local weeds.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nytimes.com
