Forrest Raikes sold John Deere tractors.
He served on the city council in his hometown of Ashland, presided over the Chamber of Commerce and taught Sunday School at his church.
And every Christmas morning, he held a boxy movie camera and recorded history.
A past made up of metal fire trucks and wooden play kitchens, bicycles with red fenders, dolls that walk, tinsel-draped trees and simply wrapped presents. Kids in pajamas and robes.
For Forrest and Glendora’s four children and, later, their grandchildren and great-grandchildren, a silent movie featuring generations of early morning wonder.
His dad spent more than 30 years in the farm equipment business, said Jerry Raikes, the youngest of the four.
“But the hobby of photography and movies and such was his thing.”
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After he retired in 1961, Forrest added a studio onto the back of the house, where he took portraits — babies and families and high school graduation pictures.
In the summer, he’d set up a big screen in the park and rent old movies for the people of Ashland to enjoy.
He’d film baseball games and the carnival during Ashland’s annual Stir-Up Days.
His son has a portrait of his father hanging in his Lincoln home: A kind-looking older man in an olive green suit, holding a camera in his hands.
Forrest died in 1975, after an attic floor collapsed while he was replacing old wiring. Glendora died three years later.
And in 2010, Jerry Raikes took reels and reels of his father’s home movies to the Nebraska Historical Society, where they gladly accepted them.
“His collection spans so many years, you have a generational thing going on, which is sort of cool,” said Paul Eisloeffel, curator of audio-visual collections and archives at History Nebraska. “And you have the fashions and toys from all these different eras.”
Eisloeffel has been watching and listening to Nebraska stories for more than 30 years. He liked the longevity of Forrest Raikes’ collection, the universal feel of those Christmas mornings.
The history museum took in 23 reels of 16 mm film from the movie-maker’s son. They included family vacations, too, but many of them were dated Dec. 25 — with placards informing viewers of the year.
The curator created a 3-minute, 6-second compilation — starting with a toddler with a giant teddy bear in 1941 and ending with a Ken doll in swimming trunks in 1970.
In between: a boy with his new holster and toy guns, a Bekins moving truck, a row of pre-packed stockings made of red mesh, all the rage in 1948. A metal pig on wheels. A furnished dollhouse. A fort filled with soldiers. Nubby mid-century couches — when they were in style the first time around. A spinning top. A Mustang fighter plane. A doll buggy.
Bleary-eyed children. The arms of mothers reaching down to pick up babies. Pajamas with feet.
There is Jerry in 1943, making his first appearance — a dark-haired toddler holding a wooden duck.
He was the youngest of the four. His brother was 10 years older, his sisters older still.
“I wasn’t planned for.”
But he remembers a few of his treasured gifts caught on film: A pedal car. A coveted bicycle.
The youngest Raikes wrote a short biography when he donated the movies — explaining their history.
“This 16 mm film footage was shot and edited by Forrest L. Raikes, a John Deere Implement dealer from Ashland, Nebraska ...”
He introduces his sister Phyllis and his sister Shirley and his brother Bob.
“As the years passed on, my nephew, Gary, arrived in 1944 and his brother, Phillip, in 1946.”
Then, Shirley’s girls arrived and Bob’s four, followed by Jerry’s daughter, Kaylee, and his son Kent Lee.
“As you can see by the presents around the Christmas tree the family was growing fast ... Dad added on the last Xmas film in 1970. This completed 29 years of Xmas in just less than one hour’s time ...”
He ended it this way: “We hope you enjoy these Raikes Family Christmas movies.”
Last week, the son remembered the way his dad looked forward to Christmas mornings.
He remembered the placard he’d hang on the tree each year — 1958, 1959, 1960 — to keep them all in order.
After Jerry turned them over in 2010, History Nebraska digitized those donated reels and gave Jerry copies of the DVDs.
“It was very nice of the historical society to do what they did.”
And then Forrest’s son did something nice. He added music to those old home movies — and added hundreds of family photos to the mix — and made copies for his relatives.
“And I gave them as Christmas presents.”