Thanks for the Wonderful emails! I will treasure these emails along with the memories of my wonderful Dad!
My Dad pictured here was a great father and husband. I put this website together to help advertise the farm machinery auction since my Dad had so much old farming equipment and thus since my Dad never got rid of anything, I thought it would be good to put a website together and post pictures of all the different equipment my Dad had. This ranged from tractors, to combines, to plows, to discs, to steel wheels, to potato plows and many, many other items. My Dad was amazing, he could fix anything. While learning to put this website together, I thought I would put together a webpage and dedicate it to the memory of my Dad. I tear up as I write this since it has been a year and a half since my Dad has passed away. Having this sale has been very hard for me and my family, but I have a loving Christian wife and kids and I would not have been able to get thru this without their love and support. But just as I published my website, immediately I started getting emails which I thought was great and assumed people were wanting more information regarding the sale (which there was since this website had over 6,000+ visits for the months of May and June combined, so I know this website definitely helped promote and advertise the sale), but what was totally unexpected was some of the emails which people filled out the contact form on this website were not asking questions regarding the auction itself, but instead they were commenting about the web page I had put together in memory of my Dad. It is amazing how just a few kind words from some strangers touched my heart and helped me get thru this most difficult time in my life as I worked down on the farm preparing things for the last time around the farm and working in Dad's beloved and treasured salvage yard knowing all these items would be no longer be here after the sale. I would check my email and begin to see some of the below emails and I was just totally blown away by some of these emails. I told several people about this and they asked when I had time if I would email some of these to them, I decided to add these to the website and to not embarrass anyone, I am not including their email or name, but if you are one of the many people who took the time to fill out the contact form and say such nice things about my Dad, I want to say Thank You and God bless you, your king words I will treasure the rest of my life and as I read them them they remind me how truly blessed I am to have had the pleasure to be Gerald Lappe's son. I still miss my Dad and I am sure that feeling will never go away. If your Dad is still alive, do me a favor and give your Dad a hug and tell him you love him. As I put on the bottom of my website, God is Good, all the time. Today is a Gift, that is why we call it the present, so treat today as if it were your last. We are not promised tomorrow, so do it before it is too late. God bless and thanks again for your kind words.
Sincerely Larry Lappe (Gerald Lappe's son).
(Below are emails I have received since I put together this website. Thanks so much for the kind words!)
No question here, just wanted to thank you for this web site and the story within. I know your dad was a great guy and I can only hope my son will have the same memories of me when the time comes. Good luck with your sale!
What a nice tribute to your dad. Be sure and hold onto some of the items that have memory for you with your dad. He would be very proud of this site.
Very good idea this web site. And an especially nice tribute to your father. Not a lot of his type left in this world sadly. Hope to be able to make it to the auction.
Enjoyed the tribute to your dad; it reminded me of losing mine.
Very good idea this web site. And an especially nice tribute to your father. Not a lot of his type left in this world sadly. Hope to be able to make it to the auction.
Hi, I just wanted to let you know that your tribute to your dad is very nice. Always sad to lose a loved one, especially one of your parents. I lost my dad when I was only 18 years old and still miss him very much even though it has been 35 years. The picture of your dad on the old motorcycle is really neat.
I have enjoyed looking at this site. It brought back some memories from many years ago. I hope to be able to come to the sale just to see you and say hello. I always admired your work ethic in basketball (both in and out of season) and after reading your comments about your dad, I now know where learned to work hard. I hope things go well on Saturday. Thanks for the memories.
Enjoyed the tribute to your dad; it reminded me of losing mine.
My father and have been looking for a on old Harley to restore together. Its important to us to have a cool back story such as this one. It reminds us of my grandfathers farm and his father.
I’m sorry to hear about your loss, your father had very good taste in motorcycles and I hope this bike can go to someone who will appreciate it.
You did a fantastic job with your internet publication. I was very impressed with your level of detail, best of luck with your sale. You were fortunate to grow up where you did, I grew up on a farm in Connecticut.
G'Day, looks a lovely property. I'm interested in your 1947 Harley. I'm happy to call you and discuss if you can provide me with a phone number.
Melbourne, Australia.
When you got the duplicate title did it have the previous owners name. I live by Guthrie center and my Grandfather sold his black harley 44 years ago to someone over in that area for 300.00 I was standing next to him when he sold it.
Aloha Larry,
I stumbled across your website and am interested in the '47 Knuck. I live in Honolulu, Hawaii.
I am sorry you lost your father. He sounds like he was an great, great guy.
Thank you for your time,
Hello, Sorry about your father. My dad passed away just a few months ago as well from a short battle with leukemia.
Sorry to hear about your loss, it's gotta be tough. Keep your chin up... i'm sure he's quite proud of you. :)
Sincerely Larry Lappe (Gerald Lappe's son).
(Below are emails I have received since I put together this website. Thanks so much for the kind words!)
No question here, just wanted to thank you for this web site and the story within. I know your dad was a great guy and I can only hope my son will have the same memories of me when the time comes. Good luck with your sale!
What a nice tribute to your dad. Be sure and hold onto some of the items that have memory for you with your dad. He would be very proud of this site.
Very good idea this web site. And an especially nice tribute to your father. Not a lot of his type left in this world sadly. Hope to be able to make it to the auction.
Enjoyed the tribute to your dad; it reminded me of losing mine.
Very good idea this web site. And an especially nice tribute to your father. Not a lot of his type left in this world sadly. Hope to be able to make it to the auction.
Hi, I just wanted to let you know that your tribute to your dad is very nice. Always sad to lose a loved one, especially one of your parents. I lost my dad when I was only 18 years old and still miss him very much even though it has been 35 years. The picture of your dad on the old motorcycle is really neat.
I have enjoyed looking at this site. It brought back some memories from many years ago. I hope to be able to come to the sale just to see you and say hello. I always admired your work ethic in basketball (both in and out of season) and after reading your comments about your dad, I now know where learned to work hard. I hope things go well on Saturday. Thanks for the memories.
Enjoyed the tribute to your dad; it reminded me of losing mine.
My father and have been looking for a on old Harley to restore together. Its important to us to have a cool back story such as this one. It reminds us of my grandfathers farm and his father.
I’m sorry to hear about your loss, your father had very good taste in motorcycles and I hope this bike can go to someone who will appreciate it.
You did a fantastic job with your internet publication. I was very impressed with your level of detail, best of luck with your sale. You were fortunate to grow up where you did, I grew up on a farm in Connecticut.
G'Day, looks a lovely property. I'm interested in your 1947 Harley. I'm happy to call you and discuss if you can provide me with a phone number.
Melbourne, Australia.
When you got the duplicate title did it have the previous owners name. I live by Guthrie center and my Grandfather sold his black harley 44 years ago to someone over in that area for 300.00 I was standing next to him when he sold it.
Aloha Larry,
I stumbled across your website and am interested in the '47 Knuck. I live in Honolulu, Hawaii.
I am sorry you lost your father. He sounds like he was an great, great guy.
Thank you for your time,
Hello, Sorry about your father. My dad passed away just a few months ago as well from a short battle with leukemia.
Sorry to hear about your loss, it's gotta be tough. Keep your chin up... i'm sure he's quite proud of you. :)
Now that the Lappe farm machinery and household sale is over, I would like to send out a Special Thank You to Judy Broich, Dee Simons, Greg Schmidt, John Jenson, Brent Konradi, Tim and Tamy Galbraith, Frank Lappe, Jason Reed, Drew Williams, Mark and Randy Venteicher and my hot trophy wife Julie and my kids for all their help in preparing for this sale. A Very Special THANK YOU goes out to Louis J Holste and his lovely wife Rose for all their help and support these past few months, especially for the coffee which helped keep me going down on the farm those long hard weekends, they will have no idea how much they helped me out physically and emotionally preparing for the sale. Louis J and Rose are a true example of what great neighbors are. Thanks to Susan McMorran and her daughter Megan for taking pictures during the sale. It was a lot of work and many complained and said it could not be done but we proved them wrong. Now we can relax and enjoy the rest of the summer and especially the upcoming 4th of July! Many of you don't know me personally, but I will be relaxing this weekend resting in my recliner with nothing but my cowboy boots on and wearing my sisters big girl bloomers which she forgot to wear these past few months like she had promised me. (pictures coming soon.) Lol. I am just so thankful the sale is finally over.
Thanks for all the kind words regarding what a transformation of my Dad's salvage area and equipment around the farm looks like with all the trees cut down and removed and how the equipment lined up around the farm looked great. It was a lot of hard work and I think I spent 3 full days cutting down trees, but I feel now the work paid off and even though the rain put a damper on the morning of the sale, we still had a great turnout and overall a great sale so thanks to Mark and Tim the auctioneers and their team at the Massena Livestock Sales, they did an awesome job.
I put this website together to promote the farm sale since my Dad had so many items ranging from tractors to plows to discs to steel wheels to potato plows and potato planters. But I was shocked when I checked the final numbers for the month of May and June when I had almost 6,000 visitors to this website in the two months I put this website together. Mark the auctioneer said people wanted to see pictures of what people are selling at an auction and I think by doing this really helped promote the farm machinery and household sale and that is why despite the rain we still had a great turnout and thus things sold really well. I even had a couple people come prior to the auction saying they saw an item in the background of one of the pictures that caught their eye, thus I am sure this helped increase awareness of the items being sold at the sale. My Dad would have been proud at the turnout of people once the storm moved on. Someone joked the reason for the storm and rain was to wash off all the dirt on some of the household items that did not get cleaned yet, it must have worked since the household items sold good.
Before I get to answer the question regarding how things sold, I would like to say thank you to all the people who filled out the contact form complimenting about the memorial page to my Dad. I have shared some of these with my close family and friends and your kind words have truly help me deal with the past 3 months preparing for this sale. It was a hard day this past Saturday seeing many of my folks household items, Dad's salvage yard and tractors and beloved Harley being sold, but your emails were truely amazing. When I get a chance I will update this website and post some of those comments and I will not include the persons last name to not embarrass anyone, but many of these touched my heart. God bless each and every one of you who send me emails saying such nice words about my Dad. The Lord blessed me with a great and wonderful Dad!
Now onto the questions many of you have emailed me on how did some of the top items sell. Dad's beloved 1947 Knucklehead Harley sold for $41,000 and went to a buyer from Bettendorf Iowa (hoping to get more details down the road regarding my Dad's Harley). Not sure if this was the same guy who purchased my early 80's Kawasaki for $250.00. Lol. The 49 Chevy pickup sold for $1,500.00. The potato planter sold for $225.00, the hit and miss John Deere engine sold for around $700. But besides the shocker hearing the Harley's selling price, I think I was more delighted when I heard the custom 4 wheel drive made from two F20 rear ends sold for $2,000.00 and thus did not go for scrap iron. A local gentleman purchased it and is planning on restoring it which that is what made my day and I know Dad was smiling from above when he heard the news. So all in all, it turned out to be a good sale and with iron prices up Dad's beloved Salvage Yard sold very well. Thanks again for everyone who turned out and supported the Lappe farm sale.
Below are some pictures of some close friends and family members who got to sit on my Dad's 47 Harley. Not too many people can say they sat on a 64 year old Knucklehead Harley Davidson Motorcyle which sold for $41,000. We had the Harley out for people to sit on and take pictures the day before the sale and the previous weekends when I was down working on the farm, so if you didn't get a chance, too bad, don't blame me.
Thanks for all the kind words regarding what a transformation of my Dad's salvage area and equipment around the farm looks like with all the trees cut down and removed and how the equipment lined up around the farm looked great. It was a lot of hard work and I think I spent 3 full days cutting down trees, but I feel now the work paid off and even though the rain put a damper on the morning of the sale, we still had a great turnout and overall a great sale so thanks to Mark and Tim the auctioneers and their team at the Massena Livestock Sales, they did an awesome job.
I put this website together to promote the farm sale since my Dad had so many items ranging from tractors to plows to discs to steel wheels to potato plows and potato planters. But I was shocked when I checked the final numbers for the month of May and June when I had almost 6,000 visitors to this website in the two months I put this website together. Mark the auctioneer said people wanted to see pictures of what people are selling at an auction and I think by doing this really helped promote the farm machinery and household sale and that is why despite the rain we still had a great turnout and thus things sold really well. I even had a couple people come prior to the auction saying they saw an item in the background of one of the pictures that caught their eye, thus I am sure this helped increase awareness of the items being sold at the sale. My Dad would have been proud at the turnout of people once the storm moved on. Someone joked the reason for the storm and rain was to wash off all the dirt on some of the household items that did not get cleaned yet, it must have worked since the household items sold good.
Before I get to answer the question regarding how things sold, I would like to say thank you to all the people who filled out the contact form complimenting about the memorial page to my Dad. I have shared some of these with my close family and friends and your kind words have truly help me deal with the past 3 months preparing for this sale. It was a hard day this past Saturday seeing many of my folks household items, Dad's salvage yard and tractors and beloved Harley being sold, but your emails were truely amazing. When I get a chance I will update this website and post some of those comments and I will not include the persons last name to not embarrass anyone, but many of these touched my heart. God bless each and every one of you who send me emails saying such nice words about my Dad. The Lord blessed me with a great and wonderful Dad!
Now onto the questions many of you have emailed me on how did some of the top items sell. Dad's beloved 1947 Knucklehead Harley sold for $41,000 and went to a buyer from Bettendorf Iowa (hoping to get more details down the road regarding my Dad's Harley). Not sure if this was the same guy who purchased my early 80's Kawasaki for $250.00. Lol. The 49 Chevy pickup sold for $1,500.00. The potato planter sold for $225.00, the hit and miss John Deere engine sold for around $700. But besides the shocker hearing the Harley's selling price, I think I was more delighted when I heard the custom 4 wheel drive made from two F20 rear ends sold for $2,000.00 and thus did not go for scrap iron. A local gentleman purchased it and is planning on restoring it which that is what made my day and I know Dad was smiling from above when he heard the news. So all in all, it turned out to be a good sale and with iron prices up Dad's beloved Salvage Yard sold very well. Thanks again for everyone who turned out and supported the Lappe farm sale.
Below are some pictures of some close friends and family members who got to sit on my Dad's 47 Harley. Not too many people can say they sat on a 64 year old Knucklehead Harley Davidson Motorcyle which sold for $41,000. We had the Harley out for people to sit on and take pictures the day before the sale and the previous weekends when I was down working on the farm, so if you didn't get a chance, too bad, don't blame me.
