Woodworker turns his attention to tractors

Finding himself with extra time during the pandemic, Marv Heller decided to put his woodworking skills to use in a new way: building model tractors. 

Not just any tractors, though: Replicas of specific John Deere models that his late brothers collected and are now owned by his nephews and nieces, created as gifts for them.  

“I’m self-taught and I had a poor teacher,” Marv said with a chuckle. “But I just like working with wood. I blame it on my great-grandfather. He was a carpenter and he built altars and things for churches and things like that. I’m a tinkerer.”

Marv’s building skills go far beyond that assessment. He helped construct more than 100 homes with Habitat for Humanity and went to Louisiana 13 times to help people rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. As a member of the Kiwanis Club and Nazareth Lutheran Church, he built shelters in several local parks and recreational areas. His community service resulted in an Eight over 80 award from Courier Communications this past summer. 

Since moving to a villa in July 2023, Marv primarily “tinkers” out of a smaller space in his garage and at the Rownd Barn. “It’s a good resource for those residents who want to continue in woodworking. It’s really a blessing,” he says.  

Marv completed about 17 tractor models, not all the same, using a base template designed from memory, research and pictures. More recently, he’s made a combine that has a crank for moving parts and a couple of threshing machines, one of which he recently showed off at a villa coffee.  

For Marv, woodworking is hobby; his career included time as a teacher and principal before 27 years as a professor of education at UNI. 

“I’m old enough that I grew up when there was a blacksmith shop and we had to make stuff,” he explains. “But wood is more forgiving. If you do something wrong, you just start another one.”

It will be fun to see what Marv starts next.