MURPHYSBORO, Ill. (AP) – As many as two dozen farmers helped harvest the southern Illinois soybean fields belonging to a farmer who died this summer after he was trapped under an antique tractor.
Forty-year-old Ben Arbeiter of Murphysboro died in the Aug. 6 accident. This week 17 farmers drove combine harvesters and auger carts to harvest Arbeiter’s crop. Another 11 farmers took the soybeans to the grain operator. Arbeiter’s sister, Alinda Heron, said the work would have taken her brother and father six weeks to finish.
Mike Imhoff was the best man at Arbeiter’s wedding. Imhoff said Arbeiter “would have done the same thing for my family that I’m doing for his.” Ben’s father, David, called it “one of the greatest days of my life