Son’s annual labor of love
What started as an expression of grief at the loss of his father 14 years ago has turned into a son’s annual labor of love.
When Ed Hartman’s father, Edmund Sr., died June 14, 2002, at the age of 60, the Scenery Hill resident used a tractor to mow the word “DAD” into a hillside field behind the family’s working farm on Spring Valley Road.
The message, more than 60 feet long and 60 feet wide, is visible to motorists driving along Route 40 during the summer months.
“It was kind of a spontaneous thing. I was mourning the loss of my dad. We were very close. Every time I go over there and cut it, I think about him, I think about our memories, about our hunting trips and us working together,” said Hartman. “He was my best friend.”
Hartman’s brother, Mike, oversaw the initial cutting. He stood on the opposite field carrying a walkie-talkie and directed Hartman how far to mow and which direction to turn.
“He made sure the letters didn’t get too fat and that it all looked uniform,” said Hartman.
Hartman worked with his father at Hartman Construction, the company founded by the elder Hartman, and Hartman became owner after his father’s death.
The grassy tribute has resonated with others who have grappled with their own losses, and visitors shopping in Scenery Hill occasionally ask shop owners about the history of the message, or snap a picture of it.
Hartman recalled an encounter his cousin, Mark Heirendt, had with a stranger whom he found sitting at a picnic table on the farm.
The woman, whom Hartman had never met, handed Heirendt a brown envelope and asked if he would give it to Hartman.
Inside was a photograph of the woman’s father.
The woman told Heirendt she and her father took a leisurely drive to Uniontown every autumn to see the leaves change color, and one day the pair stopped along Route 40, where she snapped a photograph of her father.
Her father died that night. Later, when the woman printed the picture, she was surprised to notice the field and the word “DAD” in the background.
“It was the last picture she took of him. She told my cousin it meant so much to her. I never met these people in my life, but she wanted me to have a copy of the picture,” said Hartman.
Hartman has no plans to quit mowing the field.
“I enjoy doing this. I don’t know when I’d end up quitting it,” said Hartman, whose trimming continues to help him exorcise his sadness and feel closer to his father. “It’s for my dad.”