Ethan Age 14 Anson, Maine "I wish to go to a John Deere factory."

Fourteen-year-old Ethan has collected model tractors since he received his first scale replica of a John Deere tractor at the age of two. His collection has since grown to well over 100 tractors and implements. He and his family live in Anson near a red deer farm and a dairy farm. Both operations use John Deere equipment, and Ethan watches as each and every tractor drives by his house. He and his father are even restoring a full-scale John Deere tractor, and the John Deere reading materials that Ethan has collected are part of his home-schooling math, social studies, and history lessons.

In fact, when his wishgranters first visited Ethan, he gave them a history lesson of John Deere and showed them a map of factory locations. His wish was to visit one of those factories, and maybe even operate a big tractor.

In November, 2003, Ethan and his family toured a Harvester facility in Iowa and a John Deere tractor assembly factory in Illinois. And yes, Ethan, who lives with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, got to drive a tractor. In fact, he spent an afternoon at "Happy" Whitty's farm, where he got to explore all that's involved in maintaining a working farm. Ethan assures us that one day he'll have a farm of his own.

Wish Granters:  Jeanette Rowell, Faye Rodrigue

Wishmaker®:  Sunday River