Vedick A. Erickson, 89, a 43-year employee of the former International Harvester Co. who helped to develop a breakthrough in planting equipment, died Friday, June 21, in the Community Convalescent Home in Naperville of complications from a urinary tract infection.
He was born and raised in Chicago. Mr. Erickson was age 12 when his family moved to Kalamazoo, Mich. He attended Kalamazoo Central High School and Western State Teachers College (now Western Michigan University), also in Kalamazoo. But because of the Depression, he was forced to drop out of school.
He returned to the Chicago area determined to attend what is today the Illinois Institute of Technology. He worked in the steel mills by day and took courses at by night. In 1935, he was hired by Chicago-based Harvester, although he continued his studies and received his bachelor’s degree from the institute in 1939.
He met his future wife, Hilda, who died in 1981, at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. The two married in 1940.
Mr. Erickson soon was transferred to Harvester’s plant in Richmond, Ind. In 1957, the couple and their five children moved to Naperville when he went to work at Harvester’s engineering facility in Hinsdale.
As chief engineer, Mr. Erickson helped to develop a planting device called the Cyclo Planter that greatly increased the efficiency of planting grains.
“It really revolutionized planting grains from previous technology,” his son, Rich, said.
After Harvester sold a shipment of the devices to the Hungarian government, Mr. Erickson made several trips to that country to help its collective farms set up the machines, his son said.
Mr. Erickson retired from Harvester (today called Navistar International) in 1978.
In his retirement, Mr. Erickson traveled to Alaska as well Africa, and Sweden.
He was a deacon at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Naperville. He was a master gardener who volunteered at Cantigny Park in Wheaton. He also kept the books for a business run by one of his daughters.
His son said Mr. Erickson never missed his children’s or grandchildren’s activities.
“He had a humble and quiet spirit. He was our patriarch, and he was proud of his family, that we were a strong family who all cared for each other,” his son said.
Other survivors include three daughters, Lynn St. John, Lauren Ballard and Leslie Johnson, and seven grandchildren.
A visitation will be held from 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday in Friedrich-Jones Funeral Home, 44 S. Mill St., Naperville. Services will be held at 4 p.m. Wednesday in Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, 815 S. Washington St., Naperville.
