“To honour this enormous gift we invited the sister of Gilbert Vust, Alice, out to the Museum to say a few words about her brother and what the Museum meant to him,” said Museum executive director Madison Connolly. “It would be nice to start an endowment fund to help us out long term, but in terms of right away, the idea was to get LED lighting in both galleries so we can see more of the equipment. This time of year it gets pretty dark inside the buildings.”

Gilbert Vust was a farmer of various grains, and an avid fan of Allis-Chalmers equipment, who lived in Portage la Prairie for over 65 years after moving from Iowa with family in 1947. Sister Alice says most of the family remained here ever since the initial move.

“Gilbert was an Allis-Chalmers farm equipment fan,” said Vust. “He was very loyal to the brand. He was a single man with no children to leave his collection to, and when he retired he spent more time restoring the equipment as well. With no one to leave it to, he figured it would be great to store them here.”

Connolly says she will still have to go through the board to find out exactly how the money will be utilized, as there are a couple of ideas floating around.

“I am currently hoping for a community mural put up to commemorate Gilbert and to have local organizations to take part and to think about what agriculture means to them,” added Connolly. “There was a bit of a water break last spring some drywall was damaged. This past fall we’ve had the whole ceiling re-mudded, taped and painted, as well as the back wall and the men’s washroom.”

Vust can’t remember exactly when her brother’s collection was integrated into the Museum but feels it was around the turn of the century.

“2004 was the gathering of the orange, which is an international show for the equipment and a lot of people came out to see Gilbert’s collection here in Portage,” added Vust. “On top of the equipment, he also donated a big portion of his inheritance to something he was very passionate about.”

Gilbert Vust’s collection will live on at the Fort la Reine Museum in Portage la Prairie.

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