2024 Hometown HEROES Magazine LINCOLN DAILY NEWS June/July 2024 Page 13 By Matt Boutcher Vince Long. His name is one that you may be familiar with, but it may be just as likely that you’re not. This can be attributed to all the behind the scenes work that Long has done for the Lincoln community. Long never seeks recognition for his work, which is likely why his name was submitted for Lincoln Daily News’s Hometown Heroes magazine this year. Long is fiercely dedicated to volunteer work both for veterans in the community as well as the community at large. Much of this volunteer work he has provided through several of the veterans’ organizations in Lincoln, such as the American Legion Post 263 and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). It is for these reasons, as well as Long’s heart for service, that he is being featured as one of our Hometown Heroes for 2024. Long moved to the Lincoln area with his family when he was in the seventh grade. He continued his schooling at Chester-East Lincoln School. He was raised on a farm, and this is where he gained his interest in antique tractors. Long shared that he got to operate a small tractor when his father worked at a grain elevator when he was a kid. That sparked an interest in him that he still has to this day. Long has several antique tractors in his possession today, including two 20-30 Fergusons and a 1944 Case SC, among others. Long was also raised with an interest in gardening, another interest that has followed him into his adult life. In 2006, he began taking the courses to become a Master Gardener and a Master Naturalist. Long learned a lot in these classes. “I thought I knew a lot about gardening, but I didn’t know anything at all,” he shared. Long used the knowledge he gained from these classes to join the Logan County Master Gardeners (LCMG). It is through this organization that he provides even more volunteer service to the Lincoln community. In 1965, Long joined the Navy and served as a Fire Controlman, meaning that he controlled the radars on gun mounts. He also met politician John McCain in the service and has had the opportunity to meet him several more times in the years following both of their retirements from service. Long served until late July of 1968, and upon leaving the service, he joined the Lincoln VFW in 1969. The VFW is where Long met Jack Barrick, someone who would turn out to be a lifelong friend of his. Barrick also helped Long secure a job at Barrick Transfer, a company that, while they were eventually bought out, Long would spend over three decades working at. By the time Long retired, the company was then known as Consolidated Freightways.
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