October 19, 2021

When most of us think of inheritance, a few scenarios come to mind – like taking over the family business, receiving grandmother’s antique china or an uncle’s restored 1966 Mustang. Paul Crilley inherited from his father thousands of pieces of farming items. But they didn’t come with a large expanse of land for storage… because fortunately for Paul, much of this extensive collection is made up of miniature farm toys..

“I’m the executor of my father’s estate and I have the task of disseminating 20,000-plus model toy tractors, more than 8,000 milk/dairy bottles, about 500 farming and tractor metal signs, 49 real tractors and enough farm literature to start a local library,” said Paul, an advanced distribution instructor at Penelec’s Erie facility.

Paul predicts it could take about five years and extensive travel to properly follow the wishes his father – Raymond – had for the collection. As Paul reminisced, his dad was quite the collector. He’s been featured on local TV news and in national and international toy collector publications.

The miniature tractor display takes up the entire basement of Paul’s childhood home.

“Model farm toys have always been a part of my life. While growing up, every room in our house displayed the miniatures. In fact, nearly every family trip centered around the hobby in one way or another,” he said.

In addition to collecting the miniatures, Paul’s father published nine books on the hobby and was the second inductee into the National Farm Toy Museum’s Hall of Fame in Dyersville, Iowa. Paul said his father’s strong passion for the hobby – as well as for life itself – has been a huge influence on how he approaches life.

“At the age of 15, Dad lost his left arm in a car accident – but that didn’t stop him. He went on to Penn State where he received a degree in Vocational Agriculture Education. He was a teacher for nearly 21 years, even throughout summers when he worked with students in the Future Farmers of America (FFA) program,” he said. “During those summers, I was his assistant and helped with the projects. He did it while also running our farm and raising us six kids. He taught me the importance of seeing things through and making the world a better place.”

The Red Room (12’x50′) displays miniatures in shades of red, along with a 1/16 scale model of a dairy farm crafted by Paul and his father.

As a 31-year employee in Energy Delivery’s Workforce Development – Emergency Preparedness group, Paul is still influenced by his father’s work ethic today.

“I’ve spent my career operating, troubleshooting, fixing and teaching. I didn’t build FirstEnergy’s power plants, distribution or transmission systems or its workforce, but I’ve had the privilege of helping to make them and those who ran them, better,” he said. “Now I have the privilege of doing the same for Dad’s collection through assessment and research to ensure the pieces are distributed to new collectors with similar passions for farm toys.”

Paul also lives this way outside of work. For example, he recently came to the aid of a friend who had a major stroke.. “I couldn’t fix his medical condition, but I could help him by repairing a diesel-generator he needed for free,” he said.

Paul’s advice to employees?

“With any activity you choose, do it with unwavering passion. Most of all, never stop collecting fond memories every day! Also, spend time with loved ones – you’ll never get a chance to replace that.”

Raymond Crilley’s plaque (upper left) in the National Farm Toy Museum’s Hall of Fame.