Old friends reconnect at Farm Progress Show

DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) — For a lot of visitors, the Farm Progress Show is a great opportunity to connect. But for these two friends, it was also a great opportunity to reconnect.

Over 20 years ago, Christo Viljoen traveled from his home in South Africa to study agriculture at the University of Illinois.

"I stayed in an ag fraternity, and all the guys from neighboring farms in Illinois, I had the opportunity every weekend to go home to the other guys' farm, and meet these people, meet these parents, and that's something that's very special," said Viljoen.

David Vaughan was among the new friends that he made.

"The first time I met him, it was January, and he'd never seen snow before. We had a horrible snowstorm. Typical central Illinois snowstorm, and all he had on was a light-weight Illinois jacket. So that was my first memory of him," said Vaughan. "So I traveled to South Africa in 2003, spent ten days with him there. He came here in 2006 to see me and some other guys. But it's been 17 years since I've seen him."

The friends were able to reunite at the Farm Progress Show this week. Viljoen now works for Syngenta and Vaughan works for Country Financial.

"It's so neat to see the connections that were made on the Champaign campus 20 years ago," said Vaughan. "That's the power of social media to bring us all together."