Very cool story and I'm glad to hear people are tending to not scrap them. Though I did save a Singer 15 from a scrapper last year. He also had the sense to pull it and list it on CL rather than shred it. But, someone did turn it in just for that purpose:< It's a lovely machine too, absolutely nothing wrong other than the typical bobbin winder needing a spring...
Sounds like a fun afternoon.