The Simple Lives We Live
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The Simple Lives We Live
So God Made a Farmer | Don Hardy
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"You're living your grandparents' and your parents' dream." That's what Don Hardy's cousin told him from the combine, and it stuck. Don still farms the land his grandpa came to in 1930, in the same farmhouse built in 1909 outside Beach, ND. Listen for him driving Grandpa's Chrysler Imperial in second grade, spotting Jean in the post office aisle, and the uncle who flew the Hump over the Himalayas in World War II.
Welcome to The Simple Lives We Live, where we capture the extraordinary stories hidden inside ordinary lives. I'm your host, Kylie Simiano, and each week we sit down to share memories of love, family, hardship, joy, and the moments that shaped us. If these stories mean something to you, you can help support the podcast by subscribing, leaving a review, sharing episodes with family and friends, or donating through the links in our website and social media bios. Your support helps keep these stories alive. Now, let's settle in and listen back together. All right, we're back for another episode. Today, my quote: a generous man rarely realizes how many lives he has touched. Now, I always tell people I actually find quotes that to me fit the person that I'm interviewing. So I thought that that was very fitting for you, whether you like that one or not. I don't know. But so my guest today, I have Don Hardy. So welcome.
SPEAKER_01It's good to be here.
SPEAKER_04Are you excited? Yes, yes. Okay, awesome. So the first question I ask everybody is how old are you?
SPEAKER_01Only 72.
SPEAKER_04Only 72. That's still a lot of life that you've lived in 72, and hopefully a lot more to come, right? So where were you born?
SPEAKER_01I was born in Beach, North Dakota.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01The Johnstone Memorial Hospital, a bush baby.
SPEAKER_04You were a bush baby.
SPEAKER_01I'm one of many.
SPEAKER_04Did he deliver everybody here in many, many? Okay. How many siblings do you have? Where do you fall in line? I want you to like list them.
SPEAKER_01Okay. I have uh uh four siblings, two sisters and two brothers.
SPEAKER_04Oh, perfect. Okay, what are their names?
SPEAKER_01And uh I'm the oldest. Uh my next in line is my sister Kathy, and then uh my brother Mike and then Shelly.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Wait, it's four. Is it though there's four kids?
SPEAKER_01Well, there's five kids, me, and then I have two sisters and two brothers.
SPEAKER_04So you, Kathy, Mike, Shelly?
SPEAKER_01John.
SPEAKER_04Oh, where's John?
SPEAKER_01Excuse me. Yeah, John. Yeah, yeah. John is right after Kathy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Maybe I missed that one. Okay. We got it. We got him. Okay. So you are the oldest. What was it like growing up as the oldest?
SPEAKER_01You know, I kind of think your parents are trying to make an example out of you to uh so the other ones, you know.
SPEAKER_04Yeah?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so maybe, but other than that, I mean, nothing special about it.
SPEAKER_04Did you feel like you were, I don't want to say, well, probably held to a higher standard, or you know, because there's they're learning too. Not really. With the oldest.
SPEAKER_01I don't think so.
SPEAKER_04They were pretty good, pretty fair.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Good parents. Yep.
SPEAKER_04So who who were your parents?
SPEAKER_01Charlie and Vicky.
SPEAKER_04Charlie and Vicky. Okay. What were they like as parents? Describe them to me.
SPEAKER_01How would you describe them as um they're good parents? Um, we're our family's totally blessed to have our parents that we have had. And uh uh both of them are from around here.
SPEAKER_04Okay, both were born and raised. Yes. Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_01Yep, yep. Um, they are both the youngest of their families. My dad would be the youngest of 12.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01And then my mom would be the youngest of seven.
SPEAKER_04So big families. They both came from big families. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04So born and were they high school sweethearts?
SPEAKER_01Um, I believe, yes.
SPEAKER_04Yeah?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. I love those stories. Later in uh high school, yes. Okay. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Any specific memories that you would be willing to share about your parents?
SPEAKER_01Um, just how uh open they were uh at at the farm. It was kind of the family farm where lots of people have come and gone. And just how open they were to everybody that came by. Anybody that uh my siblings and I have always kind of joked about. I think they probably made enough coffee in there to float a battle battleship, you know. Well, we'd we'd kind of ran through the math one day and came up with a phenomenal number of 50 years of making three or four pots of coffee a day. But anyway, it our house was always an open an open place where lots of uh family came, lots of neighbors came, and uh uh neighbor and always had something to offer them.
SPEAKER_04Do you want coffee?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they were yeah, oh yeah. Everybody was off, you know, came in, you know, let's go have coffee or visit, and yeah, and uh and how my mom could uh just like uh magician put make up a meal for seven or eight or ten people, and uh you wouldn't even know she's doing it, but all of a sudden it's there, just like magic, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04So who was do you feel like either one of them was more the disciplinarian and one was more of the I'll call them nurture, but even though they're both, but do you know what I mean? Like sometimes some are really hard and the other ones, I don't want to say a pushover, but maybe.
SPEAKER_01Um, I would say, you know, our dad, um, you know, there was rules and different things that you were expected to do, and things you were not expecting, you know, not uh things that maybe you should know better to do. Yeah, yeah. And if you didn't, uh you might learn real fast.
SPEAKER_04Yes. And uh and uh just uh yeah, just easy going for the most part though, like your mom and everything.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. She's really easygoing and yeah, and uh very good.
SPEAKER_04Now, were they second generation on the farm? Or yes, they were okay. So you are a third generation on the farm.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Did you always grow up on the farm? Were you always or did you raise up in town?
SPEAKER_01No, we I grew up on the farm. You did grow up on the farm.
SPEAKER_04Okay, okay. Was there any time where you where they had a house in town, like during high school that you guys would stay at?
SPEAKER_01Or they they uh well, my my folks uh you know, I think they were in town for a year or two and then uh moved moved out there back onto the the home place, so to speak. The actual home place is east of Galva, and uh that was uh homesteaded by my grandpa back in 1906. Okay, and then in 1930 they moved up to this place five miles southwest of Beach. Okay, and my dad was two years old at that time, so he he lived in the same house from the time he was uh two years old until uh uh three or four years before he passed away.
SPEAKER_04Really?
SPEAKER_01Yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Did he up update it at all?
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, like over the years.
SPEAKER_04Did he ever expand onto it too add-on? Or was it pretty much the same size?
SPEAKER_01Um, probably the same size. Same size, yeah. You know, your traditional old two-story farmhouse. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04And that's where you guys live now?
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_04Is it in the same house or is it on the just the same land?
SPEAKER_01It's the same house. It is the same house. It was uh built in 1909 or 10.
SPEAKER_04Wow.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. We did a when we moved out, we did a a bunch of work and repair, yeah. Yeah, yeah, uh in that. But uh, it's been there a long time.
SPEAKER_04Wow. Is there anything that is original to it? Like, are do you have original, say, hardwood floors?
SPEAKER_00Uh they're all covered up. They are okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, some were great back in the day, and some definitely didn't supposedly it was one of the first houses in the county that had uh hot water heat. Oh from from way back uh in the day.
SPEAKER_04Interesting. Okay, so did that house always have electricity and water or not when it started?
SPEAKER_01Uh from my understanding, and I'm probably wrong on the dates on this, but I think the rural electric electrification thing kind of went in the in the mid to late 30s. Okay. So prior to that they had uh they had wind wind-powered 32 volt batteries that I believe they used. I've been told.
SPEAKER_04Oh. That's interesting.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I think a lot of places did that.
SPEAKER_04When did they get water then in in there?
SPEAKER_01Well, they always had well, well water, you know, okay, it was just water wells, yeah. Up until uh Southwest Water came into uh Golden Valley County.
SPEAKER_04So they were without you know, like running water.
SPEAKER_01Well, they always had running water. Oh, yeah. It always this house had full-blown plumbing in it.
SPEAKER_04Really? Even in like Yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Okay, yeah, it was kind of kind of unique in its in its time.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, oh, definitely, definitely. Because if you think about that far back, most are like, no, we didn't, we had the outhouse.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know, so yeah.
SPEAKER_04Um okay, so one of the boys, and I will just say this at the beginning that you guys have three sons. So when I'm talking about Thomas or Mark, we do have Michael in between there, but um, they came up with some questions for you too. So, or things that they wanted you to talk about. And one of them has said that you were really close to your grandpa and that he is the reason the Hardeys ended up out in this area. So, can you tell me more about how that came to be and maybe a little bit about your grandpa, what kind of a guy he was, what made him so special?
SPEAKER_01Well, um he uh came out here as a young man in probably 1904 or five, and then uh from Wisconsin, from the Appleton, Wisconsin area.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01And uh the generation before them, I think, came from well, they came from Ireland. Okay, and so he was one uh that came out here in uh, like I said, about 1904 or five, and then homesteaded in 1906. Okay. Uh about seven miles uh east of Galva, you know, south of Sentinel Butte. And at that time their address was Sentinel Butte. Back then, Sentinel Butte was the uh, I believe the county seat and the larger town in the in the county. And uh so then uh uh so I can't imagine coming out, homesteading, having this little shack, and then uh and then uh you know, all this kind of happened after the the railroad came came west. And that's what encouraged people to move move west and and and settle settle this area and lots of lots of areas. That's how it happened, is when the railroad came through. So he came out and uh you know did the homestead thing, and then uh probably a couple years later he married someone from his home area, and and she came out here. So I can't imagine getting off the train in Sentinel Butte and jumping on a horse and buggy and heading, you know. And I think it's about uh probably uh 15, 14, 15 mile ride out out there south of Sentinel Butte, and and to to come over the hill and come down and and uh Punny were home, yeah, out in the middle of nowhere, nowhere, you know. But there was lots of things going on. Uh people were settling the and then uh started a family of 12 kids, two sets of twins, two sets of twins, yeah, yeah, yeah. Two sets of twins with uh uh twin girls in the middle and ten boys. And uh they were a very very busy bunch of people. Um my uh aunts and uncles are all very unique personalities and in things.
SPEAKER_04So do you know how they how did they okay? So you have the mom and dad, you have your grandma and grandpa, and then you have these 12 quit kids, many of them boys. How many rooms was in that house? How did they how did from what I've been told? There were not big houses.
SPEAKER_01From what I've been told, there was uh two, maybe three bedrooms. The girls had their own, but I uh they had uh quite a few in, you know. But by the time uh like my dad came along, I mean he had brothers that were 16, 17 years old, yeah, close to being out of the house or me. Yep, yep. And uh so they were there um until uh 1930. Okay, so some of my aunts and uncles uh graduated from uh Galva high school. Okay, and then later, as they moved up here, they uh you know went to Beach High School. And uh my grandmother passed away very unexpectedly at age 65. And uh and then my my grandpa lived till he was uh about 80. 80. So then he actually lived at the farm with with my brothers and sisters, my dad, mom and dad. So I was the oldest kid, you know, so oldest child. So um he would kind of take me under his wing, so to speak. Like if he was going to town back then, going to town was a big deal, you know. Like here we'll go four, five, six, eight, six many times a day if we have to, or something going on. We don't think anything of it. But back then it was kind of like you know, you know, maybe once or twice a week or something. But but uh he was uh he was he was uh quite a character and and uh very proud of his family, and and uh he you know, some of the aunts and uncles moved uh as a lot of people did move to the west coast. And uh uh so he he uh he would travel back and forth a little bit.
SPEAKER_04Really to go see his to see his kids.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. So he did that.
SPEAKER_04Uh and uh how long then did he live on the in that house?
SPEAKER_01He was your dad. Dad was yeah, he passed away in uh 1964.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01So uh I was 10 years old then. I was 10 years old, so he was there, and uh like I said, he he would take me with him when he'd go to town and and uh we're kind of kind of buddies. Um as he got so I started to drive a little young. Okay, okay, yeah, oh you know, I I don't know why, but I just did, okay. And uh so um he he was getting older, and so I would we would leave the yard at the farm and we'd go down around the driveway where there's trees so nobody could see us, and then I would drive into town, and uh, and then we would stop south of town by the cemetery, and then he would drive. Okay, did that a number of times until my folks kind of realized what was going on, and uh and so then I would get in the yard and drive to we would come around the corner by the water tower and stop, and then we'd switch drivers there. And then then one day I remember him saying, Let's just keep going into town. So I was trying to parallel park in front of the barber shop, and I was in the second grade at that time. Oh my gosh, and uh he had this uh uh Chrysler Imperial car, which is super long, a boat, and and but it had a push-button transmission and it had an electric seat in it, and I could lift myself up and it had a big steering wheel, and I looked between the steering wheel and the dash, and that's where I could see. And uh, so that was going on. Well, then one day, for some reason, he was going to Billings, and he and I went along with him, okay. And uh, so I remember stopping down to visit an aunt in town before we left town. He he picked me up at school in the second grade. I remember that. And when we got going down the the road, I started driving on the highway between here and Billings as a as a second grader, which is crazy, but that's that's what that's what happened.
SPEAKER_04Doesn't it blow your mind too to think because you have now that you have grandkids to think in second grade that you were doing that? Like how was that? How did you reach the there's so many questions? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01But uh yeah, they uh it's just a you know large family, uh 56 or 7 cousins on the on one side and 30 30 some cousins on my mom's side.
SPEAKER_04So big family, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And uh at that time, uh when I was a kid, I mean there was four or five families here. Um, and we'd have you know, family get together a Sunday afternoon and there'd be cousins all over the place, you know. Just uh but uh as time goes on, um right now my cousin Gary and and uh her son Mark and and I are the only ones who are here that are are here, you know. But but that's uh you know, a lot of families are that way, and it just uh just over time that's kind of what what goes.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. I was telling Gene, it'd be nice if you guys just had the family compound. You know, everybody just stay up on piece of land, yeah. Yeah, so so what do you remember doing for fun as a kid?
SPEAKER_01As a kid, yeah. Just you didn't play on iPads, playing out outside. Uh we would just we had a little pony, you know.
SPEAKER_04You did have a little pony, okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we did. We had that. Um when we got uh a little older, we had uh my uncle Dick uh had a cabin out at Odlands Dam, so we'd kind of go out there on uh weekends and and uh that kind of then that was that would be the highlight of the summer, fun times at that at that time. There was lots of lots of cabins out there and a lot of families out there and and uh did you do more water sports or was it um fishing more a little bit of fishing, mostly boating and water skiing and that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, do you still water ski?
SPEAKER_01Uh yeah.
SPEAKER_04Do you really?
SPEAKER_01I haven't for a couple years, but uh but you still look up on the skis.
SPEAKER_04Oh, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'd go I'd go again right now. Yeah, I enjoyed it.
SPEAKER_04That's great. Yeah, what chores did you have growing up? Oh, we have because you mean you were out on the farm.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04So a lot of chores to help with.
SPEAKER_01We had uh cattle, we had some we had some cattle, we had uh some hogs, we had chickens, we uh um we just fixed stuff, took care of things, um just uh kept busy. Everybody's busy.
SPEAKER_04Was there one sibling that you were closer to than uh than the others that you tended to do a lot of things with?
SPEAKER_01Well, uh I would say um you know, really nothing special as far as one or the other. Uh we kind of all were kind of all hung together and did the same things, you know, depending on the age, you know, my my sister Shelly being the youngest one. Well, that was kind of you know, but uh yeah, going to high school and and uh Kathy was two years behind and and uh Jack was a year behind her. John, I should say, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's like am I totally did you guys call him that?
SPEAKER_01Um we grew up calling him Jack.
SPEAKER_04Okay, you did okay his real name is John.
SPEAKER_01Okay, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03A lot of people have nicknames, I'm finding out.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so yeah, and uh and there was a reason for that because uh I had another uh aunt and uncle that lived here that had a son, and uh they his name ended up being being John also, but my mom had already picked out that name, and then but uh anyway, so yeah, yeah, that's kind of how that shook out. But okay, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Um okay, so Thomas did mention that you had a lot of cousins. What was it like growing up around all of them? Did you guys do a lot of stuff together with the cousins around here? Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Some, you know, just uh, you know, maybe uh Christmas dinners, okay, New Year's, Thanksgiving, those kind of things. All those big like kind of maybe it maybe it's here this year, maybe it's there next year, and vice versa.
SPEAKER_04But that's a lot of cousins, though.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Now, school, because you were out on the farm. Did you go to school and beach? Did you guys go to a country school? What was school like for you growing up?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, uh came to beach.
SPEAKER_04Okay, yep, to the grade school. Old grade school? New grade school.
SPEAKER_01No, the the new grade school was opened the year I went, I started.
SPEAKER_04The year you started, okay. First class.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's exciting. So that was that was and uh uh my freshman year, I went to New England St. Mary's, freshman and high school.
SPEAKER_04And uh okay, so you you're here in Beach grade school, and you go through what grade?
SPEAKER_01Eighth grade.
SPEAKER_04Through eighth grade, oh, because grade school was through eighth grade back then.
SPEAKER_01Yes, okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_04So then you get to be a freshman and you go to New England?
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_04How did that happen? I guess like that's a ways away.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it is. Yeah, it is. Yep, yep. There were some other kids from the county that went there. Uh when I was an eighth grader, I I grew tall fast. So I I have not grown since I was in the eighth grade.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01So I was this tall, tall, I was a tall kid in the seventh and eighth grade. Played basketball and and uh they had a uh sports program, and I I really don't know the reason, but uh I think my folks encouraged me to go there and maybe maybe some other other siblings would go possibly. But uh one year was enough. It was uh it was a boarding board, you know, when you're it's a boarding thing, and uh um it just wasn't really for me.
SPEAKER_04I was gonna ask, so then you would who would would your dad drive you to New England on like there's another family here that I rode I rode with back and forth?
SPEAKER_01Okay, yeah, mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_04You'd go on like a Sunday night and then you'd come back Friday.
SPEAKER_01We'd go early early Monday morning. It was early Monday morning, early Monday morning, come back Friday.
SPEAKER_04Come back Friday, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So it was kind of weird in the spring in I was in track, and uh so I came home on Friday night, jumped in the Beach Bucks bus, and rode to another town for a track meet, but I had a different shirt on.
SPEAKER_04So you competed for New England as well then, yes, and you played basketball for them and that's just so I had no idea about that, so that's so different. Yeah, um how was that hard to be away from the family during the week and not seeing your parents every day and not helping out?
SPEAKER_01Very different, yeah, very different. Every every just about every minute of the day there is is line planned. It's it's uh you know, you get up at a certain time and just go to mass, go to school, and uh all freshmen and sophomores were required to go to uh PE and sports.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_01And uh uh good school, very, very good school, but uh it wasn't it really wasn't it was kind of hard actually, but uh yeah, but uh it I just wanted to be back here. This is this was home and with all your friends. Friends are here, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Friends are here and and uh is that something that did did you ever regret that, or did your parents ever regret that sending you there for that year? No, no, no, I don't think so.
SPEAKER_01No, okay, no, and I I don't I I don't regret it at all. I met a lot of new new new people. Um, and uh no, I don't I don't regret it at all. It was a it was a good experience. Yeah, it was a good experience.
SPEAKER_04Was it a bigger class there or was it a pretty small class compared to what you had in beach?
SPEAKER_01It was a good size class. It was good size, okay. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04So then you came back your sophomore year and finished out sophomore junior and senior.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_04And you played basketball, you did track for a couple years.
SPEAKER_00Football. I did football for four years. Football for four years. Okay.
SPEAKER_04Did you do all those your senior year, or was it just football that year? And then you were like, I'm done with everything else.
SPEAKER_01No, it was good.
SPEAKER_04So good experience. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01For our our class, the class of 1972.
SPEAKER_04Because I believe you graduated with my mom. Yes, okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and we had we had the largest class of at the time, so we always won the pep rallies because we were the loudest class. But uh but our our class ended up being uh uh you know, the larger class. But as time went on, we you know, of course, you go through the years and and uh you know at our at our 50th reunion is different. It's a lot different than your 10 or 20, you know, but but uh it's just good. We have uh we have a a couple of classmates that uh have gone out of their way to kind of hold our class together. So it's it's it's kind of neat. It's really nice. Yeah, yeah, it is, it's very nice.
SPEAKER_04And uh yeah, so that's so any when you were in school, say grade school, high school, what were some of your favorite subjects? What were you really into when it came to school and studies? Or if you maybe you weren't you were smart. Were you not valedictorian?
SPEAKER_01No, no, no, heavens no.
SPEAKER_04Oh god, no, I was wrong.
SPEAKER_01No, no, no, I think that well, thanks for thinking that then no, no, I was uh no, I was not.
SPEAKER_00I uh let me just let me just put me just put it this way.
SPEAKER_01I I I should have and applied myself better.
SPEAKER_04A lot of people have said that for some things, but but do you think that by applying yourself more you may have missed out on some of the fun things that made you enjoy high school?
SPEAKER_03I don't know.
SPEAKER_01No, I uh there's no shortage of fun things. Okay, death. But uh I was just naive when uh, for example, English class. So I can speak English well. I don't I don't need to be studying all this stuff, you know. So then you uh you go to college and you have to write papers, and that's where the hammer, I mean you just that's when you oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_04I I probably should have paid more attention. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, exactly. So you know, when you're trying to put a sentence together and you know, you you can so what were your the subjects that you enjoyed?
SPEAKER_04In uh high school or yeah, yeah. I I enjoyed, I mean maybe you didn't have one.
SPEAKER_01Not necessarily, no. It was the whole the whole thing. Yeah, yeah, the whole thing.
SPEAKER_04Any any special teachers that you re that you recall that you would really enjoyed that you had? Grade school or high school?
SPEAKER_01You know, there was lots of lots of really really good ones. And uh, you know, of course, your first grade teacher uh uh was Mary, Mrs. Mary Miller. A lot of people have her. Yeah, she was an excellent teacher, uh, and lots lots in between. Um one that stands out though, and she was just a great a great person was uh Charlotte Cohen. And she was an English English teacher, and she she uh kind of organized a prom. And uh she had a way with kids uh that uh she would line, you know, of course the juniors lined up prom up, but she would help. But she she tried to get people, you know, why don't you why don't you ask so and so to go? Why don't you you know yeah, kind of kind of kind of did the whole thing, you know?
SPEAKER_03Carrying them off a little bit, yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's a very nice lady, and you know, we just we had lots of nice teachers.
SPEAKER_03Is Charlotte Cohen is that Brian's mom? Was that Brian's mom?
SPEAKER_01Grandmother.
SPEAKER_03Oh grandma, okay which Brian?
SPEAKER_01Oh Brian, it'd be Brian and Janet. I was thinking the older one, so then older one's mom. Right. Yes, oh my gosh, I forgot. Yeah, nice, nice folks and lots of lots of good teachers. Yeah, just blessed. I being married to a teacher, I well, I uh have a whole new appreciation of teachers.
SPEAKER_04At first, when you said, well, of course, the first grade teacher, I was thinking you were talking about your wife at first because she was my first grade teacher. Um what were Christmases like for you growing up? You said big family, so you had you never necessarily spent Christmas at your house necessarily. It might have been different family around, or how did you do that?
SPEAKER_01Most were spent at our house. I mean, okay, you know, we're always home, home for Christmas. Um, and then maybe Christmas Day you shared a dinner with some other relatives or something. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Did you do did you do the big uh celebration more Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?
SPEAKER_01Used to be Christmas Eve.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yep. And then after uh Christmas Eve Mass, there'd be a little get together. But but that didn't last that long. It just got to be too hard. It's just you know, too late at night.
SPEAKER_04And yeah, you know, so it uh so were you guys a midnight mass? Did you go to midnight mass on Christmas East? A few times. A few times. Okay. So did you open gifts Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?
SPEAKER_01Some Christmas Eve, and then Santa Claus would come overnight.
SPEAKER_04So you did still get to Santa good to you? Yes. Any any particular gifts that you remember getting that stand out to you?
SPEAKER_01Not so much. Uh I would say uh maybe a BB gun back in the time when you're a little kid and you get you get you get this. Is my BB gun. You know, that would be a kind of a big deal.
SPEAKER_04Yes, like a red rider where you put the you put the little beanies in.
SPEAKER_01A daisy.
SPEAKER_04Oh, there you go.
SPEAKER_01A daisy, yeah.
SPEAKER_04How about birthdays? Were birthdays a big thing in your family, or were they like, here's a cake, or maybe not a big case?
SPEAKER_01We always we always had a birthday cake. Okay. And uh maybe some friends over. Yeah. Yeah, we always always celebrated birthdays.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, nice. Um what were summers like for you as a kid? Was it more work because you were out on the farm, or were summers you weren't in town for the summers, you were out on the farm, right? So it was a lot of time with your siblings.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Working? Yes, yeah. Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_04What were some of the chores that you hated?
SPEAKER_01Uh cleaning out barns. I still think that would be most people's like that was uh before there were no uh skid steer loaders, it was uh it was a pitchforker to shovel. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04So that would be I'm gonna I'm gonna ask probably a really stupid question, but I don't know. Okay, did you have the big shop bags back then? Because when I was out on the farm, vacuuming the quant the grain bins or even the quantit with mice, I'd be like, suck the hose to them. Did you always have did you you didn't have a big shop back back then, did you? Or did you? Um I hated those grain bins.
SPEAKER_01That's part of the deal. I'm glad to hear you clean grain bins. I that's that's uh that's a good one on your resume. That no, no, it uh yeah, lots of lots of that. I mean, that's just part of the you know, it's mostly a grain farm, you know. So there's grain bins, and and they all get cleaned every year, sometimes more of the ones. Yeah, oh yeah, just part of the part of the process.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, but you didn't mind that so much. It was the it was the barn.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04None of it was really fun, though.
SPEAKER_01Uh you know, you just it's a chore and you do it and you make it fun, and or you try and you do it. You just do it. You know, it's a lot of like a lot of stuff on a with anything. You uh something needs to be done and you just do it.
SPEAKER_04Did you all help out pretty equally? Or you being the oldest, mate were the chores different then?
SPEAKER_01Not really.
SPEAKER_04Not really.
SPEAKER_01I don't think we had uh livestock later on. Not so much, but uh did your mom do a garden? Yeah, she did.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, a lot of canning and stuff, and yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. Did the girls help out more with that, or did the boys also help out you and your brother?
SPEAKER_01Uh the girls definitely did. More of that garden. And uh there was uh a family friend, neighbor lady that would share a garden with with my mom and and that. Oh, yeah. So they had uh so they would have a they had a big garden. It's really really a big garden.
SPEAKER_04Well, a lot of people canning was so big. That's how you had fresh well.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yeah, that was an annual, that was pretty much an annual event.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. Did did your mom do a bunch of salsa or was she known for any particular because there's a lot of things they made back then or canned back then that I okra or asparagus? Did they can all that? Peaches, okay, yeah. Yeah, peaches. Interesting. Did you guys also can your meat?
SPEAKER_01No. No, not not so much.
SPEAKER_04Were you a hunter?
SPEAKER_01Some.
SPEAKER_04Some. Okay. What what would you hunt?
SPEAKER_01Pheasants, deer.
SPEAKER_04All of it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01But I I actually I never got an appreciation for eating wild game. So I and I always felt if you hunt you should you should you should you should eat it, you know. So I never never really gained a big appreciation for that. For that I never never craved well game, and and my my mom didn't really care to, you know, some.
SPEAKER_04Was your dad a hunter?
SPEAKER_01Some.
SPEAKER_04Some.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we we were okay. Yeah, we were we're not big hunters by no means, but uh everybody, everybody did some.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. And not big fishermen necessarily either.
SPEAKER_01No.
SPEAKER_04No.
SPEAKER_01No. I mean, we go out to Islands Dam and Yeah, you guys did the water sports. Try fishing, and you know, maybe sometimes you catch something, sometimes you might not.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Oh, that's interesting. I thought you were a big I thought you were be more into hunting. Not so much.
SPEAKER_01I was, but I mean, I just got I just got spoiled. I just assumed. Yeah, I got spoiled with too many good cheeseburgers.
SPEAKER_04They are good.
SPEAKER_01I like uh I like watching the animals and I love watching pheasants, and that's nice where where I live. I see them every day.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. And they get to live. Did you take many vacations growing up? I always feel like that's a hard one for farmers because it is hard to plan a vacation because if it's nice, you're on the field.
SPEAKER_01It is. We it seemed like we always took one in the summer, summertime.
SPEAKER_04Where would it be?
SPEAKER_01Uh, the first one I remember would be to the Black Hills.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01And so there'd be seven people in a car heading to the Black Hills.
SPEAKER_04Was there room for seven people? Did you have a station wagon or what did you say?
SPEAKER_01No, it was just a four-door sedan. But uh, as time went on, of course, a lot of people had station wagons, and we did too. We did too.
SPEAKER_03Any air conditioning?
SPEAKER_01The first station wagon we had did not have air conditioning. Yep.
SPEAKER_04Uh we uh we are way more spoiled now than we realize, even things like that that we take for granted.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Air conditioning on a road trip with the family.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yes, that's uh but yeah, we would we would go uh you know, a lot of times it might be to Minnesota or into Montana, uh visit relatives or go to uh Yellowstone Park or um we did your dad make that a big priority? A vacation in the summer, yes, yeah, even as a farmer, yes, yeah, yeah. That is impressive. We usually took like a four or five day, maybe six days, yeah, and just go go somewhere. And uh we went to uh uh uncle's in California and Washington. So we we got out there and uh uh I remember driving across the Golden Gate Bridge in a 67 Chevy station wagon when I was 14 years old.
SPEAKER_04So uh you were the one driving? Yes, you were the one driving.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Um well you've been driving since you were in second grade, so by that time, you know.
SPEAKER_01But yeah, no, we always did. We always had a and then uh later later on we got a little single axle camper. Oh very small, and uh, but there'd be seven of us in there, and and we had some good trips with that. We we would go to the state fair every now and then. So up at that might not, yeah. And then uh, you know, that was kind of an annual thing is to go go somewhere.
SPEAKER_04I don't did it ever drive your dad nuts if it was nice and he sh quote unquote should be in the field.
SPEAKER_01Well, I'm sure it was, but he but he never let it show. No, no, just kind of made it a point to go, yeah.
SPEAKER_04And uh and you really did get away then because right, we didn't have cell phones, so it's not like people were calling right or calling you and interrupting your vacation. And now, what were your ambitions or dreams when you were young? What was it that you wanted to be? Do you remember?
SPEAKER_01Um I uh was always interested in uh in business and uh farming, agriculture. Uh I've always had had an interest there.
SPEAKER_04So you kind of ended up doing what your passions were even when you were they didn't really change a whole lot.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. When I when I graduated from high school, I I thought maybe I should take a different path.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01And so when I went to uh NDSU, I enrolled in biology, zoology, chemistry, psychology, and I was in sciences for uh a couple years, two years. Wow, okay, and then uh there was this this one little class called biochem 390, and uh it was kind of a weed out class, and that I may have taken that. You probably did, but uh, but I I struggled with that, yeah. And and uh and I never knew what was available even as uh at that age, you don't know what's available, and so I uh transferred into the College of Agriculture and it was called uh egg economics at the time. Okay, and that's what I finished with with a degree in with egg economics.
SPEAKER_04So you did you go for four years? Yes, you did, and you were able to finish that four years and one quarter, four years and one quarter, because you're taking all those sciences to begin with.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, so it was good. Had a good experience. It ended up started out on the rocky side, but ended up on a on a really good side. I'm it was it was the right thing to do, and I enjoyed it, and I made lots of contacts then than I still have today.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, even sometimes when we're down the wrong path for a little while and then have to course correct a little bit. Yeah, those biochemistry classes, man, they'll get you.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_04So other than living in Beach and going to school at NDSU, have you lived anywhere else?
SPEAKER_01Uh my first job out of college was with uh John Deere Company, and they had a company store in Fargo and uh Barnesville, Minnesota, and I floated back and forth between those. Okay, and then uh wanted to get back to beach, and my dad would be you know way too young to retire or bring somebody in, and and so um I had uncles that were in this business before in the car business. And uh so I I approached the fellow that that had the uh uh Chevy and Buick dealership here, if he'd be interested in selling his business. And uh at the time he had he had mentioned that uh he hadn't really thought about it, but uh if he did, he would contact me. So two weeks later, um so when I was 24 years old, um I start started into that business.
SPEAKER_03I didn't know that about you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and uh we did that for uh and that would be in October of 1978.
SPEAKER_04That you bought. That business.
SPEAKER_01Yes. How long did you have a twenty twenty-four years old and uh nine years? Wow. Nine years. And uh so during those uh years I continued to learn way more than I thought I learned in college because uh there were some good years in there and there were some bad years, and then there were some really bad years. Uh when interest rates got to be 18 to 20, 21 percent interest. If you had any money borrowed, you were you're probably in trouble. You know, and uh anyway, but I did I was able to be there for nine years. Um really end the way you would want it to, but uh I I learned a lot and I uh I don't regret it, and and was able to move on from there.
SPEAKER_04So that was nine years. Did you have a lot of employees?
SPEAKER_01We had uh like five or six, probably.
SPEAKER_04Okay. And at the time, how many car dealerships were there in Beach?
SPEAKER_01Uh there was the the one I was at, there was Bringles, and there was Hammond Implement. They had they had and uh and Dakota Farm sold GMC pickups. So there was yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04It's crazy because we really have nothing now, right?
SPEAKER_01Exactly. And most towns have lost them. Yeah. Uh most small most small towns. Most small towns, even even some mid-sized towns.
SPEAKER_04It's just uh it's one of those things where it's a it's a volume, it's a volume thing, and and uh and that had to be super interesting to work in that because I mean you had the economics and the business classes, but like you said, once you get it's a different sometimes being in it is different than learning about it. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and it's always different than you think. Yeah, yeah. It's it's always but I did learn a lot about the business and uh some things that uh you should do and some and some things you shouldn't do.
SPEAKER_04But uh so you owned that for nine years. What did you do after that?
SPEAKER_01Started farming. That's when you started when I was able to get into to farming.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Was that when your dad was able to let you take over more or were you the employee for a while?
SPEAKER_01I had a brother that was already farming with him. Okay, her brother John, yeah. And uh I was able to get in in on it, and uh and then so uh I how long was John doing it for with you? Uh we farmed together for three years.
SPEAKER_04Three years, and then he left the operation.
SPEAKER_01Where did he go after that? We him and I kind of both decided that maybe that maybe it wasn't meant to be.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_01And and actually Gene and I kind of uh thought we would make a change. But uh, but John actually decided he wanted he would make he wanted to change the change. He wanted he wanted to make the change. So gosh. So that would be uh from 1987 until uh yeah, for three years that we worked together and and he was gone, had a had a great career with uh uh egg chemical business, and now the interesting thing is is that he was able to retire young, fairly young. And so he has come back uh the last 10 years in the spring and in the fall and help us on the farm.
SPEAKER_03Oh, neat.
SPEAKER_01So it's been it's been fun.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, he's actually here right now.
SPEAKER_01So oh, really helping with all that? Him and his wife, Gail. And she's all the CD originally from Weibo, so she has uh contacts that she can do here. So yeah, she can come and see family or whatever.
SPEAKER_04Okay, so it's kind of it's so you started farming and you've been farming ever since.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_04How has it grown? Can I ask that? How has it grown from when you started and kind of took over to what it is now? Because farms back then were a lot smaller, I feel like. And so a lot of farms kind of sold out to other bigger places, maybe not. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, it's uh huge transition. It's just a huge transition in the in the in the 80s, and then I in the that whole that seemed like that whole decade was was a big bump in the road for a lot of a lot of a lot of people. And and again, uh you know, the interest rates, the moisture conditions at the time, and and there were quite a few people that just decided for one reason or another to uh not do it anymore.
SPEAKER_04And yeah, so um because there's a lot of big operations or not a lot, there's a few big operations around here, is what I probably should say. There's a lot of people I feel like farming, or yeah, there yeah, it seems like a lot of them.
SPEAKER_01There's a few that uh just remain the same, and and okay, and that's you know, it's it's such farming is such a thing where you could have 10 farmers and have a farm and you might come up with 10 different ways of actually doing things. Yes, you know, that could that's just kind of the way it is. And if a person is able to and wants to do what you're doing and not change anything, that there's nothing there. That's there's nothing wrong with that, you know. I always felt it was a I always looked at it as a business more than a than a way of life, which it, you know, yeah. So oh, you know, and I guess uh as time has gone on, you know, just to be able to afford the machinery or or make it efficient to have it requires a certain number of acres, I guess would be one way to put it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And so you try and have a viable, viable operation that maybe, maybe someday one of your kids might be interested in taking it over. And that was kind of my thing.
SPEAKER_04Well, it is crazy. Um, me growing up on a farm, I still don't know a ton about farming. I will be completely honest, right? Because we I didn't live out there for too long. And um I for older brothers that were doing stuff, not necessarily me. But it's interesting when I hear now of like you were saying, just the cost of equipment, uh it blows my mind. But also, so how maybe it's changed of like you said, some people do things the same as they've kind of always done. Have you guys taken it and like grow different things than what you used to? Have you learned different things along the way and that's made you change how you do the operation or what you grow?
SPEAKER_01I don't like see all the above.
SPEAKER_04All the above.
SPEAKER_01No, no, it's it's uh it's been quite a transition. I guess when I was uh say even in high school, a lot of the farms were kind of the same. You grew wheat, barley, and smokes, you had a few cows and maybe some other livestock, and and that's just kind of what happened. Summer following, you know, where you idled ground for some time. Well, then the 80s came along, and then dry conditions, and uh and that's one thing about uh Golden Valley County was really a a pioneer in in no-till farming. Okay, and that started in that yeah, that that really did uh have a big big start in Golden Valley County. There was uh a few guys that uh tried it, and then there's a few more guys that tried it, and they're they were they're truly uh kind of pioneers in the in their day of a new new system of farming. So then so there was a big transition to no-till farming. Some people adapted quicker than others, and uh so that was less summer follow and more crops. So then it was kind of uh I don't know what you want to call it, but a lot of wheat. People grew wheat on wheat, and and then there were some disease issues with that. So that uh some people started looking at alternative crops that may break up the the disease cycle. So that's where kind of uh peas came into. I'd say they would be the first one, you know. So that'd be a broadleaf crop, and so that would break up the disease cycle, and you could grow a better crop of wheat the year after you had had your peas. So then lots of other crops came. Uh you know, uh canola, corn. It used to be maybe a lot of farms had a small field of corn that was for feed for their livestock.
SPEAKER_04And then they expanded that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and then so uh with the way the farming systems work out, you you can have uh wheat, it would be a cool season grass. You could have a broadleaf crop in there, whether it be uh peas, lentils, garbanzo beans, those kinds of things, canola, corn became a grain crop where people would grow it. Um so if you had your your cool season grass, your warm season grass crop, and your broadleaf crops in there, break up some disease cycles. And then what people discovered is is by doing that is that it improved the soil health.
SPEAKER_04Okay, I was gonna ask about that because depending on, I feel like around here, some areas maybe get more moisture than others, certain fields produce better than others.
SPEAKER_01So the with the no-till, it uh you know, you you reserve or you save every drop of moisture. You're okay. And uh the ground would the ground would absorb moisture better, the organic matter of the soil would improve and just grow better crops, have better soil health, which is the key to the whole thing. Yeah, and that's what's been going on for uh a number of years now.
SPEAKER_03Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So, and it's still a learning process. We're because Mother Nature has a way of uh, okay, you're doing it this way now. Okay, we're gonna we're gonna try and change that for you. So then you you uh and there there were some really early adapters that uh gave uh guys like me uh uh that I was able to watch them and and watch what they're doing and then learn from that.
SPEAKER_04So you seeing that Golden Valley was kind of a pioneer area for it.
SPEAKER_01Truly.
SPEAKER_04Do you can you name some of the people who were first doing some of those things? Do you remember them? Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01Okay to ask. Yeah, oh yes.
SPEAKER_04I think that's kind of cool.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, oh yeah. I would say uh uh Bob Eckry, Alan Eckry, uh Daryl Eck, um names I recognize probably some more, you know. There's yeah, there's some more, and then there's oh that's so neat.
SPEAKER_04I yeah, I did not know that about it.
SPEAKER_01It was kind of a uh when it was going on, some people kind of looked at it a little bit skeptically. Some people adapted quicker, and you know, just uh it's a learning curve for everybody, yeah. And now it's uh but I I really don't think I'd be here today if it wasn't for that because uh you know what we were doing was not sustainable, and and this made it so the different crops, then you're able to take take advantage of different markets and uh just have uh live and learn, yeah, trial and error, a lot of yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04And I always um there was a teacher that I had at one point uh in high school, being coming from a farm family and everything myself. And I I don't something to the to the effect of like farmers not, I don't want to say she because she didn't say that farmers were not smart. But it kind of sounded like that. And I just remember thinking like I feel like as a farmer, they're a jack of all trades because you have to know business, you have to know machinery, you have to know, like there's so much to farming that if you're not on a farm, you don't know. Even when I grew up in that, I still there was still so much I never knew, but there's so much that goes into it that people don't appreciate, you know. I don't know, I feel like so. That's really cool that people even around here started with some of that no-till and whatnot very good. This is uh uh an area that kind of sometimes you gotta be creative and think outside the box and be willing to try some new things and yeah. Okay, I'm gonna move, I gotta move some questions here just for a second because I wanted to. So you've farmed since 1987, but you've had some other businesses. What other businesses have you started? What made you start them? Because you have acre insurances.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so in 1988.
SPEAKER_04So a year after you went back to farming? Yes. Okay, that's when you started? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Acre insurances. No, no, I no, I was uh uh I became a farmers union agent, insurance agent. Farmers union insurance agent. That's where I learned learned that business. Uh and I would say at the time it would be uh economically an economic necessity, yeah, you know, to have an extra income, uh which a lot of people did, but uh uh that company had all lines of insurance, so you kind of learned them all. And then as time goes on, you and then with farming and farm gets busier, and it's hard to be to keep it all straight, I guess, with all the different lines of insurance that that they offered. Good company. I'm really glad I did it. And I I was with did that until uh 1997. So from 88 to 97 uh was with uh with that company. And then like I said, with the farming changing and getting busier all the time, I felt I could do justice to crop insurance. I understood it the best, and it was starting to change a little at the time, and uh so that's when we started uh agar insurance and uh folk to focus on crop insurance and the timing of things that happened in crop insurance also coincided with uh farming, so the cycle was much better. And but then we always had a few people that we continued to do some uh property and casualty business with. And then uh when Mark came back, uh well then I guess with the agri insurance, one thing I learned with uh farmers union was that uh how the how they network because they're networked across the state. So I I decided to do some of that here, and we we did. We uh you know, we ended up with uh working with people in uh Kildeer and Beulah Hazen, New Salem, Dickinson, uh Henningger and Baker, Montana, and Columbus, Montana. Uh that all we ended up processing business for them and and helping them with their business and and then some of their businesses became our business and and and uh over the years and and thanks to your dad Bruce. Yeah, Bruce was there for a lot of that, and uh I think there's a lot that he thanks you for. Having Bruce there was a godsend, and and he embraced it and was really good at it, and I've always really appreciated being able to work with him.
SPEAKER_04I know he appreciated you giving him a job.
SPEAKER_01Very much uh a man of high integrity, I must say that.
SPEAKER_04He's very detail-oriented, I feel like. Yeah, it's a really good person.
SPEAKER_01We worked we worked together for a lot of years, and and then uh I can't remember exactly what year it was when when Mark uh came, moved back to Beach to get in on the farm. And he he's a business guy, and he you know, so he just ate, you know, he was into all that. And he's so good with marketing, and and he's really good with that. Yeah, yeah. So he's he's been involved now for gee, was I don't know, 12, 12 years or more. It doesn't seem like it, but but it is, you know. And uh a number of years ago, uh he became the owner of that business.
SPEAKER_04And so I uh so you kind of handed the reins off to him with that, yeah so you didn't have to be in the trenches, right?
SPEAKER_01Okay, yeah, yeah. I still I still am licensed and maintain my whatever whatever, but I honestly I don't uh do do a lot there right now.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, how nice that he came back and wanted to kind of do that stuff.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, worked out well.
SPEAKER_04So, one thing, whoever listens, they're probably gonna gather you're very entrepreneurial minded. Very much so. Where do you think that came from? Is that just something you've just always been interested in, or is it something you learned from somebody that you had been around?
SPEAKER_01Or I'd guess just watching people, you know. You you hear stories of people that uh started businesses and you know, and and everything you do is not successful, but you got to uh if something isn't a person needs to move on, and that's one thing I've always believed in is if you uh fail at something, get up and and go, get up and and try try again. Don't yeah, don't quit trying, don't be afraid to uh to do something, you know. If you and I and I really feel that and this has been uh that I've always thought of is your your own gut feeling on something. If you feel like it's something that should be done or you should do, you probably should do it, you know, and it's probably gonna work out because if you felt that way to start with, you'll probably give it everything you have to make it make it go. Sometimes it doesn't work, and you then you just gotta, you know. I mean, I've read articles and books on people that uh um you know, maybe lots of stuff happens along the way, and every time it does, you learn and move on.
SPEAKER_04And I think and take those lessons with you, hopefully. Yes, yes, yep. So it wasn't so much like you said, like so much a failure, it was definitely a learning lesson that you can apply to the next idea. Yeah, yeah. Was your dad like that? Do you feel like, or was he more into the old ways of because we didn't have as much?
SPEAKER_01No, he was into he was always into uh into st but um as far as business stuff goes, I don't he was cautious.
SPEAKER_04He was more cautious, okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. He was he was I would say really on the more cautious side.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And probably a good thing he was that way because but uh but he was he was like when was he born? 1928.
SPEAKER_04Okay, so like Great Depression, yes, air too. Yeah, those people, yes, they were definitely in order, yeah, good reason.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, they've seen a lot. They uh they lived through some things that we didn't we didn't do, you know. We didn't do it. So you know I had a a cousin that came to visit last last year out in the field and wrote on a a combine and and uh he had made a comment to me that really made me think. He said, he said, he said, you know what, you're living your your grandparents and your parents' dream, you know. You you know you gotta really stop and think about that because it kind of is, you know.
SPEAKER_04They started it, yes, yes. And if it wasn't for them getting that role setting and living through what they did, and yeah, right, you know, and just continuing on, and you know, and I feel I feel good about continuing our farm on, and I really feel good about Mark and Tiffany and them uh carrying it on.
SPEAKER_01And yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04So, you know, I Mark reminds me so much of he has a lot of you in him, I feel like when it comes to that stuff. Very much a people person and can go out and connect with other people and have like the right um oh, what's the word I'm looking for? The right intentions behind all of it as well. Which I think is very similar to you. Whether you take that as a comment. Well, let's talk. I want to talk about how you uh met Gene.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I met Gene?
SPEAKER_04Yeah. I want to know if it's a safe story sheet.
SPEAKER_01Okay. All right. I remember it very well.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. Let's see. It would be in probably 1978. I was getting my mail at the post office. And if you remember the old post office, it had a skinny aisle in it. You walk down this aisle, and all the mailboxes are in there. And I was in there at around noon, and I was walking in there and I I met her passing by. I thought, who is that? You know?
SPEAKER_04You've never seen her before.
SPEAKER_01No, no.
SPEAKER_04Had never heard of her before. No. No.
SPEAKER_01No. No. So then.
SPEAKER_04Does she remember that?
SPEAKER_01Oh, I always kid her. No, she doesn't. No, no. No, she walked by me like, you know, don't bother me, you know. Well, anyway, but uh, so I had to do some investigating and find out who this person was. And uh anyway, um and and at that time there was lots of younger folks here, lots of lots of younger people around. There was different things going on. And there was an event uh in town one night, and and her and I met there.
SPEAKER_04What was the event?
SPEAKER_01It was uh uh JC's Okay, yeah, junior chamber of commerce.
SPEAKER_02There you go.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, an active group in lots of lots of towns at the time, and lots of the younger people were involved with that and had little functions.
SPEAKER_04So that's where you really like met?
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_04Okay, so did you ask her out?
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_04That night?
SPEAKER_01No.
SPEAKER_04How long did it take you to ask her out?
unknownNext.
SPEAKER_00I never oh the next night. Okay, oh next.
SPEAKER_04That's impressive. Yeah, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. The next video.
SPEAKER_04So what did oh okay. So what did she say? Yes or no, or did she what was her impression of you? I didn't ask her that. I mean, obviously everything worked out.
SPEAKER_01Um, we we I don't know. We probably went, I think we went to a movie.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Well, movies were so big, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think that's how it yeah, and then and the rest is history. Yeah, it seems like it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And you were married at 25?
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_04How long did you date before you got married?
SPEAKER_01Probably a year and a half, maybe. Year and a half, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01Year and a half or so.
SPEAKER_04How'd you propose? Do you remember? All these things that were not on the little different.
SPEAKER_01We were just kind of talking about it one day, and and uh and uh so I kind of blew it on the big proposal like they do now. That's okay, you know. Anyway, uh, no, we just talked it over. Yeah, and uh okay, we're gonna do this. Yes, yeah, yeah. She uh, you know, I don't know if you got her story on how she came to beach and uh just kind of a random thing, and on how it worked out because she had choices and because she was gonna you know, she yeah, they go back, right?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, tell her mom with her siblings and stuff with Valley City, right? She was gonna think about going back to be closer to them.
SPEAKER_01She actually ended well, I think when I met her, she she uh she was she'd resigned, I think, and was moving on. Right, yeah, and I think she had a uh contract in uh Minnesota.
SPEAKER_04Oh, she did, yeah, yeah. Anyway, she did not say that.
SPEAKER_01Anyway, so yeah, so anyway, but um uh you know, and I I truly feel that that was a blessing. I really do. I'm I'm a very lucky guy.
SPEAKER_04Oh, she's amazing. Your whole family is.
SPEAKER_01I'm a very lucky guy.
SPEAKER_04In every aspect. Your wife, your parents, your kids. Yeah. So anything that you remember about the wedding day? Did all go as planned?
SPEAKER_01Everything was lovely and came off without a hitch.
SPEAKER_04There you go. No, did it?
SPEAKER_01No, it was uh from what I remember that day, it was uh September 15th.
SPEAKER_04And uh I'm just impressed you remembered the day.
SPEAKER_01Two o'clock in the afternoon.
SPEAKER_04A Saturday.
SPEAKER_01Um there, I'm not sure of that. Probably. But anyway, uh the the leaves had turned color, it was just a nice day in and uh and that. So yeah, nice.
SPEAKER_04So weather cooperated, yes, yes, it did. Yeah, and uh priests made it, all the bridesmaids, groomsmith. There was no no fiasco in that. Everything just went pretty smoothly.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it was a good day. It was a good fun time.
SPEAKER_04That's awesome. Yeah, some people have some pretty interesting stories.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it uh like I said, I'm a lucky guy.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Now, you guys have three three boys. You have Thomas, you have Michael, and you have Mark. Um, and but your first one was a stillborn. So I got I got Jean's side of the story, but I want to hear you as the guy, how did that affect you watching her go through that? Because it's a different experience when you're the female going through that, when you're the mom and you've felt this baby moving, and then all of a sudden you're not feeling the baby move. What is going on in your mind with all of that? Do you remember?
SPEAKER_01Oh, you just uh fear and you just wonder what's going on, and uh so it was full term, full term. Um little boy and we got to hold him.
SPEAKER_04So amazing. And what was his name?
SPEAKER_01Matthew. Matthew, yeah. So as time goes on, we really uh have an a an angel.
SPEAKER_04You still think of him all the time. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. And what could have been, or yeah. How was it watching Gene go through that?
SPEAKER_01Oh, it was it was really really hard. Yeah, it was really hard. You you you you wonder why and and uh how'd this happen and and uh I uh had an had an uncle that was a doctor that wrote me a letter and just uh said this kind of stuff happens and and uh so anyway. That's amazing that he wrote you a letter. Right. That was super kind and like thoughtful and oh yeah, yeah, yeah, very much anyway. Uh we have had an angel in heaven for all these years, and I honestly feel that Gene had said that there was you ha we're able to have a burial and everything.
SPEAKER_04Do you feel like that was a blessing? Some closure, some was there any peace with that? Not closure, but like peace with it too. Oh yes, I would say so.
SPEAKER_01I would say so, yes. Huge, yeah, yeah, huge, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Do you still go and and visit the gravesite?
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04It's really special that you guys have that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we do.
SPEAKER_04And uh yeah, so then you uh do you feel like do you feel that that experience made you appreciate when Thomas was born and he was healthy? Do you feel like that affects your parenting at all?
SPEAKER_01Of like, he's here, like these little things don't really matter so much because you know it's you know, you when that when that happens the first go time around, you kind of wonder if it will happen again and uh and will it happen again? Will you do you not have any children? Will you and uh so uh luckily we were able to go on and have three three healthy, three healthy guys, you know, and very lucky.
SPEAKER_04Active boys that were always there.
SPEAKER_01We have uh we're we're lucky to have the have have our three boys.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I feel bad for Gene not having a girl. Yeah, you know, I feel I feel yeah, I feel bad for her that, but uh boy, she's a great boy mom. But uh anyway, so that's you don't really have a lot of say in that, you know.
SPEAKER_04So anyway, anyway, she was a great boy mom. Yeah, she is a great boy mom, yeah. Yeah, yeah. No, and you guys have a lot of grandsons.
SPEAKER_01You got the one granddaughter, and yes, we have uh uh four grandsons and and uh one granddaughter. So as we kid around that she is our favorite granddaughter. We always tell her that. We always tell her, we always kid her about that.
SPEAKER_04I love it, yeah. So you kind of got to experience a little, I mean a little piece of it, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04And you know, I know people always say, like when they do have a lot of boys, like, oh, they didn't get the girl. But there is a an extremely special relationship between moms and their boys.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah. You know, yeah, I would say, I would say so. Yeah, yeah, they're yeah, they're they're good. We're we're lucky.
SPEAKER_04She's gonna be so spoiled all the time because she had boys. Now, Mark had mentioned that you have had a long time, um, long time involvement in various organizations. So, what are some of the organizations that you've been involved in? Um one he mentioned, North Dakota Wheat Commission.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_04I don't know what else that's the one. But I'm sure there's a ton of others. Boards, I I would venture to guess you've probably been on a lot of local boards, maybe state boards on anything, whether it's the church, um, things like that, you probably don't even remember all of them.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's hard to not, you know, if you're in a smaller community and want to see things be involved, I guess.
SPEAKER_04Um and stay alive. Yeah, like the organizations and things like that.
SPEAKER_01Right. I would say uh uh back in the 90s, um I got I became involved with uh a group called the North Dakota Grain Growers Association.
SPEAKER_04What was that?
SPEAKER_01North Dakota Grain Growers Association. Okay, yeah, it's uh a group of uh wheat and barley farmers, and they have a statewide organization with a board of directors and and all. Um and I did several terms in that and uh they are more of a group that is involved with policymaking, farm policy, you know, some lobbying and agriculture related things. And so that I think I was involved with that for like 12 years. You know, you know, there's there's guys in that group from from all over the state, so you get to know know those folks. And then uh oh, there's there's a bunch of other, I mean, all a lot of things, you know. And another one was the Beach Cooperative, Beach Co-op Grain Company.
SPEAKER_03Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So I was involved with that as a director for uh close to 30 years, probably. I I just got off about a year and a half ago. And to be involved with that all along, uh, very, very interesting. And then there is one organization that I always wanted to kind of be involved with, and that was the North Dakota Wheat Commission. And uh and that is uh a statewide group, and they uh work it's a wheat and barley organization where there's checkoff funds involved. In other words, every every farmer in the state when they sell grain, like right now it's two cents, goes in two cents a bushel goes into a fund at the North Dakota Wheat Commission. So they have a uh a good budget to work with, and and the and the whole idea is to promote uh uh the industry that and everything else that goes along with it. So it's and uh so that's that's a neat thing. And uh they they fund research, lots of research for plant diseases and genetics and that kind of stuff. And then they you know that's their between that and marketing, uh they promote marketing of promote the usage of uh of the grain products. Um so they they uh fund research, they fund uh marketing. Within that organization is a group called the Wheat Foods Council, and the Wheat Foods Council uh is to promote the use of wheat domestically and the health benefits and everything to it, and then there's another organization called uh U.S. Wheat Associates, and they are the export side of the business.
SPEAKER_04Okay, and that's all under all within that MD.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they're separate entities. So you have you have all these wheat producing states that contribute to the U.S. wheat associates. And the U.S. Suhe Associates has an office in Washington, D.C. and one in Portland, Oregon. And then I'd have to actually look at this to make sure, but I think there's about eight, eight or nine different places around the world where they have offices and staff.
SPEAKER_04Wow.
SPEAKER_01So do you get to travel to sometimes I just got back from uh a trip on a wheat marketing mission to uh South Korea and Taiwan?
unknownWow.
SPEAKER_04How long were you there for?
SPEAKER_01In March. Like 10 days? 10 days, 10 days, yeah. Is that three days in Korea and three days in uh Taiwan?
SPEAKER_04Is that that commission board organization that you're part of? Does that take a lot of time? Have any of these do they take a lot of time? Are they like will we have weekly meetings, monthly meetings? I mean, you're a busy guy. They try not to. So I'm kind of curious as to then how much of a commitment that is.
SPEAKER_01For the uh like the I said, this is just my second year into it. Okay, but uh we just had a uh a group of Japanese flour millers that came on uh visit North Dakota last week. And and so I Sunday afternoon I jumped in my vehicle, drove to Bismarck, and and uh started off with a dinner and met them, and then the next day was uh a tour out at a another wheat commission member's farm north of Bismarck. So they went out there and then they left here to go to Portland uh to the wheat marketing center and uh and out there. And uh so with the wheat industry, they as wheat farmers, we need to export about half of what we grow. We just simply don't use that much uh domestically. So always working on on uh markets throughout the world. So it's it's been very interesting. Uh things have changed a lot in the last few years on where products go. Uh China used to be a big, big, big one, now they're not. Uh the Philippines and Mexico are the are the two the two big ones, right? And then the other ones. Yeah, so it's it's it's very there's a lot to it. Yeah, there's just a lot of uh people that don't realize what all goes on in a in let's say the wheat industry. I mean, it just you know, but there's a lot, and there's a lot of really super dedicated people involved with the whole process. I mean, uh some people contribute a lot of time to the cause. Lots, lots of time.
SPEAKER_04I bet you've met amazing people though, with all the different boards and things like that that you've been on, or even just the trips that you've been on, like the people that you get to meet.
SPEAKER_01You know, I started making contacts when I was in AGon and still have those, and some of those uh people have uh been involved in the lots of lots of different things. Yeah, yeah, it's been good. It's good to have good to uh to do that. So I'm trying to work with that group as much as I can.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Well, now that Mark has taken over a lot of different things, sometimes that frees you up that you do have the time and the bandwidth, and sometimes even the mental capacity to take on different things.
SPEAKER_01I'm not sure about the mental capacity. No, no, it's all it's all good. It's all good, and uh it's good. So uh yeah, it's it's uh interesting. And I I always felt that as a farmer or or producer, I really think farmers need to be more involved in the whole system because there's a there's just so much to it. And to know and understand we have to speak up because if we don't speak up, nobody else is, and you have to uh you have to promote your product and your what you're doing and the industry. We're all in it together, kind of, and uh and uh there's a lot of work to be done there. So yeah, yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, so awesome that you're willing to do. And it's interesting, and I enjoy it. I mean it's it's all good stuff.
SPEAKER_04Going back to uh your kids and stuff, I just realized when you said your siblings' names, because you have a Mike as a brother, and Jean has a Thomas.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_04So did you intentionally name them after your siblings?
SPEAKER_01No.
SPEAKER_04Oh, okay. Let's say maybe I was thinking, well, maybe when Thomas was born, well, she got to name one after her brother. Oh. So when Michael was born, you got to name one after your brother. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01No, I think I think we just like the the name. I just think we went by the the name more than yeah. There are several Mike Hardy's, but I'm sure there probably there are, but uh so here's a good one. Um, so when Thomas was born, his middle name is Charles. Okay, so our uh good neighbors on uh by the farm were Heckemans, Tom and Charlie Heckeman. So I remember uh Charlie Heckman coming down to the farm one day and having coffee like we did a lot. Uh and he said, he said, Well, Don, it's sure nice of you to name your son after the Heckeman brothers. So that's a good one.
SPEAKER_02Oh, that's so funny.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, it is so that's that's uh that's good. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04What has fatherhood meant to you?
SPEAKER_01Fatherhood?
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Uh just uh an honor and a privilege. Uh it's uh you always hope you're doing the right thing, and you know, and of course, if you go through it and then you think of things you probably would have done different, you know.
SPEAKER_04Is there anything that you would have done different?
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, like what? Because I was busy farming and you know, insurance business raising a family, and to take more time, and we always did a summer getaway too. We always did that, you know. You you you feel like you feel pressured to not take so much time, but it's the right thing to do. More nowadays, I think people make it a point to do that, and that's great. I think that's great. But but that that'd be be one thing, you know, if a guy could turn back and go through it again. But no, just feel grateful to have the family that we do, and it's a it's a true, true blessing.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, really is. Grandpa may be different than being the dad.
SPEAKER_01It's great.
SPEAKER_04Um because I feel like for you, having had such an influential grandpa in your life, do you feel like that has made you even appreciate your grandpa but want to be that kind of a grandpa to your grandkids as well? Having had such a great example of a grandpa.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you just it uh just enjoy being around them. And you know, so we our grandkids right now are scattered from uh 13 to two years old. So there's kind of a a big mix in there.
SPEAKER_04That's so fun.
SPEAKER_01Yes, oh yeah, yeah, so much energy. Yep, oh yeah. It's just uh it's uh try and keep up with them, you know.
SPEAKER_04You sleep well those nights when you have them, right?
SPEAKER_00Like yeah, yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_04Um, so Mark also mentioned you're big on learning about your ancestors. Are there any interesting stories that you can share? And he says to ask you about stories about your uncles. Apparently, he had some pretty amazing uncles.
SPEAKER_01Well, you had a lot of them, yeah, had lots of uncles, and and like I said earlier, they were very uh unique individuals, but uh on both sides of my family. One thing that just always kind of stands out is you know, they uh World War II, okay? So several of them were involved with that, and uh so I have an uncle, uh the two oldest ones on my dad's side, uh Jim and Jack. Twins.
SPEAKER_02Okay, they were twins, okay.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so when I was uh a little guy, probably six years old, maybe, uh I had an I had an uncle in town that was running this uh car dealership at the time, and he had traded in an airplane from a fellow in the county here.
SPEAKER_04And uh an airplane, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, because he he was a pilot himself. Okay, yeah, he was a pilot, and he was just don't hear about that. He flew uh uh uh stuff missions in France and Germany and England back in World War II, and uh so he had traded this airplane in, and I rode along. It was uh it was Lloyd Weinreich that had traded the airplane in, and my uncle Jack from Washington was here, and they stopped by the farm and picked me up, and I went down and I rode in the airplane on the way back. So I was like, my first airplane ride, you know how old were you? Six. Yeah, and uh weren't scared. No, no, it was it was fun, fun, yeah. It was fun, and uh well anyway, so my uncle Jack uh started. I've been actually putting together uh information about his his flying career and what he did because he he uh he started flying on his own in the 30s when he was 20 years old.
SPEAKER_03Wow, how did he manage that?
SPEAKER_01I don't know, I have no idea. But they had a landing strip out at the farm and a really hangar out there, and uh where did he get a plane?
SPEAKER_03I don't know like so many questions, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I know the but uh I've got pictures of well then. He he was in uh World War II uh as a instructor, and some of his missions were the one in particular that is uh the one that I'm putting getting gathering information on, which I just got a lot of information from his family out in uh in Washington. And uh there was a mission called Flying the Hump, and it was flying over the Himalayas from uh from Burma over into China, and at that time the the Japanese were on the war path or whatever you wanted to call it, and they were fighting the Chinese in. So they had there was a community of Chinese that had been cut off, they they'd bombed out their their road, their own only road getting over the hump, the hill, the hills, which happened to be the Himalayas. Oh, geez, you know, so the US took it upon themselves to have this mission that became known as flying the hump over the Himalayas.
SPEAKER_03Interesting.
SPEAKER_01And uh and so this uncle of mine was involved with that, and he so he flew supplies over the over into that uh Chinese community. They they hauled in barrels of gasoline, they uh food, medical supplies, and they kept that going. It was a very uh dangerous mission at the time.
SPEAKER_04I mean, because uh, you know, flying over the Himalayas is so have you have you found out like how many times he had to make that flight?
SPEAKER_01No, but it was it was a lot, a lot of times, and then he became an instructor to others to uh to learn how to fly that mission because they had I mean that was before GPS and everything else, so they had to have their navigation stuff.
SPEAKER_04How long did that go on for?
SPEAKER_01Do you know how long I'm not exactly sure how long that particular mission went that's interesting? It was in 19 1944, okay in that era 44. And then after that, uh he he came back uh and uh became uh uh flight instructor and testify that for Boeing out in in Seattle.
SPEAKER_04Really?
SPEAKER_01But he learned how to fly here, yes, he just learned on his own, and then he he went to uh uh you know it was it wasn't even the Air Force hadn't actually formed yet, but uh they called it the Army Air Corps. Okay, and then it became the Air Force. Yeah, so he started in the in the Army Air Corps, and uh so I've got his leather jacket, I've got uh all kinds of stuff and records of his You got the leather jacket and everything. Yeah, just did from uh uh from uh his his family out there.
SPEAKER_04Well let's hope nothing burns.
SPEAKER_01So I'm trying, I shouldn't even say this because I'm I'm um I thought I'd have this done by now, but I'm trying to write a little booklet on on uh uncle's involvement in the military during World War II.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Because uh several of them were involved with that and to get that all written down and so the thing is I only knew I only met him twice in my life. That once was yeah, once was that time, and then uh he had he was back here another time. But I was always intrigued with it, and then and then so I became interested in flying.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and do you fly?
SPEAKER_01I do, you do? Yes.
SPEAKER_04Who did you learn from?
SPEAKER_01I learned uh a little bit here from a crop sprayer, and then when I went to uh NDSU and Fargo, they had a a college uh flying club, and I got it involved with that, and and over time I got my license, and when I moved back here, I was able to uh there was quite a few guys actually that had gotten their license, and then we had we had a flying club. Oh you know, where four of us owned an airplane together for a while, and that's so neat, and then uh all of a sudden your uh dad with three little kids and and uh you know finances are kind of the you know how they get and uh probably maybe should be doing this. So we one of the partners was moving, and and uh so we decided to sell our airplane. Yeah, and then when's the last time you flew? Uh last month.
SPEAKER_03Really?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So then when I turned 60, and and then I'd always had some people here that I knew that had had an airplane and did some rides, and always interested in it. So when I turned 60, I thought, if you're ever gonna do this again, now's the time. You don't if you're gonna do it, you better do it because your time of thinking about it is so. I did. I went back, got a my medical, and went for a uh couple hours, couple training sessions, and then I got re-signed off and and then uh ended up buying uh an airplane that we still have it, uh probably getting closer to selling it than but that's so cool that you did that. Yeah, it's been uh it's been fun. It's been I enjoy it, and yeah.
SPEAKER_04How often do you go up?
SPEAKER_01My two brothers have their pilot licenses also, but they they're not not active in the city. Not active, but yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04They're so do you try and go out like once a month or or just take it out whenever?
SPEAKER_01Kind of whenever is more of it, yeah, yeah. As often as you can.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you know. Do you take the grandkids?
SPEAKER_01I have not yet.
SPEAKER_04Oh, you haven't taken them? No, no, no.
SPEAKER_01Gene's gone with me a few times. Tom and Michael have been up.
SPEAKER_04Oh, have they?
SPEAKER_01Okay, oh yeah, we've been but not marked? No.
SPEAKER_04I don't know. I'm not funny. Oh, that's too good.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, anyway.
SPEAKER_04Well, you're doing a lot of fun things though. Oh, yeah. Even constantly learning new things and like getting back into things, which I think is really neat.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but anyway, yeah, the that that yeah, the back to the main question of the buttons. I'm trying to put together a little booklet or whatever you want to call it on uh uncle's military stuff, which there was quite a few of them.
SPEAKER_04So see, if only you could interview him and have it all.
SPEAKER_01I know, I know.
SPEAKER_04We're gonna get to go totally off topic. But what's your favorite song of all time?
SPEAKER_01Favorite song?
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, you know, I tell this to Gene quite often. You know, it's uh every day with you girl is sweeter than the day before.
SPEAKER_04Who sings it?
SPEAKER_01I don't know. It's an old song from way back. It's a no, no, I uh you know I'm gonna have to look it up. Um, I I I I enjoy I like music. I like kind of all kinds of music.
SPEAKER_04And did you and Gene used to uh dancing used to be a big thing? Did you guys used to go dancing? Was dancing more of a big thing when you were younger? Oh, yeah. They don't have as much around, I feel like now.
SPEAKER_01No, no, not not at all.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, a lot of people miss that. A lot of people miss the dances, the town bounds.
SPEAKER_01Live music, you know, it's a big deal. Um, you know, there would be a a fair amount of it and in that, so yeah, and not so much anymore. Not so much anymore. Not so much. Now it's just in the kitchen. Doesn't seem like you just get to dance in the kitchen. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Any unique talents that people would be surprised to hear about. Ah, surprised to hear about flying.
SPEAKER_01So I don't really know about that. Uh not that you can think of any unique talents. Oh, I don't know. No, just nothing so unique, I don't think.
SPEAKER_04You don't play guitar or piano or anything like that.
SPEAKER_01I know a few chords on guitar.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04That's cool. You gotta you gotta learn the rest. That's it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. I uh fumbled a opportunity that I had um as a kid, uh and I took some piano lessons, but I was at that age where I did not want to take piano lessons. And it uh so I didn't.
SPEAKER_04Yep.
SPEAKER_01But I would love to do that now. Yeah, I would just love to be able to do that. That would be really cool. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Now, obviously, you've done some traveling. What are your what are some of your favorite places that you've traveled to?
SPEAKER_01Seems like Gene and I go to the Black Hills every year, at least once. And it's just a nice little getaway, you know?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um I like the mountains in Montana, but it's just a little further.
SPEAKER_04And it's still one of your favorite places. Oh yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just a big change of pace.
SPEAKER_04And uh what's an important life lesson that you've learned?
SPEAKER_01A life lesson?
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um believe in yourself, don't give up. I think would be two big ones. Um faith. Um so important and power powerful, I think. And uh everybody probably will does, I should say, experience sometimes that maybe are, but don't ignore it, work through it, and uh move on. Move on and and uh keep keep keep moving forward.
SPEAKER_04Awesome.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04What's a memory from your childhood that you didn't realize was important until later in life?
SPEAKER_01I would say you know, go back to to faith again, I would say is would be one.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you definitely when you're young. Yeah, don't always think that that's you're right, you're right.
SPEAKER_01You know, yeah, what's this all about? You know, but uh yeah, it's uh very important.
SPEAKER_04Who in your life influenced you the most while you were growing up?
SPEAKER_01I don't know if I could say a name there, but there were just lots lots of people.
SPEAKER_04More family that were around you, or um maybe I would say, oh, definitely some. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Definitely some. Um uh teachers.
SPEAKER_04What's something you always wished you had done, but never got around to doing? Obviously, piano, but no anything else.
SPEAKER_01Something with music, I think it'd be, you know, it's I see people that are my age that uh have been involved with it, and it just it's just a lot of fun. Yeah, and yeah, have fun with it.
SPEAKER_04And uh do you know that's probably the most common one I get. Is it and I and I think too Joel always says the same, my brother Joel always says the same thing. All of us are like, Oh, why don't we keep up with like piano, right? Because at the time you're in all these other sports, you're like, I don't have time to practice, I don't have, you know, and now you look back and you're like, Oh, I really wish.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so bad for the music teachers because you're like, you will actually want this when you're older.
SPEAKER_01So and uh and I think you know, to a person gets caught um between doing the thing you think you should do and doing what you think you have to do. And uh I think a person really can you repeat that again?
SPEAKER_04That was really good. Do you even know what you no?
SPEAKER_01I just think uh you know, uh I think to you know, to go back and and it would be to spend more time doing the things you think you should do versus what you think you have to do. Because probably a person is not thinking right at that time. Yeah, you probably should do the thing you think you should do um rather than what you think you have to do. And that that's really true for farmers. You know, that's yeah, because it it sometimes it's hard to you always feel like you gotta get this done. And you kind of do, but you kind of gotta you gotta balance it. That's that's that that's hard, kind of a hard thing, but anyway, yeah.
SPEAKER_04It reminds me of like when you talked about going on a vacation every summer when you were young, and I'm just thinking of your dad, like how did he even manage to do that and not in a sense stress out as a farmer? But that's like you remember those vacations. Oh yeah. That actually was way more important than not taking that, and even if it was nice weather, I mean that meant a lot to you guys.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. And then the the thing that uh it gets harder as time goes on is getting your like just our kids and their their families, getting getting everybody together when there's some darn near impossible some miles involved, and everybody's busy and schedule. Yeah, but it's uh so you really appreciate the times you can.
SPEAKER_04If you could go back and give yourself a piece of advice, what would it be?
SPEAKER_01Definitely pay more attention in at during school. Um in the especially in the late elementary and in high high school, you know.
SPEAKER_04Uh I was laughing because I totally thought that you were palading.
SPEAKER_01Not me. No, no, no, no, no. Um anyway, so um I don't even know why. No, that's uh that's uh that would be one that'd be one thing for sure. One thing for sure. And uh maybe maybe to uh you think you want to visit with somebody, but you don't maybe make the time that you should, and that that that's so important, I think, is to make time for for for people.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I think we need to hear that a little bit more often, you know.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, because everybody's so busy and yeah, gotta get this done and gotta get that done.
SPEAKER_04And but it just really uh and then when you're with people, be present with them. I I'm I struggle with that too, so I'm not sure. But yeah, I mean you see that so often now, it's hard to be present for people because you always got the phone or or whatnot. And yeah, I know, right? It's so true. Like the most important person is the one that's right in front of you. So yeah. What is one thing that you would want people to remember about you?
SPEAKER_01He wasn't so bad. You know, one more time with the question.
SPEAKER_04What's what's something you would want people to remember about you? Don, when you're dead and gone, what do you want them to be saying?
SPEAKER_01Probably the biggest compliment would be he was a he was a good guy. Maybe, I don't know. Uh yeah. You know that you're um you know that you've done what you could while you were on this earth, I guess. Um hopefully the the world's a little better than it was before, maybe it would be kind of something like that, maybe, or each person probably will remember everybody in their their own way, kind of, or whatever. And you know, so you just kind of hope it's positive.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yes. Are there any other memories that you want to share?
SPEAKER_01Memories? Other memories?
SPEAKER_04Whatever memories. Like if you think about your kids listening to this, or is there any memories that you want them to have?
SPEAKER_01You know, just uh I would I would say um try and maybe like uh integrity, honesty, faith, those those kinds of things, I would say. Um you hope you pass that along and you just uh I don't I really don't know what else to say there. That's okay. You know? Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Awesome. Anything else?
SPEAKER_01Uh just trying to think something that uh no, I think uh you know there's a lot of stuff going on in our in our world today. And I look at what goes on and you know, and I look back at what has that I've seen go on in my lifetime. And uh you know, you'd mentioned your your Uncle John and his, you know, and I think growing up at the time uh when the Vietnam War was going on, that was really uh a different era for our for our country to to go through, you know, because there was a lot of uh a lot of people that weren't on the on the same page and protests and that kind of stuff going on and uh you hate hate to see that and then now today um if we could just direct our energy and resources dollars into positive things to do for people I just think but I don't know how how we get there. I know you know that's the thing and I don't know how how we would get there but I I I as as time goes on I get in my mind thinking what if we what if we took all these dollars that are going over here for for this and put them into positive things to do for people I think would be would be just fantastic and I but I don't know how you can do that because I know some of these other things need to be done too I guess but I just you know with uh the latest uh space uh deal with uh Artemis oh yeah too and and and those people talking about looking back at Earth you know and uh you know and I've always thought you know North Dakota to me is like one big community and then okay the United States okay then you got you got all the countries on on earth and we're all and you you look at earth from where where they got to see it and it's just this thing and you know I just hope and pray that we can all get along better and make the best of it all rather than be nice if you I don't know yeah I don't know all try to just be a little bit better every day yeah all of us try to that would be I think so that that's that's where it's gotta start you know and yeah but uh that that's that would be a you know nice nice to see that but I just don't know how how it can all can all be done but uh just hope so hope it can turn to you know do that and uh yeah we just hope that the the generations that that come along um real realize what our country has gone through and what is what it means so much the freedom and everything and you know especially with our 250th uh years a country which sounds like a lot but some of these other countries have been going on for a couple thousand years so we're we're still kind of new we're still trying to figure this all out you know yeah yeah but it's all work it's it's good we're just we're just lucky we're very lucky very fortunate and uh and I think like the generations before us I think and veterans and and uh we owe a lot of gratitude and I think that's important to to realize that I think if if if one generation can realize it and pass that on to the next one the more the better off things are I think yeah yeah yeah awesome thank you so much for doing that if there's anything else you could uh that you want to share you absolutely can no i appreciate appreciate your time and and uh and all the people you're interviewing and and uh you know it's it's uh it's living history yeah thanks for spending a little time with us today on the simple lives we live if these stories mean something to you one of the best ways to support the podcast is to follow share an episode with someone you love or leave a review you can also support the show through the links in our website or social media bios.
SPEAKER_04Until next time don't forget ordinary lives often hold the most extraordinary stories