The Farming Families of Lincoln County (SD)— July 2021

July 2021 | www.AgeMedia.pub

Faith / Family / Friends / Farming

Meet the

COLE FAMILY Jim, Judy, Jacob, Jeff and Aidan Cole.

Story on page 6.

of Lincoln County

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ADVERTISING SALES Garrett Gross, AGE Media (515) 231-9367 garrett@agemedia.pub © The Farming Families, Age Media & Promotion The Farming Families is distributed free exclusively to the farmers, ranchers and producers in rural southeastern South Dakota. All rights reserved. Content in this magazine should not be copied in any way without the written permission of the publisher. The Farming Families assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or photographs. Content in articles, editorial and advertisements are not necessarily endorsed by The Farming Families and Age Media & Promotion.

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5

LINCOLN COUNTY FAMILY

Jeff, Jacob, Aidan, Judy and Jim Cole farm south of Hudson.

ADVANCING THE LEGACY THROUGH THE GOOD TIMES AND THE BAD

By Bob Fitch

There have been hard times and lots of good times. Through it all, Jim and Judy Cole have enjoyed life at Cole’s River View Farm south of Hudson.

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | July 2021

Near the banks of the Big Sioux River, Jim and Judy grow corn and soybeans with their son, Jeff, whose teenage sons, Aidan and Jacob, represent the sixth generation at this 143-year-old farm. Jeff said, “We also have a cow-calf operation, and we background the calves. We’ve been selling them on President’s Day for a while at Sioux Falls Regional Livestock. That way, the boys don’t have to miss school to go to the auctions.”

Jim said, “The legacy of the farm has always been important to me. That’s why I’ve always stuck with it and why I stuck with Dad through a lot of his hard times in the 1970s when he was losing money feeding cattle and had back-to-back hail storms with no crop insurance. It took a long time to recover from that.”

At a recent family funeral, Jeff was visiting with a relative who said the Cole farm still belongs in spirit

Aidan, Jacob and Jeff Cole.

to any family member who ever lived there or had been a part of it. “She said Dad and I are the caretakers now. That’s kind of neat,” he said. Judy added, “It is like hallowed ground to all of the Cole grandkids. The memories are so much a part of all of them. And they share those memories with all of their kids which makes them familiar with their background and where they came from.”

In family stories, Jim’s cousins speak fondly of the good times at the Cole farm 60 or 70 years ago. Jim’s generation – the grandchildren of Robert and Julia Cole – tell tales of bee hives and honeycombs, swimming and catching polliwogs in Pattee Creek, swinging on the big porch, the smell of Grandma Cole’s fresh bread and an abundance of good food, climbing the big basswood tree north of the house, treasure hunting in the attic, fireworks on the 4th of July, ice skating on the river, and “the fun of the hayloft – climbing up as many rungs on the ladder as you dared, swinging out on the rope over the hay and letting go!”

Jim figures he grew up in the best of times. “The ‘50s and ‘60s were the best times in anybody’s life. Everybody I talk to says ‘I’m glad we lived in the time we did.’ It was good times. I worked side-by-side with my dad right from the get-go.” In the 1950s, the operation was still diversified, including both beef cattle and milk cows, which they milked by hand. His father, Rolfe, fed cattle. “I got in on that a couple of times. That was enough for me. Neither time turned out very good,” he said.

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training, he was on the crew of the USS Hickman County which was coming out of dry dock. They loaded ammo in New Jersey and began the long trip to Vietnam via the Panama Canal. “It was pretty rough water in January in the Atlantic. I was the radio operator, trying to decipher Morse code on the World War II equipment in there. The ship was rolling sideways. I was so determined I wasn’t going to get sick. I was trying to copy this broadcast and the typewriter was actually moving back and forth. I looked down to the end of the shack and there were some headphones swaying … whoop … oop. And I went ‘blaap.’

I’d say saltine crackers saved my life.” Eventually, he was part of a crew which transported supplies back and forth from the Philippines to Vietnam.

Jim and Judy Cole.

“When I got into high school and I wasn’t here at night to help, Dad got rid of the milk cows. We were down to only five or six at the time.

As far as crops, we had corn, oats and alfalfa, but no soybeans back in those days. Well, he did have them

one time when I was little because I can remember walking beans and they were as tall as I was.”

After graduating from Hudson High School, Jim joined the U.S. Navy, serving from November 1964 until February 1968. After basic

When he returned to Hudson in March 1968, his dad had arranged for him to rent ground near town.

“I did that a few years and then I asked Elmer Torkelson if he’d be interested in selling. I wish I could buy more land at that price – $385 an acre. He gave me a 30-year contract at 5 percent interest.

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paid 19 percent interest on some of it. A lot of guys weren’t able to hang on to their land back then because of the high interest rates and bad crop prices. But I was fortunate I’d bought it early enough and at a low enough price, I was able to keep going for a while,” Jim said.

To put groceries on the table, he took off-farm jobs a couple of winters, working at Supreme in Sioux Center and overnights at Alkota in Alcester, while Judy was home with three little kids.

Jim started his cow-calf herd about the time his dad retired in the 1980s. But Rolfe continued to help Jim and worked just as hard after retirement as he did before. “Later on, I was able to rent some more ground and expand the operation.

It was a struggle until about five years after I started renting that ground. Then it started to come together.”

After graduating from AlcesterHudson High School in 1995, Jeff studied general agriculture at South Dakota State University before moving back to Hudson and buying some cows of his own.

“Jeff’s got the majority J.A. and Anna Pierce moved from Wisconsin to Dakota Territory in 1878 of the cows now,” Jim and established River View Stock Farms which was east of the former town said. “I’m trying to get of Eden. Eden later moved a mile north and became Hudson. Pierce’s out of it, but he won’t daughter, Julia, later married the herdsman, Robert Cole. let me out all the way.

I think he’s afraid I about a mile-and-a-half of ground won’t go out and check cows and bordering the river plus additional calves at night anymore.” land along Pattee Creek. “When it’s flooding, it’s plenty,” he said.

“We’ve got fewer cows right now,” Jeff said. “The flooding was pretty In addition to farming and caring hard on our pastures down by the for the cows, Jeff stays active river. We’ve got a lot of fence to fix serving on the Hudson Fire and a lot of weeds to control. It’s Department and as an EMT on the amazing how many weed seeds ambulance crew. Otherwise, he the river drags in.” They have spends a lot of time chasing Aidan,

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16, and Jacob, 13, to activities such as football, basketball, track and baseball. Both go to school in the Alcester-Hudson district.

Jim is active in the Bergstrom Bodeen Post 128 of the American Legion; plus is a board member of the Pattee Creek Watershed and Eden Township.

The log home Jeff Cole’s great-great grandparents, J.A. and Anna Pierce, lived in when they first moved to Eden township in Dakota Territory.

Jim Cole’s dad, Rolfe (far left), helped wrangle a wayward steer belonging to Spencer Paulson at a club calf day in Hudson in the mid-1950s.

Judy, who is retired from the medical records department at Canton-Inwood Hospital, helps out on the farm where needed. Jim and Judy’s daughter, Kari, and her husband, Justin Teunissen, live just a quarter mile west and have two children: Kate and Andrew. Kari does medical coding work from home and Justin works for Nelson Engineering in Sioux City. Jim and Judy’s other son, Tony Rau, lives west of Hudson and is an engineering and sales manager at Valley Machining Co. in Rock Valley, Iowa. His wife, Janae, is a registered nurse at Avera. They have five children: Jessie, Valarie, Waylon, Brandon and Zachary. Jim and Judy have also been blessed with eight great-grandchildren.

Jeff thinks there’s a good chance that Aidan might farm, but it’s too early to know with Jacob. Right now, Aidan “has got a lot of plans” for continuing the legacy of this Lincoln County farm.

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FINANCIAL FOCUS

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Q: OVER THAT TIME PERIOD, YOUR AGENCY HAS GROWN SUBSTANTIALLY. TELL US MORE ABOUT THAT. A: In addition to helping customers in Sioux Falls, we have also always had the vision of serving farm families and nearby communities. The Ty Teveldal State Farm agency has an office on Western Avenue and one on the west side off of 26th and Tea-Ellis. In January 2019, Tate Teveldal State Farm opened on the east side of Sioux Falls near the intersection of 10th Street and Highway 100.

Even with the unpredictable weather patterns and catastrophic storms in the Midwest over the past several years, State Farm’s financial stability has allowed us to differentiate from other companies. We have stayed true to providing the best value for our customers in terms of offering a competitively-priced insurance option without having to sacrifice coverage. We have seen a large growth in the number of ag customers over the past few years. Referrals from one farm to the next have been great!

Q: WHAT IS YOUR BACKGROUND AND HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN THIS INDUSTRY? A: We grew up on a family farm near Wessington Springs, S.D. We both wanted a career focused around our passions for the ag industry and helping people in rural South Dakota. A relative, who is also a State Farm agent, introduced us to the agency opportunity and the rest is history.

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Q: WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT YOUR ROLE? A: Each person on our team comes to work every day with the purpose and passion to help people in whatever opportunity presents itself. Every day can truly be different. We enjoy meeting customers in our office or at their home or business to review current State Farm coverage or compare policies if they are not already a customer. Being able to help families understand their insurance options and how it protects their livelihood and lifestyle is a rewarding career. Most importantly, being there for our customers on their worst days and when they need us most is what it’s all about.

Q: IN THE AG INDUSTRY SPECIFICALLY, HOW DOES YOUR BACKGROUND BENEFIT YOUR CLIENTS? A: Growing up on a cattle and crop farm and still being involved in our family’s operation helps us better connect with the ag community. We understand the commitment it can take to run any type of operation. You shouldn’t face any surprises when something happens.

There are many different types of insurance plans out there, especially when it comes to buildings, machinery, and liability coverage. We make it simple to tailor a plan to someone’s unique situation and pay for exactly what they need. State Farm is known for our auto, home, and life insurance. When we were looking closely at what company to represent as insurance agents, we also wanted a great farm policy. We discovered State Farm has one of the most comprehensive policies available so we saw a big opportunity to connect that with the rural communities around Sioux Falls.

Q: WHAT INSURANCE COVERAGE IS COMMONLY OVERLOOKED BY FARMERS? A: We often see a disconnect or miscommunication between the farmer and their insurance agent. With the fast-paced world we live in, often things just simply get forgotten. As an operation expands or changes, the

insurance plan needs to be updated as well so everything is properly protected and also so the insured isn’t paying for insurance on things they don’t need any more.

Having a separate and adequate liability insurance plan for both personal and the farm corporation is something we notice gets overlooked. One of our top priorities is to make sure you have lawsuit protection adequate enough to protect both assets and future retirement in the event of a large vehicle accident or someone getting hurt on property.

Too often the focus is only on insuring property or what the bank is requiring for a loan. Also, with the amount of significant weather we see in our area, several companies are changing how their plan pay out claims due to wind, hail, or weight of snow and ice. Because we can’t predict when the next accident will happen or when the next storm will come through, it is worth reviewing coverage with your agent to make sure you’re protected against these situations. If it has been a while since your last review, we’d welcome the opportunity to visit with you. By having reviews and doing company comparisons, we frequently find gaps or concerns that the customer was unaware of.

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HUTCHINSON COUNTY FAMILY

ROCK SOLID COMMITMENT TO HISTORICAL PRESERVATION

By Bob Fitch

Hidden in the rolling hills of Hutchinson County stands a stone house built by a German immigrant craftsman more than 130 years ago. No road or even path takes a person to this concealed treasure of yesteryear.

Owen is the owner and caretaker of this rare stone house built around 1885.

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The stone house viewed from a different angle in the fall. The different colored stone in the wall just left of center is most likely where an outdoor oven was once connected to the house.

While the locals will recognize his face, the property owner wants to protect the landmark; therefore he’d rather just use his first name (Owen) in this story. Owen’s father purchased the stone house and the surrounding property in the 1940s and his uncle was the last to take residence here some 70+ years ago.

German-from-Russia immigrant Gottlieb Stern was one of the early pioneers in the area and the builder of the stone-andsod house. A master stone mason and carpenter, Gottlieb first took shelter in a dugout before building a modest stone house. The impression of the dugout is still there next to remnants of the foundation of the first stone house. The larger stone house was constructed around 1885.

“I know there’s a few sod houses still around, but I think this might be the last stone house in the area,” Owen said.

In 1984, two graduate students from the University of South Dakota carefully examined and blueprinted the house.

Owen said, “The house was in pretty rough shape at that time. It still had wood shingles, which the raccoons tore off so they could get inside. The holes in the roof ruined one room inside completely.”

To try to protect the stonework and the interior, he and his son put a tin roof on the structure in 1999. “With the tin roof on, we thought we had it made. But there were trees hanging over the house. And the raccoons would climb the trees and jump from the branches onto the roof of the house and they’d get in through the chimney. So we cut the trees July 2021 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

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down around the house. Then I put shutters on the windows, too. When I put those shutters on, there were no two windows that measured the same.

They had the hole in the stones and just made the window to fit the hole.”

The wall surrounding this window helps to display the depth of the walls, which are as thick as 34 inches.

The University of South Dakota graduate students described it as a “an extremely well-built structure” with beautiful use of dressed stone.

The walls of fieldstone and clay mortar are approximately 34 inches thick and extend 14 feet 6 inches in height.

Between this line and the peak, the wall is puddled clay. The total height is 22 feet 7 inches. Owen said the thick walls were a blessing and a curse for retaining heat in the winter. Back in the 1940s, when his uncle would leave for a month or two to do chores for someone in the winter, he said “it would take forever to get the place warm” once he returned. Once the rooms were warm, the thick walls did hold in the heat.

The USD report said, “Probably the most striking characteristic within the house is the elaborate use of timbers in the construction of the roof.”

In addition to 15 common rafters measuring 2 inches by 4 inches, the roof is supported by a squared 4-inch by 4-inch ridge pole. Six extra support beams, four measuring 4 x 4 inches and two measuring 4 x 6 inches, as well as 4 x 6-inch vertical boards similar to knee braces, are also used.

A closeup of the mud mortar used between the stones harvested from local hillsides.

In addition to the house, the original owner also built a corral of stone measuring 166 x 110 feet.

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A look inside one of the rooms.

The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | July 2021

The ridge pole, which is exposed in both gable ends, is made of three separate beams joined by a scarf joint and wooden peg. Another set of the three support beams is notched in a crossing pattern with a mortise and tenon joint. A wooden peg secures them directly below the ridge pole.

The USD grad students speculated, “The explanation for such an extensive roof system is not clear, but the need to secure the massive walls may be one possibility. Another may be the exhibition of skill by the builder.”

While stone was plentiful on the hillsides of the property in 1885 (and still is today, of course), there were no trees there back then. Consequently,

the roof beams were transported by steamboat to Yankton and then hauled over land to the site.

The interior of the house is divided into four rooms of approximately equal size. The southwest room has a traditional Owen’s uncle had artistic skills and left ladder stair to the behind this painting of a deer on the walls loft and a trap door when he lived there in the 1940s. over the root cellar (the trap door was permanently closed in 1948). In the west room, the lightblue walls have a continuous stenciled frieze, a common decorative style at the time of construction.

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The house has a half cellar which measures 12 x 17 feet.

Northwest of the house, Gottlieb built a stone corral measuring 166 x 110 feet for his livestock. Parts of the stone fence are still visible.

Owen and his son have continued their vigil of preservation of the house, which is a labor intensive effort. In addition to the roof added in 1999, they’ve reinforced the structure by applying concrete to the original mud mortar. Two years ago, they spent a lot of time repairing one of the corners which was falling into disrepair. “It’s a heck of a job to try to get concrete to stick to the mud,” Owen said.

After the second generation of Sterns departed and before Owen’s father purchased the property, the isolated house proved to be a refuge for victims of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. “I don’t know how many people lived here in the ‘30s,” Owen said. “But most of them were people who lost their farm and had no place to go. They moved in here for nothing. Back then, when you were broke, you were really in trouble. There was no government help.”

In fact, Owen’s uncle moved there because he’d lost his health and couldn’t get a job. “When my uncle lived here, they’d try to stock up on as much food as they could in the fall.” Most of the time in the winter they had to leave their car at a neighbor’s farm quite some distance away because cars of the day couldn’t make it through the snow to the remote location. There has never been electricity or telephone lines run to the house.

In addition to preserving the stone-and-sod house, the family marked out the borders of a nearby cemetery on a ridge which had been forgotten by everyone except Owen and his family. He’s also held on to his ability to speak German, “but not that well anymore because I’ve got no one to speak it with. When I started grade school, I had to quickly learn English before I could go. Lucky for me, the teacher also spoke German, so if I got stuck she’d help me out.”

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | July 2021

TURNER COUNTY SUNSET. PHOTO BY MARK MILLER.

July 2021 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

19

MINNEHAHA COUNTY FAMILY

Justin and Casey Wenzlaff farm south of Humboldt. They’re pictured with an early 1960s Allis Chalmers 303 baler.

LESSONS IN FARMING, EGG PRODUCTION, BUGS AND BUTTERFLIES – AND WHERE THE SILVERWARE GOES

By Bob Fitch

The laughs come easy at Justin and Casey Wenzlaff’s home. For example, Justin responds quickly to the question of defining a good life: “Well, in the words of Tom T. Hall, ‘It’s faster horses, younger women, older whiskey, and more money.’”

Between the lines, though, it’s not hard to see Justin and Casey’s highest priority is securing quality life experiences for their two sons on the family’s corn, soybean and alfalfa farm south of Humboldt. Their sons are Owen, 9, and Abel, 3.

“I’m glad we farm and I’m glad there’s a chance for our boys to be a part of it,” Justin said. “We take farming seriously, but tonight we were baling the road ditch with our old, small square baler so they can see how it was done. I enjoy that kind of thing.”

He also likes to create little side businesses for the boys. Last summer’s new enterprise was sweet corn. One night they swung through town with a pickup load. “Everyone was sitting

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outside the bar on picnic tables.

The light bulb kind of went off in my head. I just backed up to the bar, dropped the tail gate, and never even said anything.” Pretty soon, people were flocking to buy the sweet corn, sometimes giving Owen a $15 tip on $5 a dozen corn. “They would say ‘Oh, keep it for college.’ I just think small towns are so good.”

Owen bought Indian corn last fall, then shelled it all out and saved it.

“We planted two rows this spring.

I told him it would keep him busy all fall picking it by hand. He looked up and said, ‘Oh. I’ve got to pick all that?’” Justin will be able to give Owen some good advice since he was runner-up in the state corn husking contest one year.

The nine-year-old’s primary enterprise is Owen’s Egg Emporium.

Justin said, “The coop he’s got was Abel and Owen Wenzlaff on a 1951 Allis Chalmers WD tractor which originally belonged to their great my grandma’s bird house. Years grandfather who used it frequently with his grinder-mixer. Justin Wenzlaff said, “We’ve used it as long as I can remember. I use it for haying yet, and take it to threshing bee and try to win a trophy with it. We’ve ago, I moved it here. Grandma and got quite a bit of old Allis stuff around. That’s all Grandpa ever bought.”

I thought it was probably a good idea for him to have a job. By the time I got done moving it and rebuilding it, I probably should have just built a new one.”

Owen said he has 11 hens and collects about eight eggs a day (and fewer in the heat). He has several regular customers.

Casey said, “Sometimes I take the eggs to people at work.

When we have a lot of extra ones, we’ve donated to the food pantry in Humboldt.” Owen bragged about his biggest egg ever which “was probably a three-yolker!”

Justin said, “The joke around Humboldt is Owen’s got more businesses than I do. He’s got his little cash box for his egg money and his baling money. We’re not trying to force them into anything, but it’s good they can learn about a job and money and responsibility.”

Owen and Abel also spend in-the-field learning time with their mom. In the spring, she takes them hiking through the family’s 11 acres of unbroken prairie. “Every April, the boys and I go search for pasque flowers there,” Casey said. She and Owen have also recently been out hunting for leafy spurge beetles, which provide a biological approach to suppressing leafy spurge. They share the beetles with other local farmers.

Casey does conservation planning for the Natural Resource Conservation Service. “What do they say? Behind every good farmer is a wife with a job in town,” she said. Casey works with everything from urban agriculture to full farm planning and CRP. “It’s one of the jobs where you can have a background or degree, but you really have to learn on the job because there’s never a day that’s the same. It’s pretty fun.

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July 2021 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

21

“I deal with guys who farm 600 acres and some who farm 5,000 acres,” she said. “The common denominator for all of them is to be profitable and do what’s right for the land. Everything else really doesn’t matter – the size of the machinery, the year of the machinery, or how you get the crops into the ground. Everybody has the same goals of profitability and sustainability. The principle is the same – the ‘how-to’ is the variable. Everybody does the best job they can do.”

Justin and Casey met while both were attending South Dakota State University. They lived by Parker for a few years and then moved to their current home when his mom wanted to move to something smaller. Justin said, “So I moved back home. Casey still puts the silverware in the wrong drawer, but eventually I’ll get her trained.”

While he’s training her on where the silverware goes, she’s training him on restoring species. “She won’t let me Roundup the milkweeds anymore, so we’ve got quite a few monarch butterflies around. It’s funny how that’s changed. When I was Owen’s age, Grandma’s trees were just orange with the monarchs when they’d come through. It was better than going to the Butterfly House in Sioux Falls. When we started spraying Roundup and killed the milkweed, we stopped seeing that many monarchs.”

“Owen’s Egg Emporium” is an egg business run by Owen Wenzlaff with a little help from his brother, Abel. The Rhode Island Red hens live in a rebuilt coop which previously belonged to Justin’s grandmother. Owen is also pictured advertising his egg business at a parade at the Humboldt Threshing Show. Note the rooster hood ornament.

Furthermore, the family is enjoying the return of lightning bugs.

“A neighbor and I were talking about how we haven’t had many soybean aphids the last couple of years, so we haven’t had to do our mass homicide on bugs in the summer. Now I’m amazed by how many lightning bugs are back in the evening. It’s interesting how quickly that affects things.”

Around the time he took over the farm from his dad in 2006, Justin also started custom hauling grain. “I didn’t have enough money to buy the truck, so Casey invested half. She’s never got any sort of dividend from that investment,” he said. “I still do a little bit of everything. I work for neighbors in the winter in their shop. I freelance a lot.”

Justin has humble farm and trucking origins and Casey grew up on Lower Brule. She said, “A lot of people pay more for their pickup today than we paid for our first house. People talk about the crash of 2008. At the time, we didn’t know we were poor.

We were like ‘What crash?’ We were $10,000-deductible-healthinsurance people.”

Peony bushes which once belonged to Justin’s great grandmother have been moved to their home and continue to bloom profusely every year.

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But small town life has its unique benefits. Justin said, “When Owen was just a baby, Casey was still on the ambulance crew and there was a call. No one was responding and she called me saying ‘What do I do?’ I was out in the field and couldn’t come in to watch him. I knew the Humboldt City Council was having a meeting and we knew everyone there. So she dropped him at the council meeting and went on the ambulance call. Anyway, the council secretary was kind of a smart-aleck and she put in the minutes ‘At 7:20, Owen Wenzlaff joined the meeting and, at

Photo credit: Eric Buermeyer / Shutterstock.com

HUMBOLDT THRESHING SHOW AUG. 13-15 The Humboldt Threshing Show is Friday through Sunday, Aug. 13-15, at the Bahnson Farm. It will include old-time hay threshing demonstrations and antique farm equipment parades. The Bahnson farm is located three miles south of Humboldt on Highway 19 or four miles north of Highway 42 on Highway 19. The event is designed for all ages and includes free admission.

Justin Wenzlaff said it must have been a slow news day when the Argus Leader ran this story about his great grandfather in 1932.

8:30, Owen exited the meeting.’” His grandmother was perplexed when she read about it in the newspaper.

Justin is a volunteer for the Humboldt Fire Department and is also the ambulance director. In addition, he serves on the board of the Humboldt Farmers Elevator and the township board, plus is active with the Humboldt Threshing Bee (see sidebar story).

He was proud to share the news with the Humboldt community when each of his sons arrived. “When Owen was born, I was so proud to have a son, I took our old straight truck and put a sign on it for the parade which said “J.W. Wenzlaff & Son Trucking and Agriculture.” All the old guys thought that was so cool. When Abel came along, I had to update it to ‘Sons.’ Every year we update the sign to list everything we do: ‘Farming, Trucking, Purebred Chickens, Custom Baling, Miscellaneous Endeavors.’”

Casey half-jokingly said, “We’re living on love. We’re just a normal, average, married farm couple who cuss the heat and then complain about the rain when we get too much.”

Humboldt area farmer Justin Wenzlaff said, “It’s not going to be that much longer and kids won’t have access to seeing what you’ll see at our threshing bee. It’s a nice gettogether for families in the summer.”

Minneapolis-Moline machinery is the featured brand this year. The event kicks off with the 13th Annual Tractor Drive on Thursday, Aug. 12 at 5 p.m.

Friday’s activities begin at 4 p.m. with a tractor pull featuring tractors from 1960 and older. Saturday’s activities begin at 10:30 a.m. There’s an amateur horse pull at 5 p.m. and supper will be served from 5-7 p.m.

Beginning at 7 p.m., “Surfin’ Safari” will play music of the ‘50s and ‘60s.

On Sunday, breakfast is at 8:30 a.m. followed by a worship service. There’s an auction on both Saturday and Sunday including many donated items. To donate, call 605-774-4414.

On Friday and Saturday, the Knights of Columbus will serve pork loin sandwiches and more.

July 2021 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

23

KEEPING LOCAL HISTORY ALIVE

Two views of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Marion before the explosion of April 10, 1949.

TRAGEDY AT MARION CHURCH IN 1949 One of the most tragic events in the history of Turner County occurred on April 10, 1949, when St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Marion was leveled by an explosion on Palm Sunday. Six people (and later a seventh person) died as a result of the incident, perhaps the worst death toll in an explosion in South Dakota history. Approximately 60 others were injured.

An Associated Press story on the tragedy appeared in the New York Times the next morning, as well as in other newspapers around the world.

at least 50 persons were injured when the roof and brick walls came tumbling down upon them as they knelt in their pews.

About 10 minutes before the 9 a.m. service was to begin, the janitor had gone outside to the ring the bell. Inside, church member and local car dealer Phil Wachendorf volunteered to go to the basement to turn on the bottle fuel furnace after several parishioners complained that the sanctuary was cold. Wachendorf said he threw the furnace's switch and "everything blew up." His hand was burned and he was badly hurt, but managed to crawl out of the basement through a hole in the wreckage.

Father Joseph Zimmerman, 73, pastor of the parish of Marion and Monroe, was standing in the sacristy waiting to enter the altar. He was initially trapped by falling debris, but escaped with a broken rib and cuts.

He assisted rescue operations despite his injuries.

The explosion sent the walls outwards and caused the ceiling to collapse and rain down plaster, bricks and dust on those gathered for worship. About 75 people were in their seats at the time, but many others escaped injury because they were outside enjoying the sunshine. However, six elderly persons were killed and

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | July 2021

The sound of the explosion, plus the screams of injured and trapped persons, attracted the attention of nearly every person in Marion. People rushed to the scene and began to dig through the rubble.

Five of the victims lived within three blocks of each other in Marion: Mr. and Mrs. John Marso, ages 61 and 59, Mrs. George Bittiner, 65, Mrs. Caroline Reding, 60, and Mrs. Phil Luke, 70. Charles McGinnis, 83, of Monroe, also died that day. John Stangle, 68, died about a month later from injuries received in the explosion.

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Caskets at the funeral of the victims of the explosion at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Marion. Services were held at St. Christina’s in Parker.

A parish member who was driving toward the church at the time of the explosion said, "I saw a big puff of what looked like steam. The roof seemed to lift a little. Then when I looked again it wasn't there."

Agnes Kleszak, the rectory housekeeper, was getting ready to go the church when she heard the explosion. “I was just putting on my coat when I felt the concussion and rushed out. I looked out and saw walls falling. I started putting in calls for doctors and other help,” she said.

The uninjured and persons attracted by the explosion attacked the rubble with bare hands to get to the injured. An hour later the last of the bodies was taken from the wreck, but volunteers and heavy equipment continued to pull at the broken roof and sidewall sections making sure that no one had been overlooked.

The emergency calls placed immediately following the blast brought doctors, nurses and emergency medical supplies from all surrounding towns and from Mitchell and Sioux Falls.

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25

HARVEST FESTIVAL

At one time there were 14 ambulances and four hearses on the scene. The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad set up a special mercy train to carry the injured to Mitchell.

Long-time Marion resident Bill Lambert was among the injured. He said, “I was seated in the southwest corner of the church, just about three seats from the back. The first thing I knew I was going up in the air. I don't think I had been in the church three minutes. That's what I can remember – going up in the air and falling. I was pinned under some lumber. My brother helped get me out."

SEPT. 11-12

IN DELMONT The Twin Rivers Old Iron Association will host a Harvest Festival on September 11-12 in Delmont. The association’s mission is to preserve agricultural heritage. The event features old-time farm demonstrations plus displays and parades of vintage tractors, machinery, cars and trucks. In addition, the Harvest Festival includes music, flea market booths, horse and tractor wagon rides, and a kids barrel train ride.

The deceased were remembered at a Pontifical Requiem High Mass conducted by the head of the diocese, Bishop William O. Brady of Sioux Falls. The funeral was conducted at St. Christina's Church in Parker.

SOURCES

• Mitchell Daily Republic and the Associated Press • www.gendisasters.com • Centennial book of Marion, Monroe and Dolton entitled “A Tale of Three Cities,” courtesy Heritage Hall Museum & Archives.

• www.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_disasters_by_death_ toll#Explosions

For additional information, find Twin Rivers Old Iron Association on Facebook, see www.twinriversoldiron.org, or call Glennis Stern at 605-928-3792 or Austin Miller at 605-933-0597

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Our publications are based on families and their stories. Our goal is to build community and connections within the Ag circles of Minnehaha, Lincoln, Turner and Hutchinson Counties and surrounding areas. If you have a fun story or would like to suggest a family to feature, reach out to us at Bob@agemedia.pub.

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27 11

TURNER COUNTY FAMILY

Dennis, Florence, Emily, Luke, Sharla, Kate and Mark Miller farm in Turner County between Freeman and Hurley.

MILLER FAMILY’S FAITH-FILLED LIFE FINDS A HOME IN TURNER COUNTY

By Bob Fitch

If a person asked Mark Miller in his youth what he wanted to be when he grew up, he would have said a pilot or a pastor or a farmer. A lot of people never get to say they’ve reached their childhood goals, but Mark is batting a thousand.

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Mark and Sharla Miller farm between Hurley and Freeman with their children, Emily, Kate and Luke.

After graduating from Freeman Public High School in 1989, Mark went through the aviation program at Hesston College in Kansas.

“After that two-year program, I was

actually a flight instructor at SDSU for a year. When I was 20 years old, I was on the faculty at South Dakota State University. It was pretty weird.”

The head instructor at SDSU told Mark he’d need a four-year degree if he wanted to move up the chain quickly and fly for one of the major airlines. Since he was already there and had an interest in business education, he decided to take some classes at SDSU. “During the next two years in Brookings, God changed my heart about what’s important in life. I was involved in intervarsity Christian fellowship and also some Bible studies. I saw people’s lives get changed and I couldn’t shake that.” He chose to receive training from Tentmakers, a national youth ministry program. The mission of Tentmakers is to equip and empower disciples to live out their calling while transforming culture through Christ, one relationship at a time.

“I had just started dating Sharla when I went off to Minneapolis and got trained in youth ministry. I hooked up with Central United Methodist Church in Milbank, S.D. Although the Tentmakers commitment was only for two years, I ended up being there four years. During that time we got married,” he said. Sharla added, “We lived on love.”

In the late 1990s, Mark and Sharla started visiting with his parents, Dennis and Florence Miller, about returning to the farm. “Being married and knowing you’re having kids, the farm family life was important to me. I always try to pray about major life decisions, to seek God’s path. There seemed to be certain things that were lining up for me to come back here,” Mark said. The couple moved to Freeman in 1999 and began farming. (Like a competent pilot doing his pre-flight safety review, Mark had now checked off all three of his childhood career choices – pilot, pastor and farmer.)

Mark and Sharla lived in Freeman for almost 10 years before purchasing Dennis and Florence’s house on the farm in 2009.

“I like the change and variety on a farm. I like learning about growing crops and the intricacies of it. Then you get to see the fruit of your decisions at harvest. I even enjoy the bookkeeping side of it during wintertime,” Mark said. “But it all really goes back to being with family. It was so important for us to be able to do devotions every night with our kids until they were old enough to do it on their own. Reading books, going through the Bible, working in nature, being so close and present with family members … farming is a great family life.”

The Millers on a family ski trip.

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Home in Freeman. Sharla said, “They both have a heart for caring for the elderly.”

Like Sharla, Luke and Kate, Dennis continues to help Mark in the field. “I help in the spring and fall,” Dennis said. “It’s been a real blessing in my life that I can be a part of that.”

His parents purchased the farm in 1936 during the Great Depression.

“They’d just gotten married. My mother frequently told us about how tough it was. One time, she and my dad went out to the mailbox and there were some bills they couldn’t pay. They sat under one of the pine trees and cried.

That story always stuck with me because it wasn’t easy for them, but they pulled it together and got it bought.”

Kate and Emily Miller with their grandparents, Florence and Dennis, after a volleyball game.

Sharla also grew up on a farm. Her Waldner ancestors had lived west of Freeman many years ago before moving north in search of more affordable land around Carpenter which is in the Huron area. Mark joked, “What’s scary is when I married her and brought her back to Freeman, all of sudden I start talking to local people who know everybody’s relatives – I began to get worried that maybe I’d married my second cousin.”

Sharla said, “My dad never hired men or boys to work for us on the farm. He had his daughters do field work, including the combining, because we’d never break anything. I’m glad I did that because now I can help here.

Dennis and I actually fight over the combine. He says he can’t do the grain cart, just like I don’t want to truck.” Florence interjected: “I don’t see any competition for weed spraying, though.”

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | July 2021

Sharla said, “Mark is trying to get Luke interested in the spraying.

Luke started in-line ripping at 11 years old because it’s so boring and no one else wants to do it. But he loves it.” Luke will be a sixth grader at Freeman public in the fall. Basketball is his number one sport. “We’re not sure if Luke keeps us young or makes us feel older.

He’s active. You name it, he’s in it. He’s got a great class. A lot of his classmates are first-borns, so Mark and I seem like the old people among the parents,” she said.

Middle child Kate will be a high school junior. She plays basketball and volleyball, helps on the farm, plus works at the Salem Mennonite Home in Freeman. Oldest daughter Emily will be a sophomore at Northwestern College in Orange City where she majors in nursing and plays on the college volleyball team. During the summer, she works at Oakview Terrace Nursing

In his early days, Dennis said it was a typical diversified farm.

“We had pigs and chickens; maybe a dozen milk cows. I had sheep for a while. We had beef cattle until 1977 or ’78.”

Dennis enjoyed having livestock, but didn’t like the veterinary side, such as giving shots to calves or de-worming; and he would become deeply troubled by calves lost during a snowstorm. “Where we live now, we have pasture which somebody else rents. I still go out and check those cows every day.

I enjoy that. I just didn’t like the pressure of being responsible for all of it,” he said. “God’s been really good to us. We’ve lost crops to hail and other things, but still God has blessed us. We feel fortunate that we have children and children-inlaw who love the Lord and love the land and are doing a good job at raising their kids.”

In addition to growing corn and soybeans, Mark and Sharla also try to cultivate the faith experience among local families. They are active members of First Baptist Church in Parker and Mark also helps fill the pulpit at area churches

when pastors are gone. They’ve also hosted Bible studies for a group of young, local farming couples.

“I saw all these young married couples around the area who didn’t have kids yet. I just felt like God was telling me to get them together and lead a marriage series,” Mark said. “People seemed to really like it. In fact, they called me this last winter and said, ‘Hey, we’ve all got kids now, can you lead a parenting series?’ It’s neat to have all these young couples connect.” Sharla quipped, “We’re the old wise ones. But, actually, we’re happy to share with them we’re not perfect.” Mark said, “People need to know others are going through the same challenges and struggles.”

Maintaining faith in the midst of life’s troubles resonated in an experience this spring. “We got together on Memorial Day and had Mom and Dad show us around some of the local cemeteries and share stories about some of the people they’ve known,” Mark said. The story of Dennis’ great grandmother is an especially poignant tale. Her husband died young, leaving her with eight children and one on the way. Earlier, the couple lost their barn and some outbuildings to a tornado, plus lost crops to grasshoppers and locusts.

“My great grandmother was also in a buggy accident and lost the use of her left arm,” Dennis said. “Her youngest son died when he was only 18 or 19; lightning struck their home; and she had typhoid fever. In all of this, she had a very strong faith and was a prayerful woman. She was working in the field one day and was really questioning God. But she had an epiphany where Jesus appeared to her and reassured her that these things were happening to her not as a punishment, but rather as a test of her

Kate, Luke and Emily Miller.

Luke Miller in the family boat on Swan Lake.

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faith. All she went through, I look at her as a hero for me. She kept believing when most of us would have thrown in the towel and said to heck with it. Life wasn’t easy. She persevered despite the struggles. It’s important we don’t lose track of those stories.”

Mark said, “To have the heritage of someone who’s had that revelation with God is so awesome. It always seems that if you put God first, then your family, and then your work – in that order – somehow things always seem to work out. I heard a sermon once where the pastor said, ‘If you’re ever going to cheat on anything, cheat on work.’ I’d never heard anybody put it that way. Like Jesus said, ‘Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you.’

“Many times you need to keep working until the sun drops or later. But I always tried to return in time for devotions with the kids or make it to their ballgames when I probably should keep going. Your work will always be there – your kids won’t,” he said.

Sharla and Mark Miller.

Sharla is pretty confident Mark learned the importance of fun family time from her family. “My dad – Papa Tony – would lead us on great spur-of-the-moment adventures when we were kids. We’d be ‘go-go-go!’ When Mark and I were first married, he used to be ‘homehome-home.’”

The Millers now have a boat – a major change Sharla wasn’t sure Mark would adapt to. But he has adapted – with enthusiasm – to every chance to get the kids together to boat at Swan Lake.

Whether it’s boating at Swan Lake, finishing up work on a farm field, or sitting in their dining room, the Miller family frequently has the privilege of witnessing the glory of God’s creation through another uniquely beautiful and vibrant sunset. “It’s like a different painting every night,” Mark said.

Mark Miller’s great-great grandmother, Maria Miller, front row center, with her children and children-in-law. Note her left arm which was permanently injured in a buggy accident, one of many tragedies which befell her family. Widowed when her ninth child was on the way, she kept her faith throughout life’s tragedies.

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