Cally Peterson

At 100 years old, Hunter still lives in the home he built decades ago, kitty-corner from the old Maddock Aggies school, now the high school. An American flag flies in his yard, near the parked car he still drives. Inside his home, the TV news hums in the background of his Solitaire game, which he does to “stay sharp.” A hallway bookshelf holds the Bible, Lutheran hymnals, Maddock history compilations and Webster’s New Students Dictionary. Adorning every possible space are pictures of his successful and well-educated family.

“It shocked everybody as to what was going on, but I saw something in our companies this spring,” says N.D. Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring. “It was so enjoyable to watch how quickly they adapted. They looked at creating a new product or learning a new skill, based on what need existed in the market. (The pandemic) gave quite a few of them time to assess, or reassess, their business plan. Some actually took the time to maybe reinvent themselves a little bit. Others became more familiar with online sales.

Set amongst Hunter’s photographs is a small black-and-white image of a handsome young man. His light eyes shine under a U.S. Army service cap. They are the same blue eyes looking at me now from behind a pair of glasses.

Hunter is one of 16 million Americans, and 60,000 North Dakotans, who served in the military during World War II.

“What drives me is when I can go to the store and see all the products that our ingredients are in, and know that I, or us, as a company, have played a role in establishing that product,” Bartsch says.

“It shocked everybody as to what was going on, but I saw something in our companies this spring,” says N.D. Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring. “It was so enjoyable to watch how quickly they adapted. They looked at creating a new product or learning a new skill, based on what need existed in the market. (The pandemic) gave quite a few of them time to assess, or reassess, their business plan. Some actually took the time to maybe reinvent themselves a little bit. Others became more familiar with online sales.

“Emmit’s a mini-Eric,” says Candace Sieg, the family’s matriarch. “He remembers everything and anything that comes out of Dad’s mouth.”

Emmit’s two older sisters, Isabel, 18, and Avery, 10, are also part of Eric’s fan club. You can see it in the way they look at their father and talk about one of their favorite family activities – hunting. All three children grew up hunting with their dad; Eric started them young.

“When they were 3 years old, Eric would dress them up at 5 in the morning, and they would go lay in the blind,” Candace says.

Derrick Bulawa had recently arrived in Steele to take over as general manager of BEK Communications Cooperative. He set his eyes on adding a TV service to BEK’s portfolio that offered local sports, and he pegged Jordan Hassler as the young buck to move the idea forward.

“They wanted to do something different, something that gave them a competitive advantage when they launched,” Hassler says. “They wanted to give something to their members that they couldn’t get anywhere else.”

“There’s this culture of being tough and having to suck it up, and that is why you have such a high burnout rate,” she says.

She speaks from experience. In 1991, Thompson moved to Steele from Wisconsin. A new neighbor asked her if she wanted to join the ambulance squad. She agreed. The neighbor handed her a pager, and just like that, she was on call.

Four hours later, the pager went off.

“I had no training whatsoever, no orientation. I didn’t even know the crew. And I was just told to show up to the ambulance hall,” she recalls.

She, like many engaged in the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), supported women’s right to vote, about as much as she favored prohibition. It was due, in part, to both these lesser-known suffragists and suffragist leaders in North Dakota – Dr. Cora Smith Eaton, Elizabeth Preston Anderson, Clara L. Darrow and Linda Slaughter – that the state Legislature swiftly passed the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving women the right to vote upon ratification Aug. 18, 1920.

“You can’t sit around here and do nothing, or you’re going to be crazy,” she told Dixie.

The tight-knit Keene community encouraged Dixie to open the café, knowing she had worked in restaurants since her teen years.

“My biggest fear was I didn’t know how to make soup, or omelets,” she recalls, knowing that soup-and-omelet making would be required by the job.