Heart of Ag: A Life Well Lived

I would like to tell you a story of my family’s history. 

My grandfather Alvin Nolz only had an eighth-grade education. Yet, he grew up understanding more than most the value of faith, family, farming and freedom.

He served our country during the Korean War. He came home and met a sweet redheaded girl at a local dance.

They married in the Catholic Church and started a life and family together. Eventually, they settled at the place I call home, north of Mitchell, S.D.

When Alvin purchased the land, his neighbors scoffed at him. They told him he would never make it – just a poor, dumb farm kid. He would never last. He would go broke before long. 

But my grandpa was determined, gritty, stubborn and probably a little hardheaded too. 

He worked the land with old, rusty equipment. Again, the neighbors laughed. But he never gave up or gave in, despite the naysayers. He was resolved to succeed, no matter what. 

Three years later, he had the bank note paid off on the land, and those acres are still owned and operated by my family to this day. 

Although grandpa passed five years ago, I still consider him one of the greatest influences in my life, and recently, we had to say “goodbye” to his beloved wife, my grandmother Devona Nolz. 

She was born in the 1930s, one of 13 children, and she spent her life working on the farm, both growing up and alongside Alvin as they raised their three children.

She raised chickens, collected eggs, canned fruits and vegetables, baked fresh bread, rendered lard, made her own laundry soap, sewed and mended clothing for her children and kept a neat and tidy home, all while helping my grandpa run the farm and getting her children in the church pew every Sunday. 

They lived through depressions, recessions, wars and turmoil. They lived before the age of technology and through the rapid expansion of a fast-paced society. They were traditional and modest, yet innovative and savvy in business. They made a great pair, and they knew the value of working hard and being wise in decision-making. 

Although the life Alvin and Devona lived then looks starkly different to where we are today as a society, the fundamentals of what make life good, true, purposeful and meaningful still hold true.

At the end of the day, it’s stewarding the land and the livestock, seeing the fruits of our labor, overcoming life’s challenges and the people we get to experience it all with – this is what truly matters. 

And grandma had all of this and more – three children, nine grandkids, 17 great-grandkids. She was abundantly blessed in all of the ways that count. She was a devoted and faithful servant to Jesus, and she passed this down to the next generation. 

Alvin and Devona’s life, marriage, work and family may not have been headline worthy, but it’s special to me all the same. 

They taught me about living a life with purpose, and I only hope I can live up to the example they set for us to follow.

May God bless a generation of family farmers and ranchers who have seen harder days gone by. I pray we have the same strength and fortitude to withstand the hardships of our day, with the same grace and grit they had. 

Amanda Radke is a rancher, author, motivational speaker and podcast host. For more from Radke, visit amandaradke.com.