A legacy of love

When Joy Ryan and I visited Trinity Lutheran Church in Tolley, ND, the members of the congregation had many stories to tell. It is a longstanding part of our history that the first real Ranch location was the Butt farm outside of Tolley, ND. The folks who live in Tolley have much to say about the love their community shared with the boys who lived there, and even corrected some of what we thought we knew about our history.

That’s not Ida and Louis

Ida and Louis Butt took boys into their home for what was then called Dakota Boys Ranch. We have a picture of the boys around the dining room table with who we always thought was Ida and Louis, but it wasn’t them at all. It was Mr. and Mrs. Andy Goldhammer, two of the Ranch’s first house parents. Everyone in the group agreed that the Butt’s moved to town before donating the farm to the Ranch.

They do recall Ida and Louis, though, and remember them fondly.

When Judith Popinga, Tolley, was a freshman in college, she received an assignment to interview a pioneer from the area. She chose to interview Ida and Louis Butt, and in her paper, she wrote that Louis moved from Minnesota to North Dakota in 1905. In 1907, he filed a claim on the 160-acre farm for $14.50. When he and Ida Swenson married in 1913, they lived in a small shack until they were able to build a new house—the very house they donated years later to the Ranch.

The Butt’s were very active in their church and community. Louis helped organize the Cooperative Store, the Tolley Grain Growers Elevator, and the Tolley Livestock Shipping organization. He was secretary for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tolley for 44 years and spent many years as chairman of the McKinney Township Organization.

Ida and Louis didn’t have children, so when they retired from farming and moved to a house in Tolley, they donated their farm to Dakota Boys Ranch. Up to ten boys lived at the farm at a time. They attended Tolley school, and many attended the Lutheran church that is now Trinity Lutheran Church. Photos of 12 Ranch boys confirmed at Trinity over the years still hang in the church library.

Vicki Steinke remembers them from school and said they were just normal kids.

“They were just a part of us,” Vicki said. “We knew they were boys that were homeless, but we didn’t really think about them as being different.”

Loretta Buchholtz was a teacher at the Tolley school who says the same thing.

“I remember one of the boys who was in my fifth-grade class. He was very quiet and well behaved,” she said. “If I didn’t know he was from the Ranch, I would have never guessed.”

Greater needs

The boys participated in school activities, basketball, Leatherman’s Club, etc., and were part of the Tolley community. However, board members recognized that the children needed more services.

Rev. Joel Brandvold, pastor at Trinity, has some insight into the move as his grandparents were close friends with Leon and Orpha Kruze.

“Leon was chairman of the board for the Ranch and was instrumental in moving the Ranch from Tolley to Minot, much to the dismay of a lot of people,” Joel said. “He took a lot of flak for that.”

“My understanding,” Joel continued, “was that Minot had more services to offer, a bigger social services department, and that they felt they would have more financial support in a larger community. They lost a lot of support and really struggled for a couple of years.”

While most of the group didn’t know why the Ranch left Tolley, they all remember the loss that was felt by the community because the kids were part of them.

“The kids thrived here,” Loretta said. “They worked on the farm and were part of the community. I ran into a gentleman at a gun show and when he found out I was from Tolley, he said he was at the Boys Ranch in the early sixties. He told me it was the best thing that ever happened to him. The community was good for those kids.”

The Tolley community and the members of Trinity Lutheran Church played a huge role in the Ranch’s history and personally made a positive impact on many young boys. Without their love, support, and open arms, Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch may never have become a reality. They are the foundation on which our mission “to help at-risk children and their families” has thrived.