New legs on rickety stools

“I’ve been having conversations with God since I was six or seven years old. Regardless of what was going on in my life, I had almost daily conversations. I was so rebellious, yet God was never far from me.” —Ora Meyer

Ora and Henry Meyer, Coeur d’Alene, ID, both grew up in North Dakota, so they’ve always known about Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch. It wasn’t until they received a mailer in the late 70s or early 80s that they started regularly donating.

“When I saw the letter was from Larry Knutson [long-time Ranch President], I just knew I had to support the Ranch,” Ora said. “He was such a help to me in my life.”

Ora came from a large and chaotic family—she was one of 14 children, her mom had untreated paranoid schizophrenia, and her parents fought constantly.

Her tumultuous home life took its toll, and when she was 12, she went to live at Villa Nazareth, a children’s home in Fargo, ND. From there, she moved to Grand Forks, ND, to live with a foster family and was assigned a counselor, who happened to be Larry Knutson.

“I was still pretty troubled,” she said. “I remember Larry was a very nice, dedicated man. A lot of people helped me along the way, but he was one that stood out. I never forgot him,” she said.

Ora likes to use the analogy of a three-legged stool to describe how Larry helped her, and how the Ranch helps kids today.

“I was on this really rickety stool,” Ora said. “Larry helped me balance the stool. He gave me techniques to stop and take control of the moment so I could balance. And then other people built on top of that and pretty soon, I had brand new legs under that stool.”

Through her support, Ora is helping “put new legs on the rickety stools” of the children who come to the Ranch for care and treatment.

“I had so many people pushing me along the way and believing in me,” Ora said. “I got to the point where I started believing in myself—that I could do things and accomplish things and be a better person. I saw a different way of life that I enjoyed more than partying.”

Henry had his own story. His mother died in childbirth, and he was raised on a farm near Mount Carmel, ND, by his aunt and uncle, who he calls Mom and Dad.

Ora and Henry can relate to the struggles of the children at the Ranch. They both had people in their lives who believed in them and made them feel valuable and important and want children at the Ranch to have the same positive reinforcements they had. They also appreciate the Ranch’s Christ-centered focus.

While they both grew up in North Dakota, they met and fell in love on the west coast. Henry was settled into a job in Seattle, WA, when Ora moved there to live with her sister. They met through a mutual friend and Ora said as soon as she saw him, a little voice in her head said, “That is the man you’re going to marry.”

They married several months later and lived in Seattle for five years before moving back to Henry’s family farm.

“We had a good life there,” Ora said. “It was a good experience for our kids to grow up on the farm. We don’t regret that, but the pay wasn’t very good.”

Eleven years later, Henry’s dad’s health started failing and he didn’t want to sell them the farm.

“He said it was too tough and it would be too hard for us to make it,” Ora said. “He wanted a different life for us, so we decided it was time to make some future life plans.”

Henry called the foreman he’d worked for in Seattle and asked if he had any openings. He didn’t, but said he’d call as soon as he had something. Two weeks later, Henry had his old job back and they were hustling to tie things up at the farm for the move back to Seattle.

In Seattle, Ora had a few part-time bookkeeping jobs before landing at Smith Tractor Equipment as bookkeeper and office manager.

“In high school, working was an escape. No matter where I worked, I tried to do my best. At Smith, I kept moving up and the next thing you know, I was promoted to Purchase Manager for construction equipment, the first woman in the nation to hold that position at the dealership level,” Ora said. “I didn’t graduate from high school, but I took the additional classes I needed to be more successful at work.”

After seven years at Smith, Ora went to Boeing where she traveled to various US and international locations as a Supply Chain Subject Matter Expert until her retirement in 2017.

In retirement, Ora and Henry moved to Coeur d’Alene, where they are just 30 minutes away from two of their children, and six of their grandchildren. Another son lives five hours away and their other daughter lives with her family in South Carolina.

For fun, they spend time by the lake, get together with family, attend community events, and socialize with friends and members of their church.

“It’s important to me that the Ranch is faith-based, because without faith, you don’t have hope,” Ora said.