July 10, 2025 • 9 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, In Vietnam, 20-year-old Jon Hovde was nearly killed when his vehicle struck an anti-tank mine. Doctors didn’t expect him to survive, but Jon made three promises to God that day. What happened next would shape the rest of his life and inspire the people back home who knew him best. Linda from Jon’s hometown of Fertile, MN, shares the story.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American stories. For the past
five years, Readers Digest has been searching all across America
for places that have great stories about nice people. They
call these towns the nicest places in America. We partnered
with Readers Digest to bring their storytellers to our listeners,
and today we bring one such story, and it comes
(00:33):
from a small town in Minnesota called of all Things Fertile,
and a native there tells us why her small town
is one of the nicest places in America.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Hi, my name is Linda, and here is why I
think Fertile is one of the nicest places in the
United States. We live in a small community in northwest Minnesota,
population approsently eight hundred people. Fertile has no traffic lights,
Everybody knows your name, and we believe our town has
(01:07):
the biggest heart. We have many residents in Fertile that
we could talk about, but one man, John Hody, touched
all our lives in some way or another. John was
born in nineteen forty seven, spending all his childhood in Fertile.
He graduated from Ferdile High School in nineteen sixty five.
After graduation, John moved to California, and that is where
(01:30):
he met his future wife, Darlene, and they would go
on to be married happily for forty nine years. In
nineteen sixty seven, at the age of nineteen, John ended
the army and was sent to Vietnam. He did not
need to go because he was his mother's only son,
but he wanted to fight for God and country. He
(01:51):
was driving a personal carrier and was alone inside the
driver's compartment. His carrier had a mine and the explosion
ripped through the three zero point five inch steel bottom
of the carrier. John did not know at that time
that his left leg had been blown off above the
knee and his left arm just below the shoulder. While
(02:11):
on an eyes blanket, Johnny made three vows to God
if his life would be spared. Those three promises were
to have the fastest car in Pope County, not to
be dependent on the government, and to make a difference
in the lives of others. He fulfilled all three of
those promises. John and Darling have two children and five
(02:33):
grandchildren and so enjoyed spending time with their family and
friends together. John led a life of dedication through his
service on the local school board on the board of
his church, a member of the American Legion the DFW,
the dav on the board for the local fair, and
was also a president of the Minnesota State School Board.
(02:58):
He was also writing Left for Dead with his many
stays in the hospital over the years, many caregivers and
nurses were given a signed copy of his book. He
spoke to many groups large and small, but the speeches
closest to his heart were those he made to school
children from kindergarten to seniors. You couldn't call them speeches,
(03:20):
as he spoke from the heart and his message to
everyone was to make a difference. Over the years, John
has had many surgeries, but the summer of twenty eighteen
was especially hard for the Hovedy family. Many trips to
the hospital, to the Mayo Clinic, and then the terrible
news of the hated word cancer. News of John's diagnosis
(03:44):
of cancer and that he would be coming home on
hospice spread through town and our community pretty fast. Now
the question arose, what can we do as a community
to show our support, love and respect for John and
his family. A parade was suggested and that it was
a go with the family's blessing. So dates and times
(04:07):
changed many times. We were in contact with the family
so we could let the community know the details, but
still trying to keep it a secret from John. We
received word that he would be coming home on October
twenty third, but that time had changed many times throughout
(04:28):
the afternoon. Fertile had a home football game that night,
and the football team dedicated their game to Johnny, bringing
home a big win fifty to zero. Over arrival. The
weather was cold, there was a strong wind, and as
the time of their arrival pushed now into the evening,
we were afraid that everyone after the game would go
(04:50):
home to warm up, not Fertile residents. Finally, we had
a different time and we put the word out on
social media that john was just south of the Fertile.
It was an amazing sight to see and to be
a part of. Cars lined up on both sides of
the highway with patriotic music playing, our church on main
(05:13):
Street ringing their church bills, and American flags flying high
on the route. Residents, family, neighbors, and friends, plus perfect
strangers stood outside in the cold to welcome Johnny home,
all waving the American flag, many holding signs, and many
with tears. To be experiencing such a moving experience. John
(05:35):
and his family were welcome home from the Mayo clinic
with a fleet of fire trucks and sheriff vehicles from
Fertile and the surrounding towns and our EMS truck, all
with flashing lights and sirens going. This fleet lit the
family from about ten miles out of Fertile all the
way to their home north of Fertile. Our city mayor
(05:58):
proclaimed October twenty three as John Hubdi Day. Sadly, John
passed away on November two, twenty eighteen, to be missed
by his family and friends and his community. At his
funeral there was standing room only with the Native American
honor guard in attention inside the church and outside at
(06:22):
the grave site in the cold. One thing that most
of us amired about Johnny is that he never acted
like he had a disability. He loved to hunt, fished,
and golfed. Because of COVID concerns, of seniors did not
get to participate in a normal graduation service. So again
(06:44):
Fertile led the way and made beautiful banners of each
of our Fertile Beltramis seniors that were placed on the
light pools in town. On graduation day, the community came
together with the seniors standing beneath their banners in the
community driving by to congratulate each of them. Fertile also
(07:05):
hosts every year the biggest county fair in a tri
state area. All of these that I have mentioned were
made possible because of all the volunteers in our area
who over the years have donated thousands of hours of
time their big farming machinery, manual labor and fuel cause
to make it possible. No dream is too big. As
(07:29):
you can tell, I'm very proud of our community. I'm
very happy to tell everyone that I am from Fertile
to Flower City. If you are in the area, please
stop in. There's always coffee to be served and if
you are lucky, you will get an Updell donut as well.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Thank you and great job is always by Greg Hengler
on the production and a special thanks to Linda for
sharing her story and the story of her town, which
she believes is the nicest place in America. Want to
hear your stories about your town and why you think
it qualifies for such distinction. And we also thank readers
(08:08):
Digests for sharing this great story with us about a
downright nice place. And as our listeners know, this story
isn't an exception to the rule. People across this country
are doing nice and good things for each other each
and every day. If you have stories like these, we
want to hear them. Share them at our American Stories
dot com and go to the your stories tab. And
(08:28):
if you want more stories from readers digests Nicest Places
in America series, go to rd dot com forward slash
Nicest And by the way, what a story about one
of the products of this small town in northwest Minnesota.
And by the way, it's people, any townspeople or the
product in the end, and I keep thinking about John Hoddy,
(08:50):
who volunteered they go off and fight in Vietnam, and
he lost a leg above the knee and a right arm.
And what did he do? He made three promises to
God to have the fastest car in Polk County, to
not be dependent on the government, and to be of
service to others. And he lived all three of those
promises to God. Out the story of fertile Minnesota here
(09:15):
on our American Stories
And we continue with our American stories. For the past
five years, Readers Digest has been searching all across America
for places that have great stories about nice people. They
call these towns the nicest places in America. We partnered
with Readers Digest to bring their storytellers to our listeners,
and today we bring one such story, and it comes
(00:33):
from a small town in Minnesota called of all Things Fertile,
and a native there tells us why her small town
is one of the nicest places in America.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Hi, my name is Linda, and here is why I
think Fertile is one of the nicest places in the
United States. We live in a small community in northwest Minnesota,
population approsently eight hundred people. Fertile has no traffic lights,
Everybody knows your name, and we believe our town has
(01:07):
the biggest heart. We have many residents in Fertile that
we could talk about, but one man, John Hody, touched
all our lives in some way or another. John was
born in nineteen forty seven, spending all his childhood in Fertile.
He graduated from Ferdile High School in nineteen sixty five.
After graduation, John moved to California, and that is where
(01:30):
he met his future wife, Darlene, and they would go
on to be married happily for forty nine years. In
nineteen sixty seven, at the age of nineteen, John ended
the army and was sent to Vietnam. He did not
need to go because he was his mother's only son,
but he wanted to fight for God and country. He
(01:51):
was driving a personal carrier and was alone inside the
driver's compartment. His carrier had a mine and the explosion
ripped through the three zero point five inch steel bottom
of the carrier. John did not know at that time
that his left leg had been blown off above the
knee and his left arm just below the shoulder. While
(02:11):
on an eyes blanket, Johnny made three vows to God
if his life would be spared. Those three promises were
to have the fastest car in Pope County, not to
be dependent on the government, and to make a difference
in the lives of others. He fulfilled all three of
those promises. John and Darling have two children and five
(02:33):
grandchildren and so enjoyed spending time with their family and
friends together. John led a life of dedication through his
service on the local school board on the board of
his church, a member of the American Legion the DFW,
the dav on the board for the local fair, and
was also a president of the Minnesota State School Board.
(02:58):
He was also writing Left for Dead with his many
stays in the hospital over the years, many caregivers and
nurses were given a signed copy of his book. He
spoke to many groups large and small, but the speeches
closest to his heart were those he made to school
children from kindergarten to seniors. You couldn't call them speeches,
(03:20):
as he spoke from the heart and his message to
everyone was to make a difference. Over the years, John
has had many surgeries, but the summer of twenty eighteen
was especially hard for the Hovedy family. Many trips to
the hospital, to the Mayo Clinic, and then the terrible
news of the hated word cancer. News of John's diagnosis
(03:44):
of cancer and that he would be coming home on
hospice spread through town and our community pretty fast. Now
the question arose, what can we do as a community
to show our support, love and respect for John and
his family. A parade was suggested and that it was
a go with the family's blessing. So dates and times
(04:07):
changed many times. We were in contact with the family
so we could let the community know the details, but
still trying to keep it a secret from John. We
received word that he would be coming home on October
twenty third, but that time had changed many times throughout
(04:28):
the afternoon. Fertile had a home football game that night,
and the football team dedicated their game to Johnny, bringing
home a big win fifty to zero. Over arrival. The
weather was cold, there was a strong wind, and as
the time of their arrival pushed now into the evening,
we were afraid that everyone after the game would go
(04:50):
home to warm up, not Fertile residents. Finally, we had
a different time and we put the word out on
social media that john was just south of the Fertile.
It was an amazing sight to see and to be
a part of. Cars lined up on both sides of
the highway with patriotic music playing, our church on main
(05:13):
Street ringing their church bills, and American flags flying high
on the route. Residents, family, neighbors, and friends, plus perfect
strangers stood outside in the cold to welcome Johnny home,
all waving the American flag, many holding signs, and many
with tears. To be experiencing such a moving experience. John
(05:35):
and his family were welcome home from the Mayo clinic
with a fleet of fire trucks and sheriff vehicles from
Fertile and the surrounding towns and our EMS truck, all
with flashing lights and sirens going. This fleet lit the
family from about ten miles out of Fertile all the
way to their home north of Fertile. Our city mayor
(05:58):
proclaimed October twenty three as John Hubdi Day. Sadly, John
passed away on November two, twenty eighteen, to be missed
by his family and friends and his community. At his
funeral there was standing room only with the Native American
honor guard in attention inside the church and outside at
(06:22):
the grave site in the cold. One thing that most
of us amired about Johnny is that he never acted
like he had a disability. He loved to hunt, fished,
and golfed. Because of COVID concerns, of seniors did not
get to participate in a normal graduation service. So again
(06:44):
Fertile led the way and made beautiful banners of each
of our Fertile Beltramis seniors that were placed on the
light pools in town. On graduation day, the community came
together with the seniors standing beneath their banners in the
community driving by to congratulate each of them. Fertile also
(07:05):
hosts every year the biggest county fair in a tri
state area. All of these that I have mentioned were
made possible because of all the volunteers in our area
who over the years have donated thousands of hours of
time their big farming machinery, manual labor and fuel cause
to make it possible. No dream is too big. As
(07:29):
you can tell, I'm very proud of our community. I'm
very happy to tell everyone that I am from Fertile
to Flower City. If you are in the area, please
stop in. There's always coffee to be served and if
you are lucky, you will get an Updell donut as well.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Thank you and great job is always by Greg Hengler
on the production and a special thanks to Linda for
sharing her story and the story of her town, which
she believes is the nicest place in America. Want to
hear your stories about your town and why you think
it qualifies for such distinction. And we also thank readers
(08:08):
Digests for sharing this great story with us about a
downright nice place. And as our listeners know, this story
isn't an exception to the rule. People across this country
are doing nice and good things for each other each
and every day. If you have stories like these, we
want to hear them. Share them at our American Stories
dot com and go to the your stories tab. And
(08:28):
if you want more stories from readers digests Nicest Places
in America series, go to rd dot com forward slash
Nicest And by the way, what a story about one
of the products of this small town in northwest Minnesota.
And by the way, it's people, any townspeople or the
product in the end, and I keep thinking about John Hoddy,
(08:50):
who volunteered they go off and fight in Vietnam, and
he lost a leg above the knee and a right arm.
And what did he do? He made three promises to
God to have the fastest car in Polk County, to
not be dependent on the government, and to be of
service to others. And he lived all three of those
promises to God. Out the story of fertile Minnesota here
(09:15):
on our American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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