My Dad - The Resilient Singing Auctioneer

In this episode of The One Pebble Podcast, Kristine sits down with an incredibly special guest - her dad; Dale Fladeboe. In this heartfelt conversation, they reflect on a life filled with courage, music, and resilience.

Dale Fladeboe is an Minnesota State Auctioneers Association Hall of Fame Auctioneer, who opened Fladeboe Auctions in Willmar, Minnesota in 1978 after attending the Worldwide College of Auctioneering. Since that time, the company has grown to specialize in selling farmland across MN and charitable fundraising auctions across the nation and worldwide. Dale continues to conduct auctions on a regular basis and is extremely proud to have his children join him in the family business. He and his wife Grace have been married for 58 years and live on a working farm near Willmar, Minnesota.

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Episode Transcript

Kristine (00:00):
This is the One Pebble Podcast.
I'm your host, Kristine.
Welcome to the One PebblePodcast.
Today, it brings me tremendousjoy to be sitting down and

(00:21):
having a conversation with myfather, and I would call him my
hero on earth.
Dad, I'm so excited to visitwith you today.
We're going to have so much funand I so appreciate you sharing
your heart with us today.
Before we get started, Ithought it'd be fun for you and

(00:44):
I to kind of get in the mood,get in the spirit and loosen up.
Well,

Dale (00:49):
I'm in the mood.

Kristine (00:50):
Wonderful.
I know you're full of spiritand excited and I am too.
But you know what?
Before we get deep intoconversation, let's Would you
just sing a little bit of theAuctioneer song with me?
Just one verse to kick thisoff.
Will you do it with me?
Here they are.
You go ahead.
Do that, Dad.

Dale (01:10):
Here they are coming out of gate 29.
What are you going to givethem?
There was a boy from Arkansaswho wouldn't listen to his ma
when she told him that he

Kristine (01:20):
should go to

Dale (01:20):
school.
He'd sneak away in theafternoon, take a little walk,
and pretty soon he'd wind up atthe local auction barn.
And then he'd stand and listencarefully, and pretty soon You
began to see how the auctioneercould talk so rapidly.
Send me on my, it's do or die.
I've got to learn that auctioncry to make my mark and become

(01:42):
an auctioneer.
$25 bid and a $30 dollar bid.
Make it $30, bid a $30, bidabout $30.
Now who bid about a $30 dollarbid?
$30 dollar bid and a $35, willya?
Bid a $5, bid a $5, bid about a$35.
Now who bid about a $35 dollarbid?
Sold, I sold that hog for a $30dollar bid.

Kristine (02:01):
Dad, when I listen to you sing that song, I think of
the decades and decades ofparades.
You love to sing in parades.
You love to sing the auctioneersong.
You love, love, love to sing.

(02:23):
And I'm excited to share moreabout that journey and ask you
so many more questions about ButI think what we're going to do
is I want to start when you werea little boy.
And one of my things that Iadmire so much about you is,
Dad, you've been supercourageous, and you've lived a

(02:45):
life of gratitude.
You've had a never-give-upspirit, and we're going to talk
a lot about that today.
You've lived a life of serviceand purpose.
And I am so excited to visitwith you and learn from you.
And I think when people listento this today, they're going to

(03:09):
be inspired and educated and bereminded of the purpose in their
own life that they're currentlydoing, or maybe even just
realize that with one act ofcourage or to take that next
step that you've done oftentimesin your life.

(03:30):
And I know your life has comewith a lot of adversity, but you
have overcome that with atremendous attitude and a never
give up spirit.
There's something I do want tosay on a sincere note.
There'll be people listening tothis that have lost children

(03:52):
and have lost spouses, have lostgrandparents, or have lost
their father at a much, muchyounger age.
And I'm mindful that you'restill here, Dad, at 82 and a
half.
Well, I thank you.
I thank you very much.
Only by the grace of God,but...
He gets all the credit.

(04:14):
He does.
He gets all the credit, and I'mmindful...
that not all of us are given an80-year contract.
And my heart goes out to peoplethat have lost loved ones.
Dad, let's start when you werea little boy.
You grew up on a farm northeastof Willmar, Minnesota.

(04:34):
There you go, seven miles.
It was a dairy farm.
And I know you walked to schoolseven miles uphill there.
Both ways.
Both ways.
And then back again.
But what was it like growing upon a dairy farm?

Dale (04:51):
What it was like growing up, we milked cows.
30 cows in those days was kindof a big deal because of the
fact that...
And we had a beautiful barnthat Grandpa, my grandfather had
built and that type of thing.
And it was...

(05:12):
And they did a great job oftaking care of it.
But the difference of it is, soit looked superb.
And it looked, you know what itlooked like?
It looked like you would gointo that dairy barn and...
grab a glass of milk from afresh cow and just go ahead and

(05:32):
drink it.
It was that clean and lookedthat good.
Although, let me tell yousomething, you know, in the
coldest of winter, we got prettymuch a ride to school, but
hardly ever got a ride home fromthe school.
So we didn't have to walk home.
And, you know, we lived in theNorwegian hills.
So, you know, it wasn't uphillboth ways.

(05:54):
That's a little lie.
But the difference of it is, isthat you had to go steep
uphills.
Up one craft and then down theother side.
And the likes of that.
And many nights.
And here's one thing that'samazing to me.
And I still haven't forgottenthis.
And the old railroad track,which is now a DNR trail, was

(06:18):
kind of a super special type ofa place because...
Either I, well, you know, itwasn't I.
It was one of our friends,Lowell Ekbaum, used to say,
well, today we'll set a penny onthe railroad track and see what
it looks like after the train'sgone by.

(06:40):
You set a penny on the railroadtrack.
Let me tell you something.
It's about this big around.
because I'll never

Kristine (06:48):
forget that.
When we were little, you woulddo that with us kids.
We'd set a penny on therailroad track and come back and
look at it.
Dad, you've often told me thatyour grade school teacher,
Virginia Johnson, in those daysyou went to country school,
think a little house in theprairie, where the same teacher
probably taught all sevengrades.
She swept the floor.

(07:09):
She did the whole nine yards.
But I think one of the storiesthat resonates with me as to a
time in your life where you werekind of faced with courage.
And this is a story that you'vetold me often because you
actually started kindergartenwhen you were four, and

(07:30):
confidence did not come naturalfor you your whole life.
You had to learn confidence.
You had to learn to kind ofhold your head, shoulders, and
heart high over the decades.
But That teacher, VirginiaJohnson, she realized that you
had a really good voice, and sheapproached you, you'll have to

(07:51):
remind me the grade, and shesaid, Dale, will you sing, I
think it was White Christmas,will you sing a solo?
Tell us, bring us back to whatwas that like, and how did you
feel when you sang that solo?
Well,

Dale (08:09):
that's very true because Virginia Johnson was the one.
Let me take you back to this.
Going to grade school, at leastin our grade school, District
60 in Green Lake Township,Kandy, Ohio County, and I don't
know what they did in the otherschools, but it was a part of

(08:33):
the curriculum.
But You know, not every day,but every second or third day,
we would sing out of the, and itwas a handout type of thing.
And some of those songs that wesang, I still remember.

(08:54):
It was hard to believe.
My grandfather's clock was toolarge for his shop.
So it stood 90 years on thefloor.
It was taller by half than theold man himself, though it
weighed not a penny, weighedmore.
And that's just a part of it.

(09:17):
But anyway, I still rememberthose songs.

Kristine (09:20):
So what grade were you in when your teacher, Virginia
Johnson, said, Dale, I want youto do a solo?

Dale (09:27):
Well, I did a solo many years for the Christmas program.
Let me tell you something.
The Christmas program was a bigdeal because of the fact that
it was something that even...
the grandfathers and thegrandmothers showed up for her.
So that was a big deal.
And putting up the stage waseven a bigger deal because of

(09:50):
the fact that you kind of got towork.
And I kind of even loved to bea carpenter at the time.
I used to pound a few nails andso on and so forth.
And so we had little stageplatforms that we sat on.
sat these planks on and thattype of thing.
And we put up a wire and you'dopen the curtain.

(10:15):
When the curtain opened, youwere supposed to be Jack Parr or
somebody and that type ofthing.
But anyway, going to gradeschool, and let me say this.
So it was this way thatVirginia Johnson asked me to

(10:36):
sing Yeah, and I think you'reright, Kris.
I think it was White Christmas.
But anyway, at Christmastime atthe New London High School, and
I was scared to death.
I was just scared to death.
And that type of thing.
And she said, yeah, you can doit, Dale.

(10:56):
You can do it.
You can do it.
I've heard you sing, and youcan do it.
So anyways, the time came, andit went pretty fast.
And...
She was right.
I mean, I did do it and I coulddo it.
But, and that's, I mean, I'msorry if I'm being a little

(11:17):
windy here, but I'm just tellingyou the truth.

Kristine (11:19):
No, and that's part of the reason why it's so fun to
visit with you about your life.
Because, Dad, for my life, youknow, we're all faced with
decisions and dreams and forksin the road and promptings and
things.
Pebbles.
It's the One Pebble podcast.

(11:40):
And we all have decisions tomake.
And things can be scary.
Fear is true for all of us.
But throughout your life, andI'm so excited to hear more
about it today and to share withour listeners, you've had to
choose courage over fear.
often over fear, even at theyoung age, of singing White

(12:03):
Christmas.

Dale (12:04):
And you know why you fear it so bad is because you think
you might fail.
Failure is a big thing.
That's so true.
You know, you just didn't knowif you could do it or not,
especially, you know, a bigthing that I feared was to sing
the song in front of so manypeople.

(12:24):
I mean, the auditorium wasfull.
But something I had to do then,and I still have to do, is when
you get in front of a crowd,whether you're in church or
singing at a wedding or whateveryou do, you just kind of got to
put yourself in a differentworld and the likes of that and

(12:48):
pretend that you're singing tothe wall

Kristine (12:52):
or whatever.
That's true.
And sometimes I like to say,you know, that I'm trying to
live for an audience of one, andthat would be Christ.
And so who cares what everyoneelse thinks?
But if we live for an audienceof one, our maker, then it
really doesn't matter.
I want to fast forward untilyou were in high school.

(13:15):
I might embarrass you a littlebit today, but that's okay.
I can be embarrassed as well.
I've been

Dale (13:23):
embarrassed Kris.

Kristine (13:24):
I've asked you my entire life.
So you met mom at the Spicerroller rink, and I've said my
entire life, I've said, whochased who?
You met at the roller rink, andyou've been now married for 58
years.
And I've asked you over andover, who chased who?
And I've never gotten astraight answer.

(13:45):
No,

Dale (13:47):
that's, Kris, I'm sorry to say this, but that's your
problem if you don't think.
that you've been given astraight answer because I think
probably the feeling was mutualbecause of the fact that she
wanted to skate with me and Ithink I wanted to skate with
her.
And I thought she was thecutest little thing in the whole

(14:09):
roller rink at the time.

Kristine (14:13):
I love it.
And then you get married and...
Sadly, the story today, it'sgoing to come with positive
things and sad things, but themain message is how much you've
overcome by the grace of God.
You and mom get married.
I believe you were about 24years old.

(14:36):
Right on.
The night of your wedding, yousay goodbye to your
father-in-law, your newfather-in-law, mom's dad, and
You never saw him again.
He passed away when you wereon.
Yeah, that's

Dale (14:52):
right.
And that's really sad.

Kristine (14:53):
52 years old of a heart attack.
Heart attack.
And back then you didn't havecell phones and you drove a car
out to see your uncle, RayFladeboe, who we all loved.
And you're out in Californiafor two weeks and having the
time of your life.
By the way, I have to embarrassyou again.
You have told me over and overyou had the opportunity to see

(15:17):
Elvis Presley, $12 for Dale, $12for Grace, and

Dale (15:22):
you said no.
Wait a minute.
Let me straighten you out alittle bit.
When you talk of me that I'm 82and a half, you always say,
Dad, don't forget the half.
I tell them I'm 82, but youalways say, and Kris is right,
that I'm 82 and a half.
But let me tell you about ElvisPresley.

(15:43):
It was $12.50 to see ElvisPresley in person.
But that would be $25 for thepair of us, for the two of us.
And the license, we didn'tthink we could afford it.
So we didn't do it, which was,I mean, stupid.
It was unbelievably stupid.
I mean, Kris, he's known as theking of rock and roll.

Kristine (16:08):
The king.
Well, you missed the king, butyou did see a pretend king of
rock and roll in Branson just afew weeks ago, an Elvis
impersonator, and you enjoyedthat.
Can I say something?
Yeah.
I hate to interrupt you, butlisten to

Dale (16:25):
this.
Some impersonators are so goodthat I would have swore that the
impersonator I saw in Branson,Missouri, was...
He looked as good as Elvis, andhe could sing.
Maybe he could even sing alittle better than Elvis.
I'm not sure, but he wasfantastic.

(16:46):
He's the best one I've everseen.
Fantastic.

Kristine (16:49):
I love it.
So then you're coming back.
You're 24 years old.
Mom's just a bit younger thanyou.
You're coming back from atwo-week honeymoon that you
drove to California, and you getto your sister Betty's, and she
says...
I want you to sit down.
And they told you that mom'sfather, your new father-in-law,

(17:15):
had just passed away at 52.
And I bring that up not to tellsad stories, but that was great
adversity for you and mom at 24years old.
At 24 years old.
That was difficult.
But dad, I want to say one morething and then I want to hear a
little bit about thatadversity.
Then you go from 24 to 30, andwhen you were 30 years old, your

(17:44):
father passes away from acancerous brain tumor.
So you lose both your dads.
You were 24 with yourfather-in-law, and you were 30
with your own dad.
And the Lord is still good.
Again, we don't come with an80-year contract, but through

(18:04):
all of that, That was a lot ofadversity for you and mom at a
young age.
Oh, very much so.

Dale (18:10):
Very much so because, you know, it hurt your mother way
harder.
And if there's such a thing asa called worser, that might fit
in the program here.
But the difference of it isthat, yeah, she was really tore
up by it.
Yeah.

Kristine (18:32):
Well, and I know with your own father's passing, that
was extremely difficult andunexpected.
I was about two months old whenhe passed away.
1973.
A man that you greatly enjoyed.
Both men you greatly enjoyed.
Then at 30 years old, you hadbeen thinking about going to the

(18:56):
auction school.
And you had told mom for...
about five years, maybe sevenyears, that you wanted to be an
auctioneer.
It was a dream of yours, butyou've told us kids that what
you often did is when you wereyoung, you would go to the sale
barn and you'd see theauctioneer sell cattle.

(19:17):
When you were a little boy,your dad would take you to the
sale barn.
If you were lucky, maybe youwould get a Coca-Cola or a
hamburger and you were alwaysmesmerized by the auctioneer.
And so if I could speak foryou, what you've said to us
kids, meaning my sisterKimberly, who's an auctioneer,
my brother Glenn, who's anauctioneer, for a long time, you

(19:41):
wanted to be an auctioneer.
And this isn't to make you feelbad, because I think in the
end, God's timing was perfect,but you were too scared.
You were scared to go.
You were scared of failure.
Because

Dale (19:57):
I thought

Kristine (19:58):
I would fail.
It's the same thing.
Yep.

Dale (20:01):
Same thing.
And sometimes, you know, youjust have to work through that
failure type of thing and thelikes of that because if you
don't put your best foot forwardor whatever and, you know, try
to work through those mental,and you know what it is?

(20:23):
It's all in the mind.
I think it's in the mind.
And the likes of that, of beingscared because of the fact that
many, many times it's like anold friend of mine, Freddie
Swartz.
You know what he said?
He said, you know, Dale, let metell you something.

(20:43):
He'd look at me and I'd say,Dale, if there was something you
couldn't change, absolutely youcouldn't change it.
He'd say, Dale, what could Isay that would make a
difference?

Kristine (20:56):
I loved Freddie.
When you were deciding to go toauction school, finally, I got
to give mom some credit.
I want to give you both credit.
But you wanted to go, wanted togo, wanted to go.
Finally, mom said after aboutfive years, Dale, you've been
telling me for five years, sixyears, seven years, however many

(21:18):
years, at 35 years old, Shesaid, I want you to go to
auction school and I want you tobelieve in yourself.
But prior to that, you knowwhat you had told mom?
It's one of my favoritestories.
You said to mom, actually yousaid it for many years, I'm
going to do one of two things.

(21:39):
I'm going to buy a herd ofdairy cattle or I'm going to go
to auction school.
Well, not only did you grow upon a dairy farm, but mom grew up
on a dairy farm.
And You've always told us kids,the hardest working people
probably in the world is thedairy man, the dairy woman.
The dairy farmer.

(21:59):
The dairy farmer.
Nobody

Dale (22:01):
works

Kristine (22:01):
harder.
Nobody works harder.
Kris,

Dale (22:04):
let me interrupt

Kristine (22:04):
you.

Dale (22:05):
Yes.
Seven days a week, twice a day,365 days a year, they milk the
cows.
Just think of that.
Milk the cows.
Who else, I shouldn't say intheir right mind, because
there's a lot of people that doit and the likes of that, but
who would, I mean, who couldwork that hard?

(22:25):
I tip my hat to them and giveall the credit in the world to
the dairy farmers because theyare incredibly hard workers and
good, good, good people.

Kristine (22:37):
I do too.
And what you have said so manytimes is, is it wasn't to put
down to the dairy farmer, but acompliment to the dairy farmer.
They work so hard, and you bothhad grown up on dairy farms,
and you had decided that I'mgoing to go to auction school

(22:59):
because nobody works harder thanthe dairy farmer.
And that wasn't the firstpassion you had, And that amount
of commitment and hard work tobe a dairy farmer really pushed
you in another direction.
So off you go to auctionschool.
And I love this story.

(23:21):
It's two weeks long back then.
And you said to mom, if I don'tlike this, will you pick me up
in two days?
And she said, heck no, I won'tpick you up in two days.
So she was feeding the steersback home.
I know you had steers backhome.
I have to give her a lot ofcredit

Dale (23:39):
because she fed the cattle when I was at the auction
school.
I mean, lots of cattle.
I mean, how many girls would do

Kristine (23:47):
that?
I love it.

Dale (23:49):
Unbelievable.

Kristine (23:50):
And when you went to auction school, I know you took
your guitar and you met ahundred new friends from all
walks of life.
I know you were scared to goback.
But something you've told veryfew people that us kids know
about, and mom, that makes meso, so proud.
When you left auction school,there was only one person that

(24:14):
was voted by their peers mostlikely to succeed.
And if those peers would haveonly known, you were scared out
of your mind, scared out of yourmind to go to auction school.
But there again, And whatever Isay to compliment you today,
Dad, God gets all the glory.
Not you.

(24:34):
He gets all the glory.
But through the grace of Godand through believing in
yourself, you put one foot infront of the next.
And you go scared out of yourmind.
And you meet 100 new friendsfrom all walks of life.
And somehow, the day you weregoing to go home, you were
shocked.
Because your classmates hadvoted you most likely to

(24:58):
succeed.
Tell us about what that feltlike, Dad.
What was that day like to bevoted most likely to succeed?
Well, I wish Mom could have

Dale (25:05):
been there and the likes of that for our graduation.
There was a graduation of theReich Worldwide College of
Auctioneering and that type ofthing, and there was 126
students there.
And someday I'll get that.
And it hung on the wall formany years.
And I don't know, either you ormom took it up in the, I don't

(25:29):
know, some closet upstairs.
I got to hang that back up.
I don't know where it's at.
But it's there.
There was 126 students in theclass.
And why they ever did that ismore than I'll ever know.
But anyway, be that as it may,it was a good time.
It was a good time.

(25:50):
Special day.

Kristine (25:52):
Then, Dad, you come home and you decide,
first-generation auctioneers,very, very, very few make it.
I think the statistic is like3%.
And you decided that you wantedto hang your hat with Mr.
Abner Jacobson from Benson,Minnesota, if he'd possibly take

(26:16):
you under his wing.
So you, nothing short of Beggedhim for a job.
Begged him, begged him, beggedhim.
Well, I went up to see him fourdifferent

Dale (26:26):
times.
And he was a John Deere dealerand that type of thing and had
been an auctioneer for 25 yearsalready and that type of thing.
So I and mom went to Benson,Minnesota, which from Wilmer is
25 miles away, 25 to 30.

(26:47):
And we sat there.
all day waiting to talk toAbner Jacobson because he had an
office, but he wasn't in hisoffice.
And having said that, I went upand talked to the parts man.

(27:07):
I said, is Abner around?
Oh, no.
No, no.
But he'll be back soon.
He'll be back soon.
So I thought, well, You know,we waited another hour, maybe a
half an hour, you know, and thattype of thing.
And he didn't come back, and hedidn't come back, and he

(27:27):
didn't, and didn't, and didn'tcome back.
Well, what we found out lateris that he was working at a big
auction with another auctioneerand that type of thing that was
going to take the rest of theday.
Well, anyway, to make a longstory short...
We had an auction on September13th at Stan Emberlin, a guy

(27:56):
that I had hunted deer with formany years.
Not many years, but in thosedays, even if you hunted for
five years, was quite a few.
So anyway, Stan Emberlin woundup with cancer.

(28:16):
Passed away at the age of 66and that type of thing.
And I was lucky enough to gethis sale and the likes of that.
So I went back to AbnerJacobson and told him, I said,
if I, because I thought I wasgoing to get the sale, but I
wasn't sure.
I said, if I ever get a sale ofmy own, I said, would you help

(28:44):
me with the sales?
So he went.
When Abner got serious, hislips would come out, and he'd
go, I go to the hotel, and hehad a deep voice, hotel, you got
to let me know early becauseI'm pretty busy, awfully busy.

(29:04):
So anyway, about two, threemonths after that, I finally
went up there, and I told him, Isaid, Abner, I got the sale,
and it's going to start soon.
At a certain time, we got adate picked out, and so on and
so forth.
I said, are you open that day?
Well, I am, Dale.
I am open.
Yeah.

(29:24):
Yeah, I'll come down and helpyou with it.
And that's the way it started.
And after the sale was over, helooked at me, and I'll never
forget Stan Everland's sale.
And his wife, Sylvia, had diedprobably five years before he
did.
And it was just a householdsale, but lots of, in those

(29:50):
days, glassware and carnivalglass and depression glass sold
by a big time.
I mean, you hold up a plate ofcarnival glass, especially if
it's green, and ask for $35, andthey, probably not $35, but
I'll give you $25.

(30:10):
Yeah.
In today's world, let me tellyou something.
They're down about 50% of whatwe sold them for in those days.
Not to say that that's a bigthing.
I'm just telling you the truth.
This is all I'm doing.

Kristine (30:26):
And what I'm going to do is I'm going to explain about
20 years of your life.
Abner Jacobson said yes to you.
You said yes to him.
And you had...
about a 25-year relationship.
At the same time, you're anauctioneer.

(30:48):
And by the way, I have tocompliment Abner Jacobson.
Us kids have learned, meaningus, my auctioneer siblings and
myself, we have learned so muchfrom Abner Jacobson.
You learned so much.
We couldn't have been morethankful for those 25 years.
At the same time that youwere...

(31:08):
selling all those sales withAbner, learning from Abner,
getting a few sales of your own,you are farming.
You're in the field.
You have beef cattle back home.
You're a cattleman.
You're a farmer.
You're auctioneering.
You had your real estatelicense.

(31:29):
You're a husband.
You're a dad.
And us kids, two stories that Ithink about often from my
childhood is, Dad, I lovedsnowstorms, and I'll tell you
why.
There was never a shortage oflove in the home that we grew up
with, and I'm so, so thankfulfor that.

(31:50):
But you taught us to work hard.
I always saw you cheerleadingus kids, supporting us kids,
being very loving.
Can I interrupt you a second?

Dale (32:00):
It

Kristine (32:00):
was

Dale (32:00):
called All in the Family.
It was All in the Family.
All in the Family, making woodand taking that in so that it
could dry out so that we couldburn it.
Yeah, we did All

Kristine (32:11):
in

Dale (32:11):
the

Kristine (32:11):
Families.
We'd burn the wood.
We'd cut wood, hull wood, pickrocks, pick mustard, the whole
nine yards.
And I'm so thankful for thatwork ethic.
But here's why I lovesnowstorms.
Dad, you would stop working.
and you'd come in the house andyou'd get out your guitar and

(32:33):
we'd pop popcorn and we playedgames, ate popcorn, sang songs,
and it was so fun to be snowedin as a family.
I have wonderful memories.
I have wonderful summermemories when you were out in
the field and you'd be out onyour tractor and it'd probably
be 10 or 10.30 at night andyou'd come home and you'd have

(32:56):
dirt all over your face and Andus kids would be in our...
The true look of a farmer,Chris.
The true look of a farmer.
You could barely see in yourears from the dirt, barely see
the whites of your eyes.
And we'd be in our jammies, uskids.
But you know what you wouldsay?
Kids, we're going to go to thedairy freeze in Spicer.

(33:16):
You're going to all jump inGreen Lake together.
to cool off and to clean up.
Instead of taking baths, wedidn't have enough hot water.
We took some baths, I will say.
But if we could jump into GreenLake as kids and clean up.
And then- There was nothingbetter than jumping in Green
Lake.
That was a big deal growing upwith dad and mom to jump in

(33:38):
Green Lake.
And then if we'd maybe havefive minutes left before the
dairy freeze would close.
We didn't get to do this oftenanymore.
but you would take us to theDairy Freeze.
And you would sit in the car,and you'd give us a little bit
of money for a cone, and youwould always want a malt.

Dale (33:58):
One more interruption.
Yeah.
In those days, it only took alittle bit of money because 25
cents would buy quite a bit.
It's a Dairy Queen.
Yeah.
Dairy Freeze, Dairy Queen.
There was a Dairy Freeze andSpicer, Dairy Queen
in Willmar. Take your pick.

Kristine (34:13):
And then I'll never forget— You'd rarely come up to
the window because you told uskids, tell the person working at
the window that I want extra,extra, extra, extra, extra.
That's five extras.
Malt powder.
I loved it, Kris.

(34:35):
To this day, you love.
We're going to go to the DairyQueen later today to celebrate.
I'm sure you will.
The other thing I'll say thatI've got a really good memory,
going out to eat was a reallybig deal as kids.
We rarely, rarely, rarely wentout to eat.
I have memories of we maybewent out to eat on our
birthdays, but twice a year we'dgo out to eat.

(34:57):
We'd go to Perkins forstrawberry pancakes when you got
the crop in the field.
Then we'd go back out toPerkins for strawberry pancakes
after the harvest and And it wasa rare occasion to go out to
eat, and I have such goodmemories.
But I remember you, Dad, andMom gets equal credit.
There was never a shortage oflove and hard work.

(35:20):
And I'm so thankful for allthose years growing up on the
farm, the cattle, the pullingcalves, Christmas time, just
working hard to get the auctionbusiness started, working hard
in the field.
And your love of people, liketo this day, people are your

(35:42):
heartbeat.
You love people so much.
But you equally loved to be onthat tractor.
And you'd come home from a longauction, and you wouldn't have
to please anyone.
It would just be you and theLord out on the tractor.
And so I'm thankful, Dad, andI'm thankful to Mom for how hard

(36:02):
you worked and the values thatyou instilled in us kids.
But I want to talk about whenyou were 57 years old.
58, I think.
I'll never forget it.
We're coming up on 25 years.
This is just shy of 25 yearsago.
And I'm pregnant with ourdaughter, Elsie.
And I get a phone call thatyou've had a heart attack.

(36:26):
And I'll never forget it.
I got to Rice MemorialHospital.
And I'm So thankful again.
One more time, anything I saytoday, God gets all the credit.
Not Dale, not the hospital, notthe doctors, not anyone but the
Lord.
But we get to the hospital andI meet you before you get on the

(36:51):
helicopter and we prayedtogether and I never knew if I'd
see you again.
You get to St.
Cloud.
You'd had a major heart attack.
They fixed you up.
Lots and lots of heart damage.
One stent.
One stent.

Dale (37:09):
And I'll never forget.
But it was blocking a majorartery.
And I'm the furthest thing inthe world from a doctor, so I
couldn't tell you.
I couldn't tell

Kristine (37:18):
you which one.
You'd been in the hospitalabout eight days because you had
a really low ejection fraction.
Your heart was very, verydamaged.
And I'll never forget, Dr.
Applin said to us kids, I said,Dr.
Applin, do you think we couldever have dad, ever, for 10
years?
Is there any way?
I know that we're not entitledto anything, but do you think we

(37:42):
could ever have dad for 10years?
And Dr.
Applin said, let's just getthrough this first year.
Let's try to get through thisfirst year.
Dad, that's almost 25 yearsago.
But right before you got out ofthe hospital, you had a
setback.
You were excited.
You had one stent.
You had lived.
And you were just about to gohome, and I'll never forget the

(38:05):
doctors up in St.
Cloud.
And by the way, St.
Cloud Hospital Heart Center,thank you, thank you for all
you've done.
But they said, you need to havea defibrillator.
Your heart's so damaged thatwe're worried that it will stop.
It's

Dale (38:22):
right there.

Kristine (38:24):
It's right there.
You can feel it.
And they said, before you gohome, you were going to go home
that day.
And they're very common today.
And they said, before you gohome, we are going to put a
defibrillator in your body.
And I remember you beingnothing but grateful, but
discouraged.
That was a tough, tough daybecause you thought you were

(38:46):
going to go home.
Well,

Dale (38:47):
Uncle Ray was home hunting ducks and that's what I wanted

Kristine (38:51):
to do.
So bad.
Well, let me take it fromthere.
Then you come home, and it waseither this time or another
time, but I believe yourneighbors were harvesting your
crop.
When you came home from thehospital, we both just cried and

(39:15):
cried and cried, and Mom too,because the neighbors were out
in the field, hadn't been askedto do this, and they were
harvesting your crop.
That was such an honor for youand so humbling to see.
But here's what I admire somuch, Dad.
I'll never forget that firstheart attack.

(39:36):
I'll never forget them puttinga defibrillator in and you being
a young man.
And although you had toughdays, there was days that you
were disappointed.
There was days you were sad.
You are a normal, imperfectperson with tough days, but you

(39:57):
decided, I'm going to choosejoy.
I am going to have my glasshalf full, not half empty, and
I'm never, never going to giveup.
I'm going to talk about twomore things, and then I want you
to talk about never giving up.
Then, a couple years later,you, Dad, myself...

(40:20):
Your neighbor who's passedaway, Newell Nilsen, and our
daughter, Elsie, 21 years ago,Harris was a baby in the house
with mom.
I had just had him.
We get in a really bad drafthorse accident.
Think Little House on thePrairie one more time.
And the wagon tips over.

(40:43):
The horses are running.
Everyone flies out.
By the grace of God, We alllive, you're hurt, the neighbors
hurt.
That could have ended sodifferently.
I don't know if we should callit a miracle or not, but that
was a ton of adversity.

(41:03):
But Dad, I'm going to say onemore thing.
A couple years after that,you're 65 years old, and you're
supposed to sing the Lord'sPrayer at Glenn and Stephanie's
wedding.
And this is, if I do my mathright, this will be 18 years.
We're coming up on 18 years.

(41:25):
That's 65.
And that day, you're supposedto sing the Lord's Prayer, and
we get a knock on the door, andit's Mom.
We're all in the Twin Cities.
We're excited for the weddingday.
And Mom says, Dad is sick.
Dad, that morning, you had abig, big, big stroke.
We prayed all the way toAbbott, all the way to Sister

(41:47):
Kenny.
You missed the wedding.
You didn't get to sing thatday.
But we were the lucky ones.
And then you spent three weeksin Sister Kenny.
You learned to re-walk.
I don't know if that's theright English, but that's what
I'm going to call it.
You learned to walk again, Dad.

(42:09):
You learned to talk.
You could barely talk.
And the last thing you coulddo, Dad, was be an auctioneer.
And I came to visit you dayafter day after day, and I had
no idea what your life wouldlook like after that day.
Tell us a little bit for thelistener today that's either...
has gone through a tough thingor going to go through a tough

(42:31):
thing or currently in a toughthing, of all the health
challenges you've had, you havesaid the hardest thing you've
ever done.
And the hardest thing for yourmind to have the right mindset
and to keep believing inyourself and to, you wondered

(42:52):
and wondered, what is my lifegoing to be like?
What am I going to regain?
And I'm mindful, Dad.
Lots of people don't regainthese things.
They either don't live throughthem or they don't get to talk
again.
They don't get to walk again.
You're just simply one of thelucky ones.
But, Dad, when you said that'sthe hardest health challenge
you've ever gone through, tellus what does it look like to

(43:15):
never give up?
Bring us back to some of thosetough days.

Dale (43:19):
Well, the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, at 65
years old, was to learn to walkfor the second time.
That was just miserably tough.
But I give the credit, not onlyto the good Lord, but to Sister
Kenny, who said I could do it.

(43:42):
They said you could do it!

Kristine (43:48):
Even before you believed you could do it.

Dale (43:51):
Yeah.
And it happened right thereabout Christmastime.
And Sister Kenny came to me,and they said, Dale, but I was
walking with two bars and thattype of thing because, you know,
let me take you back to thestroke.
I'm laying in bed, and it's6.30 in the morning, and Glenn

(44:12):
is supposed to get married,what, at 8 o'clock at night,
thereabouts?
Probably 5 o'clock, but closeenough.
It doesn't make any difference.
But the thing about it is, isthat...
Glenn was going to get marriedthat night and that type of
thing.
And I rolled over in bed, andI've already told you I was in

(44:35):
bed.
I rolled over in bed from myleft side to my right side, and
just something happened.
It's hard to explain.
And I didn't think I was dying.
I knew I was dying.
I didn't think so.
I knew so.
And all of a sudden it wentaway, and I told myself, what

(45:00):
was that?
What's that all about?
So I put my feet out on theedge of the bed, and I said,
I've got to go to the bathroomand see if I can figure this
out.
So I stood up and I fell rightback down again.

(45:21):
And I couldn't walk, but Icould crawl.
And I crawled to the bathroom.
You and Kim took me over toAbbott.

Kristine (45:34):
And Mom.

Dale (45:35):
Yeah, and that type of thing.
And from there, how long

Kristine (45:40):
was I in Abbott?
A week?
You were in Abbott a week andSister Kenny three more weeks, I
believe.
Yeah, yeah.

Dale (45:49):
Mm-hmm.
But at Sister Kenny, I givethem a tremendous amount of
credit because of the fact thatI was walking.
I learned to walk with thesebars because I could support
myself, but my balance was gone.
My balance still isn't like itshould be.

(46:12):
But anyway, having said that,It was this way that, yes, I
did.
I missed the wedding and thelikes of that.
But when I came into Abbott, Iwas so sick.
I was just so sick that, and Itold him, I said that, I mean,

(46:35):
when you're that sick, you don'treally care if

Kristine (46:37):
you live or die.
But when you got to SisterKenny, you had a choice to make.
I'm either going to give up.
And this is only going to getas good as your healing was only
by the grace of God.
And at the end of the day, itwas going to be his plan.

(46:58):
But you and your humanness hada choice to make.
And you were either going towork at it and choose positivity
and choose to believe inyourself and choose not to give
up and choose to be courageous,or you were going to give up.
Those were some tough days.
We cried those days.
We laughed those days.

(47:19):
But you chose to never give up.
And I'm thankful for thatexample.
Once again, let me

Dale (47:26):
interrupt you.
At that point in time, whenyou're that sick, it's totally,
totally, totally up to the goodLord.
Whether...
He wants to keep you around.
I'm sorry to say this, butwhether he wants to keep you
around or not and that type ofthing, it's just this way that I

(47:52):
was so sick that, like I said,it really didn't make any
difference if I died or not whenyou get sick enough.
Sick enough that you don't careif you go or not.
and somebody yet saves you, youwake up in the morning and you

(48:16):
still can't walk.
You can't really talk verygood.
You can't do this.
You can't do that.
But

Kristine (48:27):
you never gave up.
Then you started working andworking and working and working.

Dale (48:34):
And three weeks later, you came home.
The Lord gets all the credit.
Or I would have been gone manytimes, many moons ago.
I'm

Kristine (48:44):
going to say a couple more of those times.
So then, and I'm onlyhighlighting the big things.
There's a whole bunch of smallthings.
I can't even remember the year,but you double broke that.
your ankles one year.
One year in your log house, youwere rewiring your fan, and you

(49:05):
fell off and broke not one, Ithink, but maybe two wrists.
Your memory's pretty good,Chris.
One year, you sit up in the St.
Cloud Hospital for a week witha blood clot in your lungs.
And I want to talk about thesecond draft horse accident.
So after the stroke at 65...

(49:26):
Some of those things I justlisted happened.
But then in your early 70s wasyour second draft horse
accident.
And I forgot to tell him whenyou were 58 and you had the
heart attack, that was yourfirst helicopter ride to the St.

(49:48):
Cloud Hospital.
In your early 70s, when you hadthe second draft horse
accident, that was your secondhelicopter ride to the St.
Cloud Hospital.
to the St.
Cloud Hospital, and you were sohurt, you had cut your leg to
the bone from your knee to yourankle.
And they told mom, we don'tknow if he'll be alive when you

(50:12):
get to the St.
Cloud Hospital.
Some of your dear friends hadput a tourniquet on your leg,
and here you are to tell thestory, and we're super grateful.
Then after that, dad said, fourand a half years ago when
you're 78 years old.
I'll never forget it.
I get a call at 6.15 in themorning, and it's mom.

(50:35):
And mom says, the helicopter'son its way.
We're in Willmar.
The helicopter's on its way forthe third time.
And I said, is dad okay?
She said, it's his heart.
And I said, I'll be right up toSt.
Cloud.

(50:56):
But I'll never forget it.
I stood outside.
We're right in the flight pathof the helicopters.
And I waited and I waited and Iprayed and I prayed on that
road.
Gosh, I'm sorry to cry so muchtoday.
I'm crying mostly happy tears.
But it was a windy, windy day,so they took a different flight
path.

(51:16):
And I got in my car and up toSt.
Cloud I went and I said,"'Lord, may your will be done.'"
And dad, there you were.
And we met Dr.
Danielson.
And he said, I'm going to dotriple bypass.
And you'd already been throughso much.
We didn't know if you weregoing to make it.

(51:37):
But you needed that triplebypass.
You just had your second largeheart attack.
And you do the triple bypass.
And Dr.
Danielson said it went well.
And God willing, I think you'regoing to have dad for more
years.
And I just could not be morethankful.

(52:01):
And I just want to say today,whether it's the Wilmer Medical
Facilities, your generalpractitioner, Dr.
Dan Fugelstedt, who's been onyour team, we're thankful.
Up in St.
Cloud, nobody expects me to saytheir name, but I'll never
forget these names.
Dr.

(52:22):
Applin, the cardiologist allthose years ago.
Dr.
Teedy, a cardiologist.
Dr.
Danielson that did your triplebypass, I'm grateful.
And your cardiologist today,Dr.
Johnson, who you love extrabecause his grandpa died.
is a John Deere dealer up inInternational Falls.

(52:43):
But thank you to Wilmer and allof the medical work that
they've done on you.
Thank you to St.
Cloud and the Heart Center.
And so four and a half yearsago, you have triple bypass, but
it was another trial in yourlife.
You couldn't have been morethankful.
You were so thankful and sofilled with gratitude.

(53:06):
And something I appreciate somuch about you is it was never,
we never once heard, oh, poorme.
You never looked at your lifeand said, I'm the victim.
You always said to us, family,oh, lucky me.
I'm blessed beyond measure.
And you taught us gratitude andyou taught us to never give up.

(53:28):
What do you remember abouttriple bypass and the third
helicopter ride to the St.
Cloud Hospital?
But what I want you to speakto, Dad, and what I'm so proud
of, and it's such a big part ofyour legacy, you chose to be
grateful and you chose to nevergive up and be positive with
adversity.

(53:49):
So what can you tell us today?
Help us when we're faced withadversity.
difficult situations what whatdid you learn from that and how
did

Dale (54:02):
you learn and the good lord gets all the credit that be
that is me i can tell you whatremember now i said he gets all
the credit for keeping me aliveso long but the difference of it
is uh maybe You could have, youwould have, and you not should

(54:25):
have because you're doing agreat job, I believe.
But the difference of it is, isthat I can tell you what I, and
I don't know if you've been inthe helicopter on the way to St.
Cloud or any place.
Have you

Kristine (54:36):
been?
I wanted to go with you one ofthose trips, but they never
invited me.
Let me tell you what it's like.

Dale (54:45):
You get in there and it's noisy.
Oh my Lord, it's noisy.
Because that whirlybird, and Iused to have helicopter rides in
the military service.
When I was in the Army NationalGuard, I had many helicopter
rides, airplane rides.
I flew to Alaska one time, andthat type of thing.

(55:07):
But the difference of it is,let me tell you, the first time
that I really recall the best isthe time when I had the first
heart attack that I...
mentally remember thehelicopter so good because there
was a pilot.
There was another, I don't knowwhat you'd call him, but there

(55:31):
was three people on the plane,pilot and the other, what would
you call him, Kris?

Kristine (55:40):
Well, I know that there was people helping you,
the medical team.
But you

Dale (55:46):
know what they said?
They said, Mr.
Fladeboe, you have to talk tous.
Keep talking to us.
Keep talking.
So talking to people has neverreally been a problem for me.
And so I just, I mean, I askedthem about the weather.

(56:06):
I looked down and...
The pattern from WilmerHospital going to St.
Cloud goes right over our farm.
You sat up and you tried tolook at your cattle.
Section 29, and I saw mycattle.
I was trying to load two cowsinto this trailer and that type

(56:33):
of thing, and one cow went infine, the other one wouldn't go
in.
But...
you know, being, knowing an oldfarmer attitude, and I had, I
grew up this way that kind ofnothing is impossible, and, you
know, you just, if you want tosucceed, you just work at it a

(56:54):
little hard, okay?
So I found this sheet ofplyboard, and I got it behind
this cowl, and I Oh, I'm pushingon this cow.
I got her front feet in, butshe wouldn't put her back feet
in.
And in the process, she poopedall over me.
This is when you were 58.

(57:17):
Yes, first heart attack.
The difference of it is.
So I got back from there, orright from there, I told myself,
because I felt something comingon.
And it was this way that, andit got worse, and it got worse,

(57:42):
and I said, no, I gotta quitthis.
I gotta quit this, because itfelt like there was a rope
wrapped around my chest, andthere was one tug-of-war team
pulling on the one side, andanother tug-of-war team pulling
pulling on the other sidebecause it was just, ooh, it was

(58:03):
bad news.
So I told myself, but becausethis paw pooped on me, I had to
go and take a shower.
I took a shower before I went

Kristine (58:17):
to the hospital.
Listeners, do not go take ashower before you go to the
hospital.

Dale (58:22):
I drove myself in there.
Now when they put me on thehelicopter, I'm feeling pretty
good.
And I'm looking out the window,and I talked to this guy who's
ever supposed to be, he is themedical assistant.
Let's call him a medicalassistant.
I don't know what his propername is.
But there's a pilot, andthere's a medical assistant.

(58:45):
And the medical assistant kepttalking to me, and he said,
Dale, you just got to keeptalking to us.
And he said, maybe you shouldlook out the window.
So I looked out the window.
We're going right over my farm.
And I don't know where this cowwent, but it was my farm with

(59:10):
the truck hooked to the trailerand that type of thing and so on
and so forth.
And it takes like 20 minutes toget to St.
Cloud, 15 maybe.
I forget what it is, but itdoes make a difference.
But we got there, and it allworked out pretty good.

Kristine (59:29):
Such a blessing.
Very good.

Dale (59:30):
Such a blessing.
I got a stent, and a few dayslater, and I wanted to hunt
ducks with Ray Fladeboe so bad.
He was my uncle.
He was my dad's brother.
And I wanted to hunt ducksbecause I've hunted ducks all my
life.
And Dr.

(59:51):
Applin came in the day before,and he said, Dale, I can't let
you go home.
And I said, why?
He said, you have to have adefibrillator.
And, God, I mean, that reallyknocked me for a loop.
Let me tell you something.

(01:00:12):
That knocked.
Well, anyway, then you take itfrom there, Kris.

Kristine (01:00:15):
Yeah, and that was difficult.
We talked about that earlier.
And you really just mentally,you know, we all have just
challenges mentally.
And you really...
had a decision to make.
Am I going to be positive andaccept this, or oh poor me?
And us kids and mom watched youaccept that that was something.

(01:00:41):
You were going to have to staylonger, and they were going to
put an extra precaution.
Then we're going to fastforward to two years ago.
You had one more healthincident.
You were Two springs ago in2023, your heart all of a sudden

(01:01:01):
started beating out of rhythm.
You don't think you're old.
You were singing at the seniorcitizens.
You don't think you're a seniorcitizen, but you were singing
for the senior citizens.
And you lifted a super, superheavy speaker and you had so
much back pain.

(01:01:22):
We'll never know for sure, butwe think...
it caused a heart arrhythmia.
And that heart arrhythmia wenton for so long and so many days
that before you know it, youwere a very, very sick dad.
And we had you back up in theSt.
Cloud Hospital, and you weren'tdoing well.

(01:01:44):
Dad, we didn't know if thatwould be the end of your life.
But again...
just by the grace of God andthat medical team.
They got on top of it andturned that around and we got
that heart arrhythmia undercontrol.
And I'm just so thankful forthat.
But I will tell you this,here's what I admire so much

(01:02:07):
about you.
And I'm sorry to tell you,you're not a perfect dad.
Well, you're telling the truththere.
I'm not a perfect daughter.
Dad, I'm going to die a work inprogress.
I actually want my gravestoneto say someday.
Is it going to say, with actionspirit, we sing and tell?

(01:02:28):
No, it's not going to say, withaction spirit, we sing and
tell.
I wanted to say a work inprogress for the Lord.
You are not a perfect dad, noteven close.
But I'm still going to call youa...
an awesome dad, a work inprogress for the Lord, a dad I'm
super, super proud of, a lovingdad.

(01:02:49):
But when I think of somegeneral themes of your life that
have inspired me, and I knowcountless people around you,
confidence didn't come naturalfor you.
And I already said that.
You've had to work atconfidence.
You've become a lot moreconfident with age.

(01:03:09):
I think you're confident withinyour faith and you become
confident.
But you really had to choosecourage because natural
confidence wasn't a part of yourGod-given makeup.
And I've watched you choosecourage.
I've watched you put courageover fear.

(01:03:29):
And Dad, with all these healthchallenges that you've had, you
could have been, oh, poor me.
I'm giving up instead.
You said, oh, grateful me.
Oh, lucky me.
Oh, blessed me.
And your glass has been halffull.
And you've taught us to begrateful and to thank God for

(01:03:55):
every day and to never give up.
And I've just watched you witha positive spirit, health
challenge after health challengeafter health challenge.
Be positive and accept whatcame your way.
And you've been thankful andyou've never given up.
And I'm so grateful for that.
Now, I watch you with so muchpurpose and through my whole

(01:04:19):
life with purpose, servingauction clients for 47 years.
You've served and served andserved.
You've been in real estate for37 years and You've sang in
parades for probably 40 years.
And what I'm most proud of isthe husband and dad and grandpa

(01:04:41):
that you are.
But I watch you with purposetoday.
And many times when I call you,Dad, you'll tell me, I'm just
getting started.
I'm just getting started.
That's my motto,

Dale (01:04:54):
Kris.
And you know that.
We all know we're not justgetting started.
When you're 82 and a half, youknow, who knows how long you're
going to live or whatever.
But if you can live with thatattitude and that type of thing,
that maybe there is a new day.
Maybe there's a new week.
Maybe there's a new month or anew year.

(01:05:16):
Who knows?

Kristine (01:05:19):
And when I think of the One Pebble podcast and
people choosing to make adifference, people...
choosing courage and impact andkindness and encouragement.
You just live with purpose tothis day, whether it's at a land
auction and you're shakinghands and encouraging people, or

(01:05:42):
whether it's at Westwood Cafeand Spicer.
It is hard to go out to eatwith you, and I'll tell you why.
I hate to brag on you, butyou're a local legend.
Everyone wants to talk to you,but here's what I admire about
you.
You're never too good foranybody, and you always make

(01:06:06):
people feel seen.
You make people feel heard.
You give people time to afault.
We'll be waiting for you to eatbreakfast for minutes and
minutes and minutes, andsometimes maybe it's an hour
before Because you're going tomake the person or anybody that

(01:06:27):
you come in contact with, you'regoing to give them time.
You're going to give them yourwhole heart.
You're going to make them feelseen and heard and noticed.
And you genuinely make peoplefeel good about themselves.
You're kind to people.
You encourage people.
And that same spirit that youlive in, that you're just

(01:06:47):
getting started, you exude that.
with gratitude and purpose.
So I think if anything, if I'mso lucky to ever live to be 82,
our purpose is never over.
We never have to stop throwingpebbles to create a large ripple

(01:07:08):
effect.
Dad, you love people.
Oh, I do.
And you get up with purpose.
Tell us about your love ofpeople.

Dale (01:07:18):
Okay.
I truly do love people and thelikes of that, not because, and
don't even call me a legend, andthat's pretty silly, but I love
people.
I worked, my biggest break inthe auction business was getting

(01:07:43):
to work with Abner Jacobson.
Now, he was a legend, okay?
Let me tell you why.
as myself being a youngauctioneer and the likes of
that, him and I would walk upthe streets of Benson going from

(01:08:05):
Detoy's Cafe to the Monitornews media.
And he would meet people on thestreet and they'd say, Abner.
Abner.
Oh, yeah.
Abner, how are you doing?
Oh, how am I doing?

(01:08:25):
I'll tell you, I'm doingfantastic.
Fantastic.
So I'm walking with him withthat type of scenario.
And he looks over at me and hesaid, Dale, let me tell you
something.
Someday the same thing is goingto happen to you.
And I guess...

(01:08:46):
I have to say that the man wasprobably

Kristine (01:08:51):
right.
It did happen to you, Dad.
When I'm with you and my intentisn't to brag on you, but
you've lived life with a reallygood heart and you've been a man
of character and integrity andI'm proud of the way that you've
served people and lived yourlife and treated people and

(01:09:11):
that's come back to you fullcircle.
I want to say two more thingsbefore we go.
Sorry I got so emotional today.
That's how special you are tome.
By the grace of God, you stillget to live on the farm with Mom
at 82 1⁄2 years old.
You are still a farmer.

(01:09:33):
Most of your land you rent out,but you're still going to
plant.
A few days from now, I'm goingto be planting corn.
He's excited to plant corn.
He plants about 100 acres.
He sold his herd of cattle at80 years old.
I was there.
It's a day I'll never forget.
He's still an auctioneer.
His phone still rings forauctions, but most of all, he

(01:09:57):
comes with us kids.
He supports us, something Ilove about Dad.
He's never been in competitionwith us kids.
What he says to us kids is,kids, go run circles around me.
Kids do way better than I everdid.
Chris, that's what it's allabout.

(01:10:17):
You have been my biggestcheerleader.
Many times I come home from afundraising auction, and I
really got to give you credit.
I'd call you at 10 o'clock atnight, 11 o'clock at night.
I knew you wanted to be in bed,but you'd answer the phone.
And you'd say, tell me allabout your sale.
Tell me all about it.

(01:10:39):
I couldn't be more proud ofyou.
There's still

Dale (01:10:41):
a lot of interest there,

Kristine (01:10:43):
.
Interest.
And I always knew you wereproud.
But whether you wanted tolisten or not, you wanted to
hear all about that sale.
And you've been an awesomecheerleader to Glenn, to Mom, to
Kim, to myself, to our spouses,to the grandkids.
So I'm just extremely proud ofyour purpose.

(01:11:05):
You still sell real estate.
You're still an auctioneer witha lot of purpose.
Nobody hangs up more auctionsale bills or shakes more hands
or thanks people better than youand mom.
And this summer, I know you'regearing up to sing in the
parades.

(01:11:25):
So before we say goodbye...
And there's so much more that Icould say.
I want you to give ourlisteners just 10 seconds of
your auctioneer chant that youhad to relearn.
Just think of that at 65 yearsold.

(01:11:46):
And then some people are goingto be watching you in the
parades this summer.
I know you love the auctioneersong.
I know you love This Land isYour Land.
I know you love God BlessAmerica.
roll out the barrel, but isthere any other songs that
you're working on?
So what would you like to tellour listeners that you're going

(01:12:09):
to sing in the parades thissummer?
I

Dale (01:12:16):
love

Kristine (01:12:25):
it.
I'm so proud.
Now give us a couple lines fromof a song that you're excited
for in the parade, for theparades this summer?
I know you're always working onnew songs, and you practice
your guitar every day.

Dale (01:12:38):
Well, no, and I felt bad.
I didn't practice it yesterdaybecause of the fact, although I
practiced a little bit thismorning.
Can I tell you something?
Listen to this.
I've been playing the guitarfor 44, 45 years.
And

Kristine (01:12:56):
you always say that you're not good.
I think you're really good.
Let me

Dale (01:13:00):
tell you something.
There's a guy by Rock ValleyChurch, and he's played in
Wilmer quite a few times.
He is, I mean, playing theguitar.
I've been pretty blessed thatthe Lord has let me sing quite a

(01:13:22):
bit and that type of thing, butPlaying the guitar just never
come naturally for me.
So I've been playing it for 45years and about that much better
now than I was 45 years ago.

Kristine (01:13:38):
That's just telling you the truth.
I knew that you were going towork on a song.
You are my, oh, you start it.
You are my sunshine.
My only sunshine You make mehappy When skies are gray

Dale (01:13:54):
You'll never know, dear How much I love you Please don't
take My sunshine away The othernight, dear When I lay sleeping
I felt I held you In my armsWhen I awoke, dear I was
mistaken So I held my head andcried you are my sunshine my

(01:14:22):
only sunshine you make me happywhen skies are gray you'll never
know dear how much I love youplease don't take my sunshine
away

Kristine (01:14:39):
lastly I just want to say and I want to give mom a
bunch of credit too she's nothere with us today but I love
how much Over the years, you'vetold us kids how much mom has
meant to you.
You call her your amazinggrace.
You realize that iron sharpensiron.
And I love how much credit yougive her for the man that you

(01:15:02):
are.
Dad, I'm super proud to be yourdaughter.
Thank you.
This was a lot of fun.
We're going to do it again.
Oh, I can't wait.
Do you have one last pebble ofencouragement?
Encourage our listeners.
Is there anything that you wantto tell them?

Dale (01:15:22):
Yeah, there is.
If you want to be anauctioneer, you know what they
told me when I left theauctioneer school?
If you want to be anauctioneer, be honest.
Be honest.
Don't take bids out of the air.
If I wanted to leave somebodywith that alliance, that
attitude, latitude, call itwhatever you want to call it,

(01:15:44):
that type of thing, Just behonest.
Be yourself and be honest.

Kristine (01:15:49):
Amen.
How about if you don't want tobe an auctioneer?
What encouragement do you havefor people?
Well, then I'd be a farmer

Dale (01:15:55):
like him now.
I'd be a farmer.
I'd be planting corn.
I'm going to be planting cornhere maybe in another day or
two.
But what can you tell ourlisteners

Kristine (01:16:04):
about don't give up in life?

Dale (01:16:06):
Well, absolutely not.
No, you don't want to give up.
They told me at Sister Kenny.
They said, you can, DaleFladeboe, you can learn to walk
again.
But that was the hardest thingI've ever done in my life, was
to learn to walk for the secondtime.

Kristine (01:16:27):
But you did it, and you never gave up.
Dad, I love you.
Thank you.
This has been the One PebblePodcast.
One pebble, so many ripples.
What will you do to make adifference?