North Bend student beams about his display on Racek farm

Jake Walker has been bringing light into the lives of Nadine and Jerrine Racek.

Lots of light.

This Christmas, the 16-year-old Morse Bluff resident has been hanging lights all over the farm, which lies 5 miles south of North Bend. At night, passersby may notice lighted deer that appear to walk to a manger scene or a Santa at the end of the yard line. Bushes around the place hold multicolored lights.

But more than hanging lights, Walker has brought hope to the women as they mourn the loss of loved ones and helped them look toward the future.

Walker was 12 when he and his family met the Raceks at St. George Catholic Church in Morse Bluff.

“They’re the nicest people I know,” said Walker, a junior at North Bend Central High School.

Nadine’s son, Larry, befriended the boy.

“I started working for Nadine and Larry and I’d ride in the tractor with Larry. I was really getting interested in agriculture because of Larry,” Walker said.

The Raceks earned the Aksarben Pioneer Farm Family Award �” one week before Larry was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. He died on Jan. 8, 2007.

“He was such a wonderful son,” Nadine said.

And he had been a good friend and mentor to Walker.

“He was down to earth, always happy and always full of knowledge about life,” Walker said.

For Nadine and Jerrine, it was one of three heart-wrenching losses. In 2002, Nadine’s daughter, Lorna, died at age 47 of a blood clot. Nadine’s husband, Lorin, died in June 2000.

The Raceks had a farm equipment sale. Walker helped then and has been working around the farm since.

“Last year, we didn’t set that many lights up. We were working hard, trying to get other tasks accomplished,” Walker said.

But the son of Drew and Linda Walker remembered the years his family drove by the farm when it was decked out for Christmas.

“I couldn’t believe all the lights,” he said. “It was amazing.”

So he began pulling lights out of sheds and putting them up. There’s a nativity scene made of fencing and the side of a barn. The property is lined with colored icicles. The deck is adorned with chaser lights.

“I’ll keep adding to it until it’s ready to take down,” Walker said. “We’ve got the stuff. Why not use it?”

Others have noticed his efforts. Motorists drive by slowly or even pull into the yard. Walker has been pleased with the results.

“I get to make something beautiful for people ... and to make the farm look good,” he said.

Walker hopes to be a farmer someday.

“I like animals. I like growing things and seeing what I do come to life,” he said.

The Raceks avail their farm and its resources to him, but he has a job with them, too. Walker has five calves on the Racek farm. He plans to show other calves at the Saunders County Fair this year and to study agriculture at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

But for now, he’s busy on the Racek farm.

“They’re like family,” he said.

The Raceks feel the same way about the Walkers and are pleased to have Jake working on the farm.

“He’s just a great kid. He’s made all the difference in how we’ve accepted Larry’s loss,” Jerrine said, adding, “We’re very blessed to have him in our lives. He has brought the farm back to life.”

And he’s brought some light, too.