Nolan VonSeggern found a bountiful supply of goodwill from neighbors who harvested his crop on Friday.
Approximately 30 area farmers brought out combines and trucks to harvest 180 acres of soybeans at three farms. The farmers began work at about 11:30 a. m. and expected to finish in the late afternoon.
Clouds of soybean dust encircled red and green combines as farmers steadily steered the huge machines through the fields. Nearby semi trucks lined a gravel road as farmers waited for them to be filled.
Area residents decided more than month ago they wanted to help VonSeggern, a Hooper farmer who has cancer. Rainy weather kept them from the fields for weeks, but recent warm temperatures finally gave them the window of time they needed.
VonSeggern, 62, had prostate cancer four years ago. Two years ago, he was diagnosed with rectal cancer and had surgery, said his wife, Connie.
Now, he has colon cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy.
The treatments leave him weak, said his daughter, Amy Brand of Homer.
Last spring, area farmers wanted to help VonSeggern plant his crop, but he managed the job himself.
He planned to harvest his crop as well.
"At first, I was trying to see if I could do it myself, but with all the medical issues I have, I get tired easy and I need to rest. With the pace of harvest, I was unable to put in the long days it calls for - and Mother Nature didn’t help with the wet weather," VonSeggern said.
Scribner farmers Ron Dierking and Don VonSeggern, Nolan’s cousin, organized the effort.
Connie said Dierking told them: "We’ve got some guys together and we’re going to do this."
Nolan consented.
"It comes to a point where you have to say ‘yes’ I need the help. I was sure grateful," he said. "It’s a relief to be able to get the crop in."
Connie said wet weather caused the harvest plan to be postponed at least three times. On Friday, however, farmers from Hooper, Scribner, Uehling and Nickerson came to help. VonSeggern estimates that they had nine combines, a dozen trucks and seven grain carts.
Nolan and Connie’s eyes brimmed with tears as spoke of their appreciation.
"It’s quite touching," he said.
"People help each other, but you never expect that you will be on the other end of that and its overwhelming," she said.
Farmers helping the VonSeggerns, however, appeared more than glad to assist.
"They’d do the same for anybody else," Dierking said. "They’ve got big hearts."
Sitting along the roadside, waiting for their trucks to be filled, other farmers commended the area man.
"He’s a very caring person and a good community person," said Ben Schole of Hooper.
"He’s a good farmer," John Suhr of Hooper said.
VonSeggerns’ sons, Kyle and Daniel, and their son-in-law, Darrin Brand, assisted with the harvest.
German Mutual Insurance in Scribner furnished the sandwiches. Neighbor women brought over bars and cookies.
Earlier in the day, Amy Brand snapped photos of combines in the field.
"I just think it’s amazing," she said.
Nearby, her sister-in-law, Marie VonSeggern, expressed similar sentiments.
"It’s awesome," she said.
Dierking, however, perhaps summarized the day best, when he said:
"Nolan needs a helping hand and that’s what farmers are all about - helping each other and taking care of each other."
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