Inspired Media

Originally published in the November 2007 issue of Inspire(d), we offer our condolences to the family and friends of Grace Torresdal. She passed away May 6, 2015.

Interviewed by granddaughter and long-time Inspire(d) friend Kristin Torresdal (pictured here with Grace). 

What’s the best advice anyone ever gave you?
It’s better to earn your own way through life than to expect other people to support you.

How about the worst?
I can’t really think of any bad advice I’ve received.  I suppose it was when Lester (my husband) told me how great the farm was.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
I was raised during the Depression years so I didn’t think about choosing a particular career; I was more concerned with finding any job where I could earn enough money to support myself.

What do/did you do?
I was a telephone operator in Watertown, SD (1947) and Tacoma, WA (1951); after that I was a stay-at-home mom and I worked on the farm (near Ossian, IA) with my husband, Lester.

If you were stranded on a desert island, what three things would you want with you?
A cell phone, a bag containing hair supplies (my hair rollers, comb, and hairspray), and a fishing rod.

Try to describe yourself in one sentence.
I tried to be the best helpmate that I could be to my husband and family in spite of not liking the farm life and I enjoy helping friends by doing babysitting and things like that.  I don’t know, it’s hard to describe yourself in just one sentence. What would you say about me?

Kristin: I would say that you are a very strong, intelligent, hard-working woman and that your faith, family, and a desire to help others are really important to you.  I know that this is cheating (because it’s more than one sentence) but I have to add that you are also a wonderful cook, that you have a great sense of humor, and that you are the best grandma a girl could ever have.

If you could eat anything every day for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Seafood: scallops, shrimp, and lobster. I really started to like seafood when we lived in Tacoma, WA.

Name one thing you could not live without.
I can’t think of anything I couldn’t live without because we never know from day to day what’s going to be taken from us.

Tell us about… your wedding:
I was married at Decorah Lutheran Church on Dec. 15, 1950 in a terrible snowstorm with well-below zero weather.  It was a wedding that truly focused on our Christian faith and how important it is to both of us.  My mother, brother, and sister were able to come, though they got stuck in the snow on their way to Iowa because the roads were drifted…but they made it to the ceremony in time. Shortly after the wedding, Lester and I left for Tacoma, WA.  We lived in Tacoma for 2 years and then moved to the farm (near Ossian, IA) and lived there for 37 years.

“A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability,
and beauty of the biotic community.” -Aldo Leopold

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By Benji Nichols • Originally published in the Spring 2013 Inspire(d)

Fact: More than 90 percent of Iowa is farm acreage. Not surprising? How about this: Fact: Iowa has more native orchid species than Hawaii. Its true! Rare geologic features and natural diversity – like Iowa’s 32 species of native orchids – exist from the Loess Hills to the Driftless Region. Historic Iowa conservationists like John F. Lacey, Ding Darling, Aldo Leopold, and Ada Hayden have worked hard to keep them alive and present in our region. But with just 10 percent of Iowa land not involved in agriculture, how can we possibly protect these amazing assets?

Thankfully, organizations like the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation have stepped in, shouldering the work of early conservationists by preserving both land and resources in Iowa, as well as the access and use of them.

“The Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation works diligently to protect the absolute natural treasures we have in our state and preserves them for tomorrow’s generations,” says Northeast Iowa native and long time INHF board member Kirsten Heine. “This includes remnant goat prairies high above on the Mississippi River bluffs, prairie pot holes in western Iowa, majestic oak savannahs, algific slopes that are home to some of our state’s unique flora and fauna, and in our own neighborhood the beautiful Upper Iowa River. These landscapes tell our ‘Iowa story’ and enhance the overall quality of life.”

Fact: The INHF, as a private not-for-profit group, has secured over 130,000 acres of natural resources in the state.

Since the early 1900s, people like Iowa Congressman John F. Lacey have worked to implement conservation legislation to preserve wild places – a method that has been built upon and improved by many. But few have accomplished large, permanent preservation like INHF.

“I see firsthand the tremendous efforts of natural resource protection by INHF,” says Terry Haindfield, a Wildlife Biologist with the Upper Iowa Unit of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. “Their ability to see the future with and without safeguarding the environmental treasures in Northeast Iowa inspires them to not only protect quality of life experiences for the present but maybe more importantly the forthcoming generations. Their efforts will be admired forever.”

The state of Iowa has come into a fascinating place in time, agriculture, property value, and land use. Despite being one of the most prosperous places to grow corn and soybeans, older farm owners are retiring, while young farm families are stretched to keep up with land values and crop prices. With 65 percent of farmland owned by folks 60 years and older, many young farmers are cornered into pushing conservation aside in the name of higher yields and more tillable land. As agriculture in Iowa experiences these transitions, INHF becomes even more important. They work to permanently protect unique land and resources, and improve land management and bring new conservation ideas and opportunities to the state – all while respecting Iowa’s agricultural heritage.

The entire concept of INHF – preserve natural resources permanently – may seem a little too big and audacious to grasp… until you realize you’ve almost certainly seen or experienced the work of INHF firsthand.

“For over 30 years, INHF has been working closely with private landowners and public agencies to protect and restore some of the most scenic and ecologically diverse natural areas in Iowa,” says Brian Fankhauser, INHF Blufflands Program Manager. “For example, protection of a critical segment of South Pine Creek in Winneshiek County that supports the native strain of brook trout, and a 1,000-acre addition to Effigy Mounds National Monument are two of several significant projects INHF has helped complete in recent years for the Blufflands (i.e. Driftless) Region.”

Countless statewide projects range from coordinating large-scale land set-asides to invasive species management like pulling sweet clover or wild parsnip from remnant hill prairies to forestry projects like thinning oak woodlands for regeneration. Summer interns tackle hands-on tasks such as collecting prairie seed that will be used for future restoration projects, constructing fire lines for future woodland prescribed fires, and restoring cold-water trout streams.

Fact: Over the past 30 years, INHF has helped partners create nearly 600 of Iowa’s 1,000 miles of rail-trails.

The ability of an organization like INHF to accomplish such vast goals is in no small part due to exceptional leadership. Longtime (now past) INHF president Mark Ackelson is one of the most well known faces in Iowa preservation in recent decades. One of the many areas near and dear to Ackelson is the work of coordinating, guiding the building of, and promoting the use of hundreds of miles of recreational trail systems. INHF has helped launch such trail projects as the High Trestle Trail, Wabash Trace Nature Trail, Rolling Prairie Trail, to name just a few. The technical expertise and statewide perspective that INHF brings to trail-building projects is one of the driving factors in Iowa’s effort to be known far-and-wide for its trails. It is well worth the time to visit www.inhf.org just to see their fantastic interactive map of current trails and trail projects in the state, as well as their “Iowa By Trail” App.

But at its core, the long, steady view of INHF has been to work with private landowners and agencies to permanently conserve land for future generations. Each and every project is different, with the tools and knowledge of the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation helping landowners find the right options ranging from easements to donations or sales, to best practices for sustainable land management. It was the great conservationist Aldo Leopold who said, “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community.” Whether it’s a family donating a piece of land for public use, or a group navigating the intergovernmental agencies involved in making sure over 1,000 acres surrounding Effigy Mounds will never be developed, the work of an organization like the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation is truly never finished. But when the list of projects accomplished looks as long and beautiful as the list of Iowa’s wild orchids, it’s easy to feel like things are headed in the right direction.

Find out more about the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation and these great projects at www.inhf.org, or by contacting them in Des Moines at: 515-288-1846 or info@inhf.org. And you don’t have to be landowner to support the INHF mission: Memberships are as little as $25 per year and include a quarterly subscription to the stunning INHF Magazine.

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About The Author: Through high school, Benji lived with his parents amidst 165 acres of woods and blufflands just above the Upper Iowa River north of Decorah. This property, owned by the Sollien family, was put into a Forest Legacy Program easement in 2005 with the help of INHF. As part of over 2.3 million acres protected nationwide, it will never be anything but trees, bluffs, and wild land. Amen.

Interviewed by Amalia Vagts, granddaughter (left) • Originally published in the Summer 2014 Inspire(d)

My grandfather, John F. Hassebroek, can have a conversation with anyone, anyplace, anytime, on pretty much any subject. At 97, he’s slowing down a bit. But if you find yourself in Sioux City, Iowa with some time on your hand, he’d be glad to visit with you. John worked for the American Popcorn Company in Sioux City for 36 years traveling from farm to farm throughout Northeast Nebraska and Northwest Iowa where he was known as the “Pop Corn Man” by the farmers he visited. We caught up on Skype for this interview (with some help from my mom).

What’s the best advice anyone ever gave you?

I don’t know that I ran around and asked for advice, but, for one thing, “Be happy.”

How about the worst?

This is really more the worst idea than the worst advice. I moved to Buffalo Center around the time of high school. We had a big ice storm one day and I skated to town on Highway 9, right down the pavement. Luckily, things turned out okay.

What jobs did you think about doing when you were a young kid?

I was raised by my grandfather and grandmother and did a lot of jobs as a young boy. My grandfather ran a filling station next to the house and I worked there sometimes. In fact, my dad dug a pit inside our dirt garage, and I would get in it. The cars would drive in and I would drain the oil, and then tell whoever was up top that I was done and they would pour the oil in. This was when I was 12 or 13 years old.

What work did you do as an adult?

In 1938, I went to the State Fair in Des Moines with my brother and some friends. When they went home, I decided to stay and got a room at the YMCA. Finally down to no funds, I sat on the curb outside a bakery one day eating day-old doughnuts. I got a job with a salesman who sold fur coats in home-owned ladies stores. I finally tired of that and got a job at a parking garage around the corner from WHO where Ronald Reagan was a sports announcer. After that, I joined the service and am a World War II veteran. I spent most of my working years at the American Pop Corn Company. I was a fieldsman and businessman for them for 36 years. I went out and worked with the farmers who were growing the fields of popcorn. I had a very interesting career with a great company.

If you were stranded on a desert island, what three things would you want with you?

Radio, shelter, and a friend. I suppose for food I would want a fire, so I would need some matches. So if I smoked, I tell you I’d quit on the spot!

Describe yourself in a sentence.

Well, I think I’m a thoughtful person, friendly…I look forward to helping somebody.

How did you meet your wife (the late Bonnie Brodie Hassebroek)?

I was stationed at Fort Des Moines. One night I ended up at the ISO and noticed this pretty classy looking red-haired WAC (Women’s Army Corp) and challenged her to a game of ping pong. She was very friendly and we had a good time. We wound up at an upstairs bowling alley that had booths for short orders. Des Moines had citywide blackouts then and one of those happened so we sat across the booth and chatted in the dark. Well, we hit it off and that started the romance!

What is one of your favorite features of where you live now?

The bathroom, naturally!

A favorite memory…

Bonnie and I were featured in Ripley’s Believe It or Not. Bonnie was in the Women’s Army Corps and I was in the Army. Bonnie was deployed to London soon after the wedding. She went to France some weeks later and then I got orders to go to France with the 167th General Hospital Unit. We had a reunion in Verdun, France after I got a tip from a WAC who knew of a red-haired WAC named Bonnie staying in a farmhouse about 10 miles from the German front. I showed up and knocked on her door and it was on our first wedding anniversary, within one hour of our marriage ceremony. My sergeant mailed in the story to Ripley and it won first prize in 1945. We had quite a life together.