Thirteen Died Due to Botulism
Marvin “Bud” Hein was born in 1926 near Grafton. In 1931, when Bud was four, his parents were entertaining at an evening house party at their home just outside of Grafton. At that time, Bud’s parents, three of his oldest siblings, and eight others—[a total of 13]—died from botulism poisoning due to improperly home-processed peas. Bud and his brothers, Richard and Wilfred, the three youngest children of the family, survived because they were sent to bed before the tainted meal was consumed. It was the greatest loss of life due to botulism in North Dakota. After losing his family, Bud went to Grafton to live with his aunt, Hulda Maresch, his father’s sister. Bud says. “I think she had eight children. They were adults and grown and married. When we started living with my aunt, one of the first things we did was go to church.”
Bud attended Grafton schools but didn’t complete high school. In 1944, during World War II, he joined the United States Marine Corps and saw action in the Pacific Theater, including Okinawa. He received multiple shell fragmentation wounds and was awarded the Purple Heart medal.
Discharged in 1946, Bud returned to North Dakota and started working for farmers. “When I got out,” he says, “I didn’t take time to feel sorry for myself. In two days, I was shoveling barley in a bin for Abner Stark. I figured North Dakota was the place for me.”
In 1948, Bud married Betty Christine Davis. He retired in 1993 after working in the grain industry. They had four daughters. Betty died in 2015. Bud says, “It was very special [to have a family].” Their daughter, Elizabeth, comments, “Well, he’s my dad and I love him. Dad lost so many family members when he was young, and now knows how precious it is to have a large family of his own.”
When questioned about what success in life means, Marvin says, “Success in life to me is—one thing is staying old as I am—89.” He says he’s “shooting for 90,” and after that, it’s “one day at a time. But oh, it’s been a good life.”
Marvin C. “Bud” Hein with daughter, Elizabeth Larson, Interview: May 5, 2016, County: Walsh, City: Grafton
Restoring a Schoolhouse 1,240 Miles from Home
David and Donna Bormuth live in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, but own a century-old three-story school building in Denbigh, North Dakota. “I’m just passing by on Highway Two,” David recalls, seeing the building for the first time. “Stopped and took some pictures and got to talking to local people and just happened to mention that, boy, if they ever go to sell it, I’d love to buy it—just make a home and maybe bed and breakfast or hunting lodge, or who knows, but just, basically make it our home. Well, then I wasn’t even thinkin’ about retiring, ’cause it was 23 years ago.
“One thing led to another, and eventually I got the letter in the mail from the township trustees, and they said they were gonna sell it and told me what to offer and I did, and that’s when we bought it.”
Actually, Donna wasn’t part of the “we” at that time. “There was a lady before me,” she laughs, “I inherited this when we married.” David picks up the story: “I was dating a gal; she didn’t want anything to do with it, so…”
“Here I am,” Donna says. “My first time seeing it was the weekend he asked me to marry him at the Norway Lutheran Church, which is south of Denbigh.” Why propose in an isolated church at the end of 12 miles of gravel road? “That’s easy,” David answers. “It was a long walk back to civilization if she said no.”
“So I said yes,” Donna says. “We’ve been married 17 years now, and my work has kept me back [in Ohio] most of the time, and so we’ve not been able to do what we have hoped to have done.”
Restoration has been slow. “I’m in construction,” David says, “so I’ve been here in the winter and spring. I love the wide open spaces. And the North Dakota people were very friendly. It seemed like the older people embraced Donna and I when we came up. And some just loved the fact that we saved the schoolhouse.”
David and Donna Bormuth, Interview: June 9, 2016, County: McHenry, City: Denbigh
Visiting His Buddy’s Grave
Darold was wounded in Vietnam on November 22, 1968, the day of his brother’s wedding. “The dogs tripped a booby trap. One went off and grenades went flying all over, and one landed right to the side o’ me and it pretty much raked both legs from the top to the bottom. I was hit three times on the left leg and once on the right leg.
“They airlifted us to Cam Ranh Bay, and they did most o’ the surgeries there. Then they flew us to Japan. Then [I was] in Denver for three months [for further surgery]. I got to come home for Christmas that year.”
In July 1969, Darold and Claudia Backer were married. Darold’s Vietnam buddy, medic Howard “Doc” Fitzgerald, was to be Darold’s best man but he had been killed in Vietnam on March 23, 1969.
“[Doc] took a direct hit from an RPG. I’ve had friends here, but I’ve never had friends like I had over there, you know. We were real close. He was more like a brother than he was a friend. We spent day and night together every day.
“I’ve told Claudia all this for 40 years. I said, ‘Someday I’m gonna visit Doc’s grave.’ Well, we’re gonna go, and we’re gonna do some huntin’. So before we left I got on the Salt Lake City’s phone book, and I started callin’ every Fitzgerald that I could. And about the fourth or fifth one that we called the lady got real quiet, and she says, ‘How did you know Howard?’ and I says, ‘Well, I was on the [armored tank carrier] with him.’ And she said, ‘Well, Howard was my kid brother.’
“And so we visited, and she gave me her address, and so it was unreal when we got there. I went to knock on her door, and the minute she opened the door she looked so much like her brother it just took me back. We went to his grave and then it seemed funny, because his grave was really growed in, but then you realize it’d been pushin’ 50 years since he died. That was the best half an hour I’ve spent in a long time. Just talkin’ to him.”
Darold and Claudia (Backer) Soupir, Interview: August 14, 2017, County: Stutsman, City: Courtenay
(Editor’s Note: These profiles of North Dakota residents were collected by author James Puppe between 2004-2018, covering 617 subjects and 113,000 miles. He has given permission for his book to be serialized in North Dakota Newspapers at no charge. To find out how you can read the entire collection of Dakota Attitude profil
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