Text from June 2, 1977, Tri-County News, from a “Meet your neighbor” column by Robin Hasslen. “There are always reasons for giving up. Arguments for self-pity are thick as blackberries. The world is crowded with thorns and cruelties, causes for tears. Courage is the divine unreason against which, as against a rock, the waves of disaster beat in vain. Say to yourself: I am unconquerable. I shall arrive. In the center of creation sits not an enemy but my Friend. I shall arrive – what time, what circuit first, I ask not. In some time, His good time, I shall arrive. Let come what will, I shall never say I am beaten.” – Marden It is easy to gloat in self-pity. Any day of our lives, we can probably come up with some petty problem about which we can complain and feel sorry. This will continue unless we allow ourselves to step beyond our own concerns and into the lives of others. You might cry over a crushed finger until you notice that your neighbor has lost his hand. You might fret over the loss of a dozen cabbage plants to cutworms until you hear that a friend has to replant 200 acres of corn. And, oftentimes, that person in greater cause for distress is ironically in less a state of self-pity than are you! I spent a very rewarding afternoon with Frank and Nellie Stelten, and as I contemplated their lives while driving home, I was ashamed of myself for all the instances of self-pity I have experienced and I felt a new strength about the trials I might face in the future. What had this brother and sister said to impart the strength, courage and determination I was detecting? What had they done? Who ARE they? Despite the circumstances in our lives that cause despair, the stationary “who we are” remains and determines what we will be. So, who are Nellie and Frank, and how did they evolve? Nellie and Frank were two of the nine children of John and Cora Stelten who were farmers on the family homestead 2 miles west of Kimball. John’s father had come over from Holland and homesteaded the place and it continues in the same family to this day. Both Nellie and Frank were born in the log house that their grandfather had built. They worked long hours and walked 2 1/2 miles to country school during the months that farm work slacked off. Frank remembers that in the winter they would walk home in snow up to their hips, change their wet clothes, eat a little lunch, and then go to work doing their chores. However, there was not always snow, especially that one Christmas when Frank’s older brother made him a sled. … So, their childhoods were as normal as anyone else’s in the first quarter of the 20th century. Until tragedy struck: on Nov. 18, 1929, for Nellie; June 28, 1931, for Frank. For almost a month, Nellie Stelten lay unconscious in a bed in a small hospital in Watkins after she had barely survived an automobile accident in which she suffered a crushed skull. The accident happened on a gravel road in a Model T Ford. The doctor did not operate from Sunday when Nellie was brought in until Tuesday when it was determined that maybe she would not die after all. Four people held down the 17-year-old girl while Dr. Brigham, without the use of anesthetic, removed the part of Nellie’s brain which had been protruding from her crushed head. As a result, she is blind in her right eye and paralyzed on her right side. She had to learn how to walk and talk all over again. Did Nellie’s determination begin when the doctor said she wouldn’t live? Or did her courage develop when she learned to utter her first “yes” in response to the continuous prodding of her patient brothers and sisters? One sister, Leona, had the dream of becoming a teacher, so she took it upon herself to re-educate Nellie and held school sessions every day. Nellie remained in bed until summer when she was able to sit in a wheelchair. Then she was ready to rebuild her life around her capabilities and courage. Today Nellie does beautiful needlepoint with her left hand. She does all the housework, washes clothes, irons, goes grocery shopping, and raises a few vegetables. “Why, she can do more with one hand than most people can do with two,” commented Frank. “Such courage,” nodded Leona who was visiting her sister and brother. On the night of June 28, 1931, 17-year-old Frank lay on his broken back in a road ditch after his Model T Racer had overturned. It was not until after dawn that a passing motorist noticed him. Again, as in Nellie’s case, the doctors did not touch the patient until three days after his accident because they were giving him up for dead. Frank had been paralyzed from the waist down. During his 9-week stay in the hospital, he became inflamed due to an internal infection and the doctors said, “You’ll never see him alive again.” But Frank hadn’t given up. In fact, he never did, even when he was told that he would not walk. He returned home and was bedridden for 6 months. Then he moved into a wheelchair. That stage was followed by some attempts at walking with some stakes his brothers had cut from the trees in the nearby woods. His determination then led him to Gillette Hospital where he was fit with braces and crutches. Returning home after two months, Frank was even more resolved to learn to walk. That spring and summer he walked all over the farm, finding strategic stumps to rest on at intervals. For several years he continued to wear the braces. Today he has graduated to the canes. Neither Nellie nor Frank took advantage of their various states of invalidism. They had both fought against immeasurable odds to live. They were not about to give in to a wheelchair or a nursing home. Frank had always helped out with the farm work, in fact during his 15th summer, he went to work for an elderly widow and ran her whole farm alone. Fortunately, after Frank began to regain strength following his accident, he was able to continue farm work on the new tractor his father had acquired. In 1944 Nellie, Frank and their parents moved to town into the house in which Nellie and Frank still live [in 1977]. Nevertheless, until her mother became too weak to do the housework, Nellie worked out. Frank also worked as a service station attendant for Walter Mielke. For 21 years he worked 7 days a week from 1 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Their folks died in 1966, one month apart. (Some say that love brings that deep an attachment.) Well, what does life mean to Nellie and Frank? And who are they? It means success. It means victory over self-pity and physical incapabilities. It means happiness measured by a neighbor child coming over to talk, by a beautifully created needlepoint design, by a western novel (which Frank reads constantly during the winter; Nellie is unable to read), by a visit to a shut-in neighbor (which Nellie often does), by a chat with Tim Olson. “Ah, there’s no place I would rather be than home,” smiles Frank contentedly. They leave their little house only to shop or make an occasional visit. When their parents were alive and had to be moved to the nursing home, Nellie and Frank visited them faithfully each day. They felt that the parents who had been so sacrificing, so patient, so loving to them all their lives deserved that same amount of loving and care and sacrifice from their children. Let’s all sit back a minute and take a look at ourselves. What do you know about courage? What kind of petty complaint have you made today? To whom have you given some encouragement or love? Are our lives in such a constant whirlwind that we forget to take the time to contemplate such questions? I have been deeply touched by Frank and Nellie Stelten. Might we all be strengthened by their undaunting courage and hope. ***************************************************** It’s about time we featured this true story of these lifetime Kimball residents. Their little house in town on Elm & Hazel served them well, until both moved to the Hilltop Care Center in Watkins where Frank died March 31, 2001, and Nellie died Dec. 2, 2001. While they were brother and sister, Frank preferred spelling his last name Stelten, and Nellie preferred Stelton. The Kimball Area Historical Society invites you to tra
vel back in time and visit our display at the March 27th Kimball Business & Community Expo from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Kimball Area High School. There’s no admission charge for the expo. Thank you for your support through your new and renewed memberships. One of the most valuable assets our Society has are its many loyal members. Meetings with historical programs are the fourth Tuesday of February, April, June and October, plus field trips and an extensive August exhibit during the Kimball Days festival. For more information, please call (320) 398-5250 or 398-5743, or (800) 252-2521 from out-state.
