Farmer passed away in car crash before finishing his harvest. Days later, 75 neighboring farmers showed up to do it for his family
Every farming community has its own rhythm, unspoken duties and responsibilities, work that doesn’t wait and people who show up for one another long before anyone thinks to ask. In North Dakota, that rhythm was shaken the day Randy Fyllesvold, a 43-year-old farmer, lost his life in a car crash near Maxbass, per KFYR-TV. Overnight, a family was left with pain and grief they could barely comprehend and more than a thousand acres of corn still standing in the fields he had tended with hard work and dedication.
Road accidents like the one that took Randy’s life are not rare tragedies. As per Health Science Reports, globally, nearly 1.35 million people are killed or disabled in traffic accidents each year and about 3,700 people die every single day. In the U.S., car crashes remain one of the leading causes of death, with 40,000 lives lost in 2020 and more than 2.1 million emergency room visits recorded that same year. Fyllesvold farmed near Antler, where people didn’t just know him, they cared for him. “To know Randy was to love Randy, and the reach he had was kind of endless,” said his friend Wyatt Thompson. He and neighbor Andy Gates were among the first to step in, determined that the weight of the harvest would not rest on Fyllesvold’s grieving family.
Gates told Fyllesvold’s father-in-law, Larry, “Don’t worry about the corn, we’ll just get it off.” What began as a promise grew into an extraordinary act of collaboration among the farming community. Farmers of more than 10 communities came all prepared with 12 combines, trucks and efficiency that was the result of years of shared understanding and strength. In just two days, 75 people harvested roughly 1,400 acres of corn that normally would have taken Fyllesvold weeks to complete. When it came to planning for this work, Thompson organized crews by fields and equipment and Gates coordinated loads with elevators.
Fyllesvold’s widow, Kharra, later described the scene as “nothing short of breathtaking.” She spoke of her husband with a tenderness that carried both pride and ache: “Randy was the best person I have ever known… He loved big, he worked hard, and his passion for farming was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Seeing all of you out in those fields… was something I will never forget,” she shared, adding, "there are no words for what it feels like to watch the last of a farmer’s hard work being combined. To see his years of dedication gathered into one final semi load. But through those two days, my boys and I felt one thing more than anything else: blessed. Truly, deeply blessed."
The harvest completed by the farmer community for Fyllesvold was the last of his life’s work and dedication, gathered by the very people who had shared in his days, his stories and his land. In the end, it wasn’t just about the harvest; it was proof that even in the most difficult seasons, no one in their community stands alone.