07/26/2026
I have seen this happen time and again in the farming community. We Are One big extended family when the chips are down.
Randy Fyllesvold, 43, of Antler, North Dakota, died on September 9, 2025, when his pickup collided with a farm sprayer at a rural intersection near Maxbass.
He left behind his wife Kharra, their two sons, and 1,400 acres of corn, soybeans and canola still standing in the fields, with harvest season bearing down on the family.
Two of Randy's friends, Wyatt Thompson and Andy Gates, decided the family would not face it alone. They told Larry, the family's father-in-law, not to worry about the corn, and started making calls.
In November, when the crops were ready to come off, more than 75 volunteers from over 10 surrounding communities rolled onto the Fyllesvold land with roughly a dozen combines and dozens of trucks. They called it a divide and conquer operation, so much grain moving so fast that they had to coordinate with local grain elevators just to keep up.
"To know Randy was to love Randy, and the reach he had was kind of endless," Thompson told KFYR-TV.
Kharra called the sight of her community out in those fields nothing short of breathtaking, and said she and her sons felt truly, deeply blessed. In a Facebook post, she wrote that it was something she would never forget, describing Randy as "the best person I have ever known."
A job that would have taken one grieving family weeks, his friends finished in about two days. All 1,400 acres.
