(With Permission of Mrs. Ken Haag, St. Paul, MN)

America will suffer no greater loss in the Twentieth Century than the demise of the family farm. Along with the railroads, farming was the life support system of this nation ever since our earliest spade of earth was turned for planting and the first RR tie laid for putting down steel tracks. The emigrants from Scandinavia that settled over the Midwest were by–and–large farmers in mid nineteenth century. Poor, rock laden farms in Sweden, for instance––expressly Smaland, made many young people hasten their requests to the King for a passport to America. Different ethnic groups settled in different parts of the Midwest and Minnesota, besides having a large Scandinavian influx, had Germans, Poles, Italians and others tilling land from Winona (MN) to the Red River Valley, from Worthington (MN) to Moose Lake (MN). The rewards were seldom great, but the work ethic of these pioneers was indelible.

If one had the privilege (as I did) to spend time or grow up on a farm as a youth, and enjoy all the fringes such as blackberry picking, knoll jumping over the wellspring, riding atop the full haywagon at dusk, find unhatched turtle eggs in the spring turned loam, finding refuge in the old hayloft among spiders and the newborn kittens, running barefoot through the corn rows chased by the crack of lightning and touching the draft horse’s soft nose––then the legacy of Del Holdgrafer and his icon from an inkwell will redeem the lost spirit of rural America in a most delightful way.

I have known Del for 25 years. In 1966, we published his cartoons for the very first time in Minnesota Sports. The magazine was short–lived, but Delmar kept drawing away. His works appeared crudely by mimeograph in Ernest Strubbe’s Alberta Wildlife Conservationist and as always in the Morris (MN) Tribune in 1969.

What Del Holdgrafer has done via his weekly cartoons in six local papers, has captured the pulse of rural America at a time when we need every reminder we can get of just what we are losing! For near twenty years, Del has put a magical spell on the readers of his works in western Minnesota and points beyond. It is usually homespun and farm oriented, but often profound and with deep thought behind the wry. Having a quick pen not to mention a glib mind is a forte not many are blessed with.

Del is a page out of the past. His cartooning style is mindful of the late J.R. Williams and his Out Our Way––a veritable classic, single block cartoon of everyday whim and civil disobedience personified. And one amazing aspect of Del’s work that I didn’t realize until I wrote this was that he doesn’t own a ruler! That ancient cliché––"I can’t draw a straight line" applies to most every artist (myself included) I know. But, here in a quaint farmsite out of Donnelly, MN is a sure–handed gent who can draw the straightest line with a pencil I have ever heard of.

Del’s many other pursuits border on incredible as well. He has provided more housing for birds than any other human I have ever heard of. His bluebird or tree swallow houses by the hundreds are all over Donnelly and likely to stretch to Dogpatch. His woodduck motels have no vacancy signs on them each spring.

As an award winning newspaper cartoonist, Del applies a certain modesty, a humble gratification to the notoriety of his skills that is refreshing and welcome in an age of egomania. To be sure, he has a large following of readers that eagerly await his weekly explosion of pedigreed bunk via the ink well. And he has a like number of friends who cherish his ways and credo as a plain ol’ farmer touched with an enormous gift for making us all see our world through wry focals. .so, we can laff!

For me, Delmar Holdgrafer is a very special person. Not only is he a very talented artist and cartoonist, he is a very dear and generous person with a deep love for nature and American family life as it should be.

Delmar’s cartoons are complex. One gets the main idea and the laugh right off the bat, but upon a second and third glance, there is more to see. There’s a lot going on in a Delmar Holdgrafer cartoon. In one cartoon, he uses two different types of PM houses, reminds us of plugging our houses for winter, shows us bird banding, shows a supply of flying insects, promotes The Purple Martin Society, NAwith hats and buttons on his birds, and finally, he tells us about No More Sparrows. All this while making us chuckle over martins wearing clothes, hats, goggles, sunglasses, football helmets, using watches, compasses, luggage,and maps.

You have to understand that Purple Martin humor and cartoons are very unique types of humor. There are just aren’t enough of talented people with martin knowledge and insight to do this special job. Delmar’s insight makes each and every one of his drawings special and valuable as cartoon art work.

We are so lucky to have him. When I first saw his work, I knew we had to have him. So, I adopted him without his permission and the generous person that Delmar is, he never objected. He knows that with every martin cartoon, he brings a very appreciated sense of humor to both The Purple Martin Society and The Scout Report.

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