Hiram M. Drache

Hiram M. Drache was born at Meriden, Minnesota, August 18, 1924, to Paul A. and Anna L. (Schulz) Drache. He attended a two-room rural elementary school in Meridan, graduated from Owatonna High School in 1942, and enrolled at Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minn. World War II changed his educational plans, and on November 3, 1942, he joined 122 Gustavus male students who went to the Federal Building in Minneapolis to enlist. He enlisted as a cadet in the Army Air Corps November 6, 1942 and served as a lead and squadron navigator on B-17s on bombing raids over Germany. He was promoted to the rank of major on his discharge November 16, 1945. In 1947 he received his BA degree from Gustavus Adolphus and in 1948 a B. S. degree from Gustavus, his MA from the University of Minnesota in 1951, and his Ph.D. from the University of North Dakota in 1962.

On February 28, 1948, Hiram and Ada Marie Nelson were married at Lime Lake Lutheran Church in Avoca, Minnesota. The couple purchased a farm with Hiram’s war-time savings, and they farmed near Owatonna while he taught high school at Owatonna for two years and Ada worked as a secretary. In 1952, after earning his master’s degree from the University of Minnesota, he was employed at Concordia College, Moorhead for one year. The couple moved back to Owatonna where he was employed as assistant to the treasurer at Federated Mutual Insurance company from 1953 to 1955. He realized he preferred teaching to corporate work, and in August 1955 he rejoined the faculty at Concordia and attended the University of North Dakota. Ada served as grammarian, typist and editor of his doctoral dissertation, which was published as his first book, The Day of The Bonanza. This was followed by The Challenge of The Prairie, published in 1971; Beyond The Furrow, 1976; Tomorrow’s Harvest, 1978; Koochiching, 1983; Plowshares to Printouts 1985; Taming the Wilderness, 1992; History of U.S. Agriculture, 1996; Creating Abundance, 2001; E.M. Young Prairie Pioneer, 2001; A Century In The Park,  a history of Oak Grove Lutheran School, 2006; Ministering to the needs of the least … the last … and the lost : a brief history of the Glad Tidings Mission, Fargo Union Mission and the New Life Center, 2007; Prairie Homestead to Wall Street, a history of the Jones family, 2009; R.D. Offutt: Success and Significance, 2013; Where’s Meriden? The Demise of Small Town U.S.A., 2013; Organics: It’s All About the Money, 2015; Service Above Self, a History of the Lutheran Hospitals and Homes, 2016.

He has one commissioned but unpublished book—Window to The World, a Centennial History of Marvin Windows. In 2019 he published Innovators and Entrepreneurs of North Dakota and Northwest Minnesota, and in 2020 his 19th and final book, Retrospect and a Projection into the Future. In addition, he was a contributing author to 8 other books, wrote 27 articles, 15 book reviews, 14 forewords and produced many audio and video cassettes.

In the 1960’s he had a radio program, “Tales of Bonanza Land.” on station KFGO. He was a presenter at the symposium “Two Centuries of American Agriculture” sponsored by the USDA in Washington, D.C. in 1975. In 1976 he represented North Dakota on the NBC’s The Today Show in its series on the Bicentennial.  In 1980 he was a visiting scholar at the University of Arkansas. He was a presenter for several years at the famed International Stockmen’s School. In 1981 he conducted a five-week speaking tour in New South Wales, Australia, sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture and three agricultural businesses. For several years he was a guest lecturer at the American Graduate School of International Management at Glendale, Arizona. From 1958 to 2005 he gave 1089 speeches in 36 states, the District of Columbia, six provinces of Canada, Australia, Germany and Norway.

In 1977 he received the Award of Merit from Gamma Sigma Delta, University of Minnesota and the Distinguished Service Award from Gustavus Adolphus College. In 1978 Cosmopolitan International presented him with the Distinguished Service Award. In 2010 the Clay County Heritage award was followed in 2012 by the honorary degree Doctor of Letters from the University of North Dakota for being one of the premier interpreters of agriculture and entrepreneurship in the region. As far as is known he is only one of three Concordia teaching faculty to be so honored. In 2015 he received the “Senior of the Year” award from Bethany Homes.

The Draches farmed at Baker, Minnesota, from 1950 to 1981 along with Hiram’s teaching, writing, and speaking. The farming operation received nationwide publicity for its many innovations including a completely computerized record keeping system developed in 1966 for their feeding operation. In 1991 he retired from the classroom after having taught a total of 6,970 students who took two or more semesters from him.

He served on various boards including the Agassiz Club, Clay County GOP, Clay County Farm Bureau, Oak Grove Lutheran School, Northwest Farm Managers Association, Minnesota Historical Society, Minnesota Humanities Commission, and the Minnesota Governor’s Council on Employment and Training. He also served as finance director in ten campaigns for Minnesota Republican legislative candidates.

He credits his wife Ada for her editing of his master’s degree, Doctoral Papers and his first 15 books. His major avocational interests were reading and traveling which included five weeks in Australia and eight trips to Europe. He particularly enjoyed visiting with leading agricultural entrepreneurs about their ventures.

He is survived by his wife, Ada; one daughter Kay (Loren Botner), St. Louis Park; two sons, David (Mary), Roseville; Paul (Lisa) Greeley, Colorado; seven grandchildren, 11 great grandchildren, one sister, Louise (Martin) Dorsey, of Roselle, Illinois, and several nieces and nephews.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred.

Funeral: Saturday, October 24, 2020, at 10:30 A.M. in Trinity Lutheran Church, Moorhead, MN. Please enter on 7^th Street. Trinity limits the congregation to 50 people. Masks and social distancing will be expected. The funeral will be livestreamed at www.trinitymhd.org and on Hiram’s page at wrightfuneral.com.

Interment: Moorhead Memorial Gardens, Moorhead, MN. Saturday, at 3:45 P.M.

Video tribute, online guestbook and livestream link at www.wrightfuneral.com

Watch Hiram speak at Veteran’s day chapel at Oak Grove in 2017:

Copy this link into your browser:

https://www.facebook.com/310311925815/videos/10155869657930816