Bismarck Tribune

By LAUREN DONO By LAUREN DONOVAN

Roger and Renae Jahner of Regent buried their son on Thursday.

Louis Jahner, 19, died in a rollover Sunday, along with Kjirsten Carlson, 16, who was buried Wednesday.

The hearts of friends and family sit like dense stones in their chests. In their sorrow, they seek work to do with their hands.

Today, just after first light, a procession of semi trucks and tractors will come to the Jahner farm.

The drivers will be their friends and neighbors. They would give anything to load up the Jahners' sorrow and haul it to the ends of the earth.

They can't, so they will do what they can.

From Jahners' dairy farm, the semis and tractors will head out to far-flung fields to load up the hay harvest and bring the big round bales on home to the farm.

It's what neighbors do, donating time, equipment, and diesel fuel, whatever it takes to get the job done.

Jahner brothers Roger and Lyle milk 150 cows and the hay required to feed those cows amounts to thousands of bales, still where they were rolled off the baler this summer.

Brad Greff, a friend and neighbor, said he started making calls after visiting with Roger Jahner and asking that age-old question, "How can I be of help?" Greff said he used to run a dairy farm and knows the work it takes. He said a third Jahner brother, Curt, took time to help out after the tragedy, so Roger Jahner figured the milking would go all right.

"He told me he just didn't know how he'd get his hay hauled, so I told him to leave a trailer out and I'd haul in a couple loads a day after work," Greff said.

As he drove home, he got to thinking. And when he got home, he picked up the phone.

It wasn't long before he had more names of helpers than he knew what to do with.

He said he planned to show up early today, to organize what's shaping up to be a rodeo of equipment and friends and neighbors eager to help. It is something for them all to do together and so much more healing than doing nothing.

Greff figures Roger Jahner will ride shotgun with him today, and the two will have time to talk as they race from field to field.

He hopes with good organization, they can bring in between 1,500 and 2,000 bales today, still leaving another 1,000 out.

"That will take some pressure off," Greff said. He's looking a Saturday ahead and down the road some from the Jahners' dairy.

Greff said he's planning to organize a similar effort for James and Sallee Carlson, who have 2,500 bales still out that need to come in for feeding their range cattle.

It's been a long week for Regent, where the kids grew up on farms, and for Mott, where they went to school.

Louis Jahner graduated in 2004 and Kjirsten Carlson was still a high school junior.

The accident is still under investigation. Police reported their deaths the result of a one-vehicle rollover around 12:30 a.m. Sunday, a mile west of New Leipzig.

Greff said Roger Jahner gave everyone who came to his son's burial the gift of his own thanks and memories.

"He thanked us all for coming and said he was lucky to have such good friends and neighbors," Greff said.

(Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 888-303-5511, or lauren@;westriv.com.)