Zach Lahn

When I go out and I talk to people or I'm at an event, I'll start to tell my family history a bit that I've mentioned to you.

There's not one person in the room, usually, that if I didn't go back one or two generations with them and their family story, that we just don't have an almost identical story.

of people who came over here looking to provide a better life and pass something on to their kids, and in our case, that was farmland in a major way, and to create something that they didn't have for themselves and to build their church.

We have a shared story, and my hope is to be able to be somebody who's preaching about that.

that the fact that more Iowans served in the Civil War per capita in the United States is something to be dang proud of.

That we should just, like... But that should be taught in every single history class in Iowa.

Mm-hmm.

That the people who came here before you were courageous, they wanted to build something for you, and they were never gonna meet you.

And that you should be proud of your heritage.

One of my favorite stories on our farm, I'm a pilot, my dad's a pilot, both my grandpas were pilots.

And...

My grandpa in 1940s, he bought a Taylor Craft airplane for $700, and great grandpa mowed a runway in the bean field.

And he learned to fly there, and that became his whole professional career, as I mentioned.

And, you know, that took him off the farm.

He was the first generation to leave the farm.

And he went off and, you know, he worked at Iowa companies as a pilot.

He was very good at what he did.

He was very proud of what he did.

And I think that back then, that was kind of the idea, that take a step away from the farm.

Try something new.