in loving memory of dylan jamie rounds

---

 And on the 1st day of August in 2002, God looked down on His earth and His people and said, "I need a caretaker of my land and creatures and someone to be a loving son, brother, grandson, nephew, cousin, and friend” - so God gave us Dylan Jamie Rounds. 

God said, “I need someone to love the land in Idaho and Utah as much as I do. I need someone willing to get up before sunrise, feed the animals, work all day at school or on the land, eat supper and work until after dark” - so God gave us Dylan.

“I need somebody with the tenacity to wrestle a steer or a sheep, but gentle enough to tend to an injured bird or animal. Someone with a sense of humor, and a heart big enough to demonstrate love to friends and family. Somebody to watch over the livestock, put up hay, change the water and fix the tractor, but willing to drop everything to help a friend or neighbor” - so God gave us Dylan.

God said, “I need somebody that is a dreamer, a builder, and a visionary with a strong work ethic. Someone who loves my creation and knows that it takes determination and drive to turn a barren piece of land into a working farm. I need somebody who sees the potential in old tractors, farm implements, snow machines, and people. I want a person who is inquisitive and capable of learning by observation” - so God gave us Dylan.

God wanted somebody that knew at a young age the calling for his life. Someone not afraid to chart his own course and work without ceasing. Someone with the stamina and energy to plow fields, swath and bale hay, thresh grain, irrigate crops, build fence, and brand cattle; yet someone that would take time to enjoy the solitude and beauty of God’s creation, especially mammoth sunflowers. It had to be somebody who would love and conserve the land and not cut corners. Somebody to seed, weed, feed, lead, succeed, and reap, and to make a difference in this world and the life of those he touched.

So, God gave us the gift of Dylan. He gave us 19 years to watch him grow into an amazing man. He gave us precious time to see and experience life through the eyes of Dylan. God gave us moments, days, months, and years to be inspired and to love, and be loved by a special human – so God gave us Dylan.

1) Delivered on 9/21/24 at the Celebration of Life for Dylan Rounds by Dave Hutchinson. Adapted from Paul Harvey’s speech, first delivered at the national FFA convention in 1978. Later published in his syndicated column in 1986. 

It is hard to tell such a deep and rich story in a short time, but I want to add a few highlights of the life of Dylan Rounds.

Dylan was born August 1, 2002, the first of three children to Justin Rounds and Candice Cooley of Ucon, Idaho. Dylan was followed by two wonderful siblings: Brooklynne born in October 2004 and Coleton in April 2006. The Dr. said that Dylan was a girl right up to the last ultrasound taken the day before he was born, but in typical Dylan fashion, he entered life on his own terms. If I remember correctly, Justin and Candice  had lots of pink “stuff” to welcome Dylan into this world. Little did you know that a pair of work boots, Levi’s, and a flannel shirt were all you would really need.

As a toddler Dylan would sit in the big bay window in the morning after he ate his oatmeal waiting for his grandpa or dad to pick him up to go farming. From the time Dylan was able to walk, all he really wanted to do was farm, especially with his dad and grandpa.

Dylan started driving a tractor before he could ride a bike. That may sound funny to some of you who grew up in a city with sidewalks or blacktop, but the reality of the situation is, it is easier to drive a tractor on dirt than a bicycle. Plus, a tractor is lots more fun.

Dylan loved farming so much that when he was 4, he had his own farm (AKA) a garden. What a great babysitter that was. He would never go further than the hose could reach because he was irrigating his “crops” and that was his focus. (You will notice the picture in the video celebration of him wet and covered in mud sitting in his garden? That is usually what happens when you irrigate.

Dylan grew his garden every year and would plant, water, and weed it while working side-by-side with his dad and grandpa on the farm. During these early years Dylan began to grow sunflowers and developed his passion for these immensely massive plants. 

Dylan raised several animals including dogs, calves, pigs, and chickens. Candice told me that one time Dylan decided he would buy an incubator and hatch some chicks. He read up on how to do it, and while waiting to get enough eggs, he hid them in the crawl space under the house. He would sneak under the house periodically to add new eggs and tend to the old ones. I never raised chickens, and I didn’t think keeping eggs under a house for several weeks would work. However, I googled “how to store and handle eggs while waiting to incubate”, and this is what it said: 1) Store eggs at a temperature between 53–60 degrees (check); 2) store them in a damp place to prevent them from losing too much moisture (yup); 3) store the eggs on their side or with the large end up on a soft surface and if storing for more than 10 days, tilt them from side to side occasionally (OK); and then finally, 4) When you are ready to incubate, bring up to temperature slowly to avoid thermal shock. Out of the approximately 70 eggs Dylan collected, about 50 hatched. What a great experiment that demonstrates his love to learn and his hope for tomorrow.

Dylan grew up in the Ucon and Hazelton areas. He attended elementary in Hazelton and Twin Falls, and in the 8th grade went to Rigby because of the strong FFA and Auto Tech programs and to work with dad and grandfather. Dylan had many friends, but his closest were JD, Hayden, and Tanner. I can only imagine the antics they experienced with him. 

Obviously, Dylan’s favorite subjects were agriculture and mechanics, but he also liked history. I understand that when he was about 10, he read “Where the Red Fern Grows” and decided he wanted his own redbone hound dog, just like Old Dan and Little Ann. One was found in Oakland CA and he and his mom flew from SLC to San Francisco, rented a car, picked up the dog and drove back home. Since they were traveling that way, Dylan did some research on Donners Pass and the Donner Party of 1846. When driving over the pass Dylan asked, “I don’t understand how the Donner Party could have been stranded. Why didn’t they just follow this road.” As Candice was laughing to herself, he thought about it for a minute and then said, “Oh, never mind.” 

Dylan loved working on the family farm but wanted to grow his own crops to sale. Dylan, Brooklynne, and Coleton had a field they could use to grow produce and make some money. This field was originally their great grandfather’s. Dylan wanted to grow sweet corn. For years they grew things to sell under the county line overpass not far from here. I expect several of you remember buying produce from the cute Rounds kids. They also grew and sold pumpkins, squash, peas, onions, and anything else people would eat and buy.

While working on the farm in his “tween” years, Dylan was planting, swathing, bailing, harvesting, and working cattle. How a kid that age could have so much drive and passion to work without ceasing is amazing. He would outwork most adults on any crew. One of Justin’s favorite stories is about Dylan’s optimistic attitude and never wanting to quit until a job was done. I understand they rented a spray gun and bought paint for a new fence they had built. It was about 100 degrees that day and when the fence was finished, Dylan was hot, dirty, and covered in paint. Not only did Dylan not complain, he was so excited to make the farm look better that he wanted to paint some gates red since they had the paint gun rented for the day. Justin and Dylan made a paint run and Dylan painted the gates, lids on grain bins and the old gas pump. Justin has many stories of how hard Dylan could work and how proud he was of him for completing every task with excellence. 

Once Dylan got his driver’s license, he started to scout the surrounding country-side looking at what other farmers were doing and was always thinking about how he could do it bigger and better. He was also looking for old equipment and a “good buy.” He would purchase his own tractors and equipment to fix, trade, sell, or keep in his own collection. He bought mostly antique equipment because those were items he could afford. However, he also was thinking about how he could turn a profit and buy newer and bigger equipment. One time he bought an old corn planter at an auction for about $50. That was probably about scrap metal price, but Dylan fixed it up since he saw value in preserving the historical significance of the piece of equipment. You can see from the pictures in the video tribute the smile on his face and the satisfaction he got from fixing, and showing his treasures.

Dylan began working for other farmers and always impressed. They would comment about his skill as an equipment operator and how hard he worked. In 2016 he was able to join a potato harvest crew since he was old enough to be on workman’s compensation insurance. Most kids his age start picking dirt clods but not Dylan; he ran a crossover because the crew boss knew Dylan had the knowledge and skills to operate this piece of equipment. Dylan did not disappoint. Each day he would bring home what he thought was the biggest potato, until he found a bigger one the next day! 

At 17, Dylan began working with a local hay company and channeled his energy into this endeavor. He worked 16 to 20 hours a day and found his groove. As time allowed, Dylan was still working on the family farm because he wanted to help whenever he could. Dylan had acquired a decent amount of equipment and started custom farming and purchased a semi-truck and was hauling sugar beets, potatoes, and straw for farmers throughout Eastern and Southern ID. 

Dylan worked hard because he had a goal: to run his own farm. This was a dream he focused on for years. His goal was realized in 2019 when he started the farm in Lucin, UT, that he and his grandfather purchased. It took a couple of years to get the soil prepared, the pivot moved to the location and set, and to have everything else ready to start farming. While working the Lucin farm, he also did custom farming for ranchers in NV and Arco ID and still helped on the family farm. Remarkable!!

At the end of May 2022, Dylan finished planting his first crop in Lucin – triticale (tri-tuh-kay-lee). Tri-tuh-kay-lee is a hybrid grain of wheat and rye and one I suspect Dylan researched a lot before he decided to plant. It seems a perfect choice to make the Lucin farm a productive piece of ground. That was the beginning. Dylan had big plans that included turning much of the barren Lucin country side into a thriving farming area. 

DYL.AN WAS TRULY A DREAMER, A BUILDER AND A VISIONARY. 

-Written and delivered on 9/21/24 at the Celebration of Life for Dylan Rounds by Dave Hutchinson.