Customers from Bellevue Iowa purchase from Runde’s.

Ruth and Duane Tietjen

Duane and Ruth Tietjen are hardworking people and now they are Runde Auto Group customers from Bellevue Iowa. Ruth teaches and Duane operates his farm. It’s pretty rare that they get 15 minutes to do much of anything for themselves which is why I was glad to have the honor to sit down with the both of them for this interview to learn more about these great folks.

What led you into Runde’s today?
I saw the car I was interested in on the internet and got a hold of Al and asked him about it. So he gave us some information, we test drove it and now we are picking it up. Our son also bought a truck from Al about a year ago and loved Al.

Do you know Al personally … he sells to a lot of customers from Bellevue Iowa.
We let some people hunt on our farm property and Al comes down and hunts with a friend every so often. I think he first started like 15 years ago.

On a scale of 1-10 what would you rank Al and your experience with Runde’s?
There are never any problems, we’d give both a 10. It was very fast and painless.

Are you guys from the area?
We were both born and raised in Bellevue, IA.

Any kids?
We have two boys. One farms with us and the other one lives farther back on our property – he breaks and trains horses.

What vehicle did you end up with today?
A Chevy Equinox. We plan on using it to go to work, nothing really on the farm.

What kind of things do you like to do around the area?
We don’t get a chance to do too much other than work. Ruth is a teacher at Bellevue Elementary School.

What kind of movies do you like?
We like westerns. Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, etc.

Do you remember your first date together?
Duane: “heh, you’re really putting me on the spot here!”
Ruth: I don’t remember the first date, I think we went to a basketball game

How long have you been together?
40 years now.

Was thanksgiving packed at your place?
No, everybody is married and has their own family so we had thanksgiving with just our immediate family.
Ruth: We do get together for Christmas, though, and that is a LARGE gathering. I have 16 brothers and sister. 5 brothers and 11 sisters.

I can’t even imagine the house that would have to hold that gathering…

If you were to win the lottery what would you do with the money?
Duane: Quit milking!
Ruth: I think we’d travel… in the car, because I don’t like to travel. We’d go to Colorado first.

Anywhere outside the states you wanted to go?
Never really had the desire to go anywhere that far. I don’t like water and Ruth doesn’t like to fly so we are kind of stuck within the U.S. border.

Favorite foods?
Ruth: I like Chinese.
Duane: Pizza is fine with me.
Ruth: His favorite food is dessert!

How many animals are on your farm?
With everything it’s about 150 animals – it keeps us busy.

What would you customers from Bellevue Iowa consider the best farming invention?
I would have to say a Skid Steer because it saves so much time. It’s like a loader on a tractor except it’s all self-contained and it’s smaller and there are no gears.

How ’bout a non-farm invention?
Probably a cell phone. I think it’s something that used to be a luxury but now it’s a necessity.  When I stop and think about it, back in ’68 when we were dating we’d go into town and at that time it would just be Sandy’s and A&W’s. We’d go to Sandy’s for a hamburger which was 15 cents and A&W for the fries and root-beer, then we’d go to a movie and fill up with gas and after everything you’d have change left over from $20. Now you can’t even do half of that with $20. makes me wonder what it will be like in the future.

Thank you. Our experience has been very nice. Everyone here was nice and they took care of us. Al knew we were thirsty and gave us some water we thought that was great of him. There is only one Al… and we know when he’s been to our place because he places a 12 pack of pop on our doorstep every time he comes over to go hunting.