Community support for Tjaden memorial comes in ‘piece by piece’ at livestock sale

Emotions gripped the Perkins County 4-H family as a still-grieving community displayed an outpouring of support to the memory of 2-year-old Oakley Tjaden during this year’s fair livestock sale.

The young daughter of Casey and Nicole Tjaden and sister to Porter, Parker and Cora was unexpectedly called to heaven in April.

As this year’s sale was drawing to a close, the auction took on a whole new meaning when a bucket calf shown by young Cora was led into the ring. 

What followed was moving, leaving barely a dry eye in the crowd. 

The Perkins County 4-H family and fair board members wanted to do something special for the Tjaden family in memory of Oakley.

The two groups collaborated to have the Tjaden kids  bring Cora’s bucket calf into the ring for a rollover auction after the 4-H portion sale was complete.  

 Auctioneer Thad McDermott of Welfleet began auctioning off body parts of the calf—an ear, the other ear,  the nose, the legs, the eyes and so on. 

Casey said he started motioning toward McDermott, who thought he was bidding. What he was really doing was saying it was time for the bidding to come to an end. 

The generosity of the people there was above and beyond anything they could have imagined, Casey said last week. 

Along with some additional donations after the sale, Lucinda McDermott said more than $36,000 was raised. 

Casey said they don’t know exactly what the funds will be used for but he said they are looking at doing something for kids at the fair grounds. 

McDermott praised the Perkins County community for their support of the Tjaden family. “Out of 10 stars, I’d give it an 11,” he said this week. 

As an auctioneer, he’s done a number of these benefits over the years but said this was a hard one to do as he looked out over a misty-eyed crowd. “You could have heard a pin drop at the beginning,” he said. 

The Tjadens expressed their sincere appreciation to the community and fair board for “this thoughtful act of kindness” in honoring the memory of Oakley. 

She “would one day have enjoyed 4-H as much as her siblings and all the kids” in the 4-H program.

“4-H has always been important to our family and if Oakley were with us today we know she would be running around the fair trying to keep up with her siblings and all the others kids, petting every animal in the barn and making those life-long fair memories. 

“Our family is broken but positive activities for our other kids, such as 4-H, keep us moving forward one day at a time.  

“We know that with faith, family, friends and this entire Perkins County community that we will eventually survive this and be okay,” the couple expressed.