Harvey Kennedy and his friend, Frank Norr of Kimball Prairie, Minnesota, had dreams of going west to Montana, but cold hard cash enough only for a ticket to Valley City, North Dakota. They heard of work in the Rogers area, so they walked out there and worked on a farm. They were not the only ones short of money, and had to come back to North Dakota the next summer to try to collect the money they had coming from the previous summer. It was customary for men looking for work to congregate on the bank steps and it was there that Will Artis stopped one day looking for some hired help. He hired Harvey and he never did go back to Minnesota that winter, possibly because of Will's granddaughter, Helen. When Helen's father died suddenly, Harvey was needed more by Bertha Artis, who was struggling to maintain the Artis Dairy.

Harvey married Helen Artis and they had two daughters, Joyce and Rachel Kay. After renting farms in the area, they bought their present home, just outside the south city limits of Valley City. Harvey also worked at the North Valley Elevator and did sheetrock taping before he retired.

Harvey's brothers, Ross and Vernon, also joined him in North Dakota, although Ross moved back to Minnesota. Another Kimball resident who became a permanent citizen of Valley City was a family friend, Water Vannurden.

Joyce is now Mrs. Wesley Hanson of Paw Paw, Michigan, and Kay is Mrs. G. Kermit Sauer of Valley City. After many years of road construction, Kermit is doing full time sheetrock taping with the help of the rest of the family, Kay, Randy and Connie.

Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 121