Memories of Wes Stevens

In early February, Jeff Zondlo reached out to the Peterson American Legion Post 526 via Facebook Messenger, searching for any remaining family members of Wes Stevens. Jeff and Wes had been close buddies, serving in Vietnam; Jeff had identified Wes when he was killed in action; he wanted to reconnect with Wes’ family now and share memories of Wes.

The president/secretary of the Peterson American Legion, Deb Book, responded to Jeff after a little research. She had been able to find people who knew Wes’ siblings in the area. She shared Wes’ older brother Doug Stevens’ contact information with Jeff. In addition, she shared a copy of the speech that had been written by Chris Boyum for a Memorial Day Address in 2018. The Fillmore County Journal published the entire speech in the newspaper; this is the link to that address: fillmorecountyjournal.com/chris-boyum-remembers-wesley-stevens-in-memorial-day-speech/. 

Jeff’s response to the speech was a simple “Wow! Thank you!” Eventually a plan was made for Jeff to visit the Stevens family at the Peterson Legion. When Jeff asked about a place to get food in Peterson, the Auxiliary volunteered to make lunch for the gathering. 

On Saturday, March 7, 2026, Jeff came to Peterson, stopping first  at the North Prairie Lutheran Church Cemetery to visit Wes’ gravesite, and then continuing on to the Legion to meet his family. The only other time Jeff had been to the area was shortly after Wes passed away. 

Wes’s brother Doug, his sister Jean Slafter, and his sister Sonja Stevens were able to attend the event. His parents, sister Chris and brother Russell have already passed away. Wes’ fiancé Cheryl Rinn has also passed away, but her brother Dan and his wife Diane were also able to attend as well as Donna and Allen Aarsvold. 

Pictures and mementos were brought out to share. Diane Rinn made a display board about Wes which she brought. 

When the Aarsvolds arrived, Donna shared the last letter they had received from Wes. Wes had worked as a farm hand for the Aarsvolds before leaving for the service. They had considered him the son they never had. 

Wes had begun the letter addressing all the Aarsvolds and their girls, even the yet-to-be-born youngest daughter. He ended his letter writing, “Thank you much for the supper you fed me when I was home. Someday I’m gonna invite you to my place when I get one!” Donna also had a letter that Wes had written to his mom. She didn’t remember why Wes’ mom had given it to her. 

Jean shared that Wes and Cheryl had planned to be married when he got back and to live with her and her husband Marv. Wes had spent a lot of time on their farm on North Prairie. According to Jean, Wes was mischievous; she told the story of Wes and his brother luring her out of the house after she’d baked a couple apple pies to ask her about her flowers. Soon one of the boys had to go inside to “go to the bathroom.” He was in the house for quite some time so the other brother had gone in to find him. When neither returned, Jean tried to go back in the house only to find they had locked her out! When she finally got in, the two pies were pretty well finished off! Jean was quick to add that Wes had a huge heart and would give the shirt off his back to anyone in need.

Wes’ fiancé Cheryl was supposed to join Jean and Marv for supper the day they found out Wes had died. Someone had come into Cheryl’s school classroom and informed her there that he was gone. There was no visit that night.

Wes’ mom had given her little girls instructions to not come home if they ever saw a green car with a star on it at their house; they were to go to the neighbors. His mom had a feeling that car would be coming. Eight-year-old Sonja had heard her mom crying and went home to her with her little sister instead of going to the neighbor’s house. Jean found out Wes was gone when her father called and simply said, “We lost Wes.”

Jeff knew that Wes and his father had not gotten along well, but he emphasized that Wes had shared his love for his father with him. Wes had told Jeff he’d joined the service because he wanted to have peace with his family. Wes had never said an unkind word about his father. Jeff had shared that with Wes’ mom at the cemetery when he first came to Peterson. She’d wanted him to tell Wes’ father that, but Jeff never ended up meeting him.

Wes had been badly stung by killer bees in Vietnam; he’d been evacuated by helicopter and spent a week in recovery. Jeff saw him before he headed back to the front. According to Jeff, Wes had welts 1” by 1” all over. Jeff thought he should have been sent home. One reason Jeff reacted so much to the stings was that he had been badly stung by bees as a youth as well. 

Wes’ sisters were surprised that he had been assigned to the artillery. They shared that he had horrible eyesight and couldn’t see without his glasses. He had never shot a gun that they knew of until the service; his dad never hunted or had guns.

Wes had known his assignment as the RTO to the Forward Observer was dangerous; he had written to Doug that only one of the last four RTOs had survived the assignment. 

Jeff shared stories of sleeping underground and finding a snake dead just a few feet from his bed. The snakes had been drawn to the rats that came to scavenge in the open dumps of the camp. 

According to Jeff, Wes changed as a person when he got to the field. Wes was gung-ho; he was grown up. The duo had met in training. They were “just two farm boys who had a lot in common,” Jeff shared. Jeff was three years older than Wes and felt like he was his big brother. 

Jean said that when she was going to have children she’d told her mom she wanted to name a son “Wesley.” Her mom had been adamant that she not use the name; Jean ended up using “Wesley” for her son Steven’s middle name. 

After several hours of sharing memories, Jeff visited the nearby Veteran’s Memorial Park to see Wes’ paver as well as the other pavers. He marveled at all the veterans, noting that each one had their own story too. 

Jeff Zondlo left the Legion proclaiming, “If we don’t see you in the New Year, we’ll see you in the past year (pasture)!” Jeff had found new friends and family; he plans to return for Memorial Day in May to visit again.