Siouxland Libraries is pleased to announce Arley Fadness of Sioux Falls will present his soon-to-be released book, Capturing the Younger Brothers Gang in the Northern Plains: the untold story of heroic teen Asle Sorbol at the Garretson Branch Library located at 649 N Main Avenue during Jesse James Days festivities on Saturday, June 18 at 9:30 a.m. This fascinating presentation exposes the secret that Webster, SD citizen Doc Sorbel hid all his life. Signed copies of the book will be available for purchase at the event.
Asle Oscar Sorbel, the 17-year-old lad then living in Madelia, MN and responsible for the capture of the Younger Brothers of the infamous Jesse James outlaw gang in 1876, quickly and judiciously disappeared. After several years, he would reappear in Webster, SD and spend the rest of his life as the eminent area “horse doctor,” harboring his secret until the year before he died in 1930.
Fadness is sponsored by the South Dakota Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and is a scholar in the South Dakota Humanities Council Speakers Bureau. The South Dakota Humanities Council is a 501©(3) non-profit started in 1972 by the hard work of fellow South Dakotans. It is the only cultural organization in the state whose sole mission is to deliver humanities programming to the people of South Dakota.
About the Presenter/Author:
Arley Kenneth Fadness was born in Webster, Day County, South Dakota the same hometown of Asle Oscar Sorbel. He married his wife Pamela from and in Madelia, Minnesota where the Younger Brothers had been captured. The couple have four adult children, Tim, Susan, Joel and Rebekah and one grandchild, Ela Rae.
Arley is a retired draftsman, clergy, and active history enthusiast, and writer. He drafted blueprints for the Bomarc Guilded Missile, the 707 and KC135 aircrafts for Boeings in Seattle. He also drafted blueprints for architectural and engineering firms while a student at Augustana College and Luther Seminary. When Ed Yost, the inventor of the modern hot air balloon needed a drafter for FAA balloon certifications, Arley joined the project and drew up blueprints for Ed’s 1,000 and 500 cubic meter gas balloon systems.
He attended McCormick theological Seminary in Chicago attaining a Doctor of Ministry degree focusing on parish revitalization. Dr. Fadness served parishes in Arizona, Minnesota, Wyoming and South Dakota. Arley is the author of several Lenten program books, published through CSS Publishing of Lima, Ohio, and a history of ballooning titled “Balloons Aloft: Flying South Dakota Skies.”
In 2020 his latest book “A Long, Long Road Back to Love” was published by CSS Publishing which highlights, The Parable of the Prodigal Son. Soon to be published in June, 2022 is his book titled:
Capturing the Younger Brothers Gang in the Northern Plains: The Untold Story of Heroic Teen Asle Sorbel.
As a hobby, Arley has restored a 1956 Thunderbird and a 1930 Model A Roadster.
Presently, Arley is a power point presenter of five history programs through the South Dakota Humanities as a Humanities Scholar.
