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My First Tornado

    No doubt others have much more to tell of a Palm Sunday in 1965 when a tornado struck this area than I do, but it is something our family will never forget since we had never witnessed anything of that nature before. We were lucky just to view the tornado and not suffer a loss other than cleaning up debris and going without electricity for awhile. This meant milking by hand which can get pretty trying, both on the part of the milker and the animal.

     After being at church and having company for dinner we had dishes washed and the company was about to leave, when we noticed how funny the sky looked and decided to shut some open car windows. As our daughter ran out to do this we noticed it was more than a usual storm and we took to the basement. Not being able to see from there, we would come back up the steps to watch what was going on. All at once we noticed debris flying in the sky from the southwest and coming our way. Due to trees we were unable to see the Larry Stolte and Wm Pasold farms, but as it passed over Albert Nietings farm* it took among other things, the dormer off the house and from here, it looked like a little dog house flying in the sky. That is when I really hollered.

     We watched intently from our basement door, although at the same time, knew we should be in the basement. We did notice the path of the storm and we were almost certain that it was headed far enough to the west of us that our buildings would be cleared. At that time is when it passed over the Hugo Kruckenberg farm and then on north where we could no longer see it. We ran to an upstairs window to try to see what damage it had done, and then everyone hurriedly got dressed to see what assistance we could give.

     Not being able to see what had happened other places, we immediately went to Hugo's. What one sees is unbelievable as far as freak damage is concerned. I guess one will never understand how hay can be pierced into plaster, or how window panes can be taken out and laid under a mattress unbroken. Those along with a large number of oddities, are the results of a tornado.

     No one can possibly put into words the fear and anxiety these people, in the path of the storm, must have had for those few moments it took to wipe out all they had. I guess we were very fortunate. All we had to repair were fences and pick up debris off our fields blown from another farm.

     Many long hours were spent by volunteer helpers at these stricken farms to get things picked up, and helping to rebuild, so they could once more resume their daily tasks.

     It was the first tornado I had sighted and I'm sure it was a lesson in storm watching. Our youngsters as well as ourselves will never forget it.***

              Mrs. Walter (Evelyn Meier) Hack

    *Albert Nieting farm – SE ¼ of Sec. 22 in Massillon Twp.

     ** Hugo Kruckenberg farm – SW ¼ of Sec. 23 in Massillon Twp.

     *** Walter Hack farm – SE ¼ of Sec. 23 in Massillon Twp.

* ~ * ~ *

I REMEMBER WHEN -

. . . . . a new barn always was a good reason to have neighbors and friends in for a dance.

               Mrs Melvin (Eleanor Mensing) Licht

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That Disastrous Tornado

    Palm Sunday, April 11, 1965 began like most other Sundays in the Hansen household. After the morning work was finished we went to church. It was a warm, sunshiny day. After church we had dinner in town at the cafe.

     Heavy snows and recent heavy rains to the north of us had brought the rivers of Iowa to flood stage. The Cedar River was predicted to crest at Rochester about one o'clock that day. On the way home from town, we decided to take a drive and go to see the river crest there. I called our friends, Mr and Mrs. Hugo Schroeder, who lived two miles south of us, to go with us. They were happy to do so and in a short time we went to pick them up. On the way down I remarked to my husband how unusually calm the atmosphere seemed to be – like the lull before a storm, not a leaf or blade of grass was stirring. We had not listened to the radio so were unaware of the storm and possible tornado warnings being forecast for Cedar County.

     When we arrived at Schroeders*, they had just finished their dinner so we sat in the car and waited till they were ready to go. Hugo told Selma to stack the dishes and wash them later, so she did.

     Soon we were on our way. We had gone only about a quarter of a mile west when suddenly I noticed unusual clouds churning in the southwestern sky and I exclaimed, “Tornado, Tornado!” Funnel clouds were jumping up and down like a yoyo. Hugo said, “Let's turn around and go home.” Floyd said, “No, I'm going on to get away from it.” We proceeded west till we reached the blacktop road and then turned south. As we drove along we suddenly saw a swirl of debris rise above the Raymond Hasenbank farm** and we knew a tornado had struck there. We stopped and watched it cross the road abut three quarters of a mile ahead of us and then come back down at the Richard Dircks farm***, a short distance east of the blacktop. We saw it pick up the house and some pine trees like they were a handful of toothpicks and take it up into the air and scatter it on its devastating path to the northeast.

     We hurried to the Dircks farm to see what we could do to help. At the same time a neighbor across the road to the northwest came too.

     Floyd and Hugo scurried over to the demolished house and found Mrs Dircks and her son Dewey, amidst the rubble quite stunned. They found Mr Dircks in the ruins pinned beneath a large chest of drawers. They quickly proceeded to free him. He was seriously injured and unconscious. Mrs Dircks and Dewey had taken shelter in the basement but Mr Dircks was having his noon nap and refused to go with them, not realizing that a tornado was rapidly approaching and about to strike at their farm.

     Selma and I had remained in the car because we thought it too dangerous to walk among the live electrical wires scattered all over the yard. Soon the men called to us to call a doctor and summon an ambulance. We drove to the Ellis Stonerook farm before we could find a telephone in working order. After doing the telephoning we returned to the Dircks farm.

     The men immediately told us to go to our farms to see if we had been hit too since our places were northeast of there. As we approached the Schroeder farm we saw instantly that it had also been hit. Two barns and a hoghouse had been demolished and neighbors were there getting livestock out from under the debris. I left Selma off and hurried home. I was very much relieved . . .

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. . . to find our farm has been spared. Returning to the Schroeder place I found a relative had gone to the Dircks farm to get the men.

     News travels fast in such an emergency and we heard the tornado had hit quite a few more places between there and Massillon. Later, Floyd and I took a drive to some of these places to see the devastation and then returned to the Dircks farm again for another look since I had not had the opportunity to see much of it earlier. When we arrived we were immediately interviewed by WMT television since we were the first to arrive at the scene of the disaster. This was enough excitement for one day so we went home for the night – although I don't recall if I slept any that night.

     The next day Floyd spent helping the Schroeders with the clean-up job and I assisted with the task of feeding all the men who were there all day cleaning up the mess.

     We didn't get to see the flood crest but that was the furthest thing from our minds after the first sighting of the funnel clouds. We were very thankful that Hugo had told Selma to stack the dishes because had we waited there another five to ten minutes we probably would have been picked up by the tornado, too, since we were parked in its direct path on their barnyard. Mr Dircks was not so fortunate. He never recovered from his injuries and died some days later.

     This was the first time I had actually viewed a tornado in progress, although I had seen the aftermath a time or two before. We considered ourselves very lucky to have the Good Lord watching over us that day. I'm sure that all of you who remember this day or were affected by its destruction will agree with me that it was a bad one and not easily forgotten.

               Mrs Floyd (Tillie Breuer) Hansen

    *Hugo Schroeder farm – SE 1//4 of Sec. 12 in Fairfield Twp.

     **Raymond Hasenbank farm – W ½ of NE ¼ of Sec. 27 in Fairfield

     ***Richard Dircks farm – NW ½ of Sec. 23 in Fairfield Twp.