F
rom
the
A
rchives
P
alm
S
unday
T
ornadoes
| 50
th
A
nniversary
2
| Saturday, April 11, 2015 The Goshen News
Coverage of Palm Sunday tornadoes was a shining hour for news staff
I
was asked by your managing
editor, Michael Wanbaugh to
write an account of our cover-
age of the Palm Sunday torna-
does on April 11, 1965. I have
never been fond of first-person
stories, but it was kind of him to
ask a very old retired editor to jot
down a few memories of that fate-
ful day.
It was about 6 in the evening
when whirling winds were whip-
ping around our home on West
Clinton Street. I went out on the
front porch to check out the
weather and neighbor Don Ulery
did the same. Then his storm
door blew out of his grip and
slammed open. It was obvious the
weather was not good, but I had
no idea I was about to be very
involved in the worst disaster in
Goshen’s history.
Next I heard sirens to the
north toward U.S. 33 and called
the fire department and found out
that a tornado had wiped out
most of the Midway Mobile
Home Park. I called reporter Billy
Sheffer and photographer Mel
Troyer, but both had apparently
departed for the scene. They usu-
ally tried to beat each other to
news events.
The Midway park was in total
ruin. I walked through the park
trying to find survivors for a
description of the storm. About
that time I came across a Goshen
fireman who was crying, trying to
find family members. That made
the storm very real to me. Fire-
men seldom cry. Later I learned
that 10 people were killed in the
park, and many injured.
A short time later, others at the
park pointed to twin black cloud
banks to the north and west
toward Dunlap. Another tornado
or two were approaching, and
people quickly sought shelter.
There were no basements in the
park, and I got under Goshen’s
big fire truck.
An Elkhart Truth photogra-
pher, Paul Huffman, was driving
down U.S. 33 and took a picture
of the first twin tornado clouds as
they tore up Midway and crossed
U.S. 33. The picture was circulat-
ed nationally. Huffman passed
away several months ago. And
my fellow journalists involved in
the coverage of the storm, Shef-
fer, Troyer, Jim Miller, Norm Sch-
weickart and Editor Dale Peffley,
also are deceased.
The second tornado was even
worse than the first as it wiped
out the Sunnyside Addition, north
of Dunlap. I did not go there, but
did check out Jefferson Place
north of Goshen and the U.S 20
and Ind. 15 area, which were both
hard hit by the two tornadoes. I
had friends living in Jefferson
Place.
A visit to Goshen General Hos-
pital was sadly overwhelming.
The injured were everywhere,
and doctors and nurses did not
have time for a probing newspa-
perman. I was impressed by the
Bob Conrad
Guest columnist
Additional Bodies
Being Uncovered
In Tangle Of Debris
THE GOSHEN NEWS
The worst tragedy in the
history of Elkhart County,
coming on Palm Sunday
evening, took at least 47
county lives and the lives
of 17 more in LaGrange
County when two torna-
does ripped through the
areas. More than 200 were
injured, many of whom are
still hospitalized.
The magnitude of the
storm was still being
learned today as volunteers
continued the thankless
task of searching through
the debris for bodies. A
number of missing persons
were still being sought at
noon today.
The first tornado struck
about 6:15 p.m. Sunday at
the Midway Mobile Home
Court along U.S. 33, be-
tween Goshen and Dunlap.
It had moved north across
the county and not many
residents of the court saw
the storm in time to take
cover — and others didn’t
have a safe place to go.
Debris in bits
The
twister
ripped
through the court, ripping
some 30 homes on the
south side of the court to
ruin. The debris was ripped
to bits and scattered over a
wide areas. The twister con-
tinued in a northeasterly
direction and struck the
Jefferson Place subdivision
along S.R. 15, north of Gos-
hen. It destroyed 15 homes
there and three persons, all
in cars on S.R. 15, lost their
lives.
With every ambulance
in the entire area, all police
officers, civil defense unit
workers, auxiliary police,
sheriff’s reserves, city fire-
men and volunteer firemen
summoned to the Midway
Court and Jefferson subdi-
vision, another twister ap-
peared in the west — just
one hour after the first one
hit.
A hundred or more vol-
unteers were working at
the Midway Trailer Court
when the shouts of “take
cover” were heard as the
second funnel cloud was
spotted. Many of the volun-
teers who survived the first
twister almost panicked as
they sought shelter — oth-
ers watched the twister dip
in a northeasterly direction
across the northwest side
of Dunlap, reducing much
of the Sunnyside Addition
to ruin. At least 20 persons
lost their lives in the subdi-
vision.
Bodies found
At least 10 persons, and
possibly more lost their
lives at the Midway Trailer
Court where the bodies
of three children under 10
years of age were found this
morning. They were not
identified at noon.
The twister that tore
through the Sunnyside Ad-
dition at Dunlap continued
northeasterly and dipped
down near the U.S. 20-S.R.
15 intersection where five
persons are believed to have
lost their lives and a number
of others were badly hurt.
One of the twisters, pos-
sibly a third, touched down
northwest of Middlebury
and two persons, Mrs. Ed
Nihart and Mrs. Lester
J. Miller, were fatally in-
jured. Another twister also
touched down between Jef-
ferson Place and U.S. 20,
causing considerable dam-
age to homes in the Ken-
neth Getz area.
Direct operations
Sheriff Woody L. Caton
and Goshen Police Chief
Glenn L. Kindy were among
the first at the scene at the
Midway Trailer Court and
directed operations there.
Sheriff Caton soon moved
to the Sunnyside area.
Heavy equipment was
brought in from contractors
in the area and all available
wreckers were summoned
as the mobile homes at
Midway were uprighted
and pulled out of the area in
search of the wounded.
Steady stream
The injured were be-
ing taken to hospitals in all
types of vehicles, including
panel trucks, stationwag-
ons and automobiles. Am-
bulances made steady runs
to the Goshen and Elkhart
General Hospitals. Both
hospitals were quickly over-
crowded.
The High Park Medical
Associates building here
was used for treatment of
some emergency patients
and many were then sent
to the High Park women’s
dormitory where they were
provided bed accommoda-
tions. Some of the injured
were given treatment tem-
porarily at the Dunlap EUB
Church. All doctors were
asked to report for duty.
Many surgery cases were
performed as many of the
injured were badly muti-
lated.
There was a threat of
gas explosions both at the
Midway Trailer Court and
at the Sunnyside Addition
and strict no-smoking rules
were in effect.
Help came from miles
around and the workers
finally ceased operations
about 3:30 a.m. today when
the National Guard was
summoned to guard the ar-
eas to prevent looting. State
police, including a number
of men from counties out of
this area, stayed at the vari-
ous disaster scenes. The
search started again this
morning. Rain last night
and this morning hampered
searching operations.
In millions
No one could estimate
the loss but it was in the mil-
lions of dollars.
Utility
service
was
snarled and Goshen was
isolated from telephone
Ambulances Run Shuttle Service Between
Devastated Areas And Hospital; Death Toll
Mounting; Over 200 Hospitalized
Editor’s note
Reprinted from the April 12,
1965 edition of The Goshen
News
Goshen News file photo
The Goshen News
staff photographs editions of
the paper for special section 11 days after the Palm
Sunday tornadoes raked Elkhart and LaGrange coun-
ties on April 11, 1965
Goshen News file photo
Goshen News Editor
Dale S. Peffley, prepares
to send a special edition chronicling the Palm Sunday
tornadoes to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. Sev-
eral days after the disaster, Johnson visited Elkhart
County.
Goshen News file photo
Victims of the Palm Sunday
tornadoes and
members of the local media crowd around U.S. Presi-
dent Lyndon B. Johnson as he toured what was left
of the Sunnyside housing edition in Dunlap on April
14, 1965.
Rescue Parties Continue Search
For Bodies; More Victims Found
Goshen News file photo
Blown onto NYC Tracks
— Concord Town-
ship volunteer firemen and two unidentified men
are shown above, removing Harry Dunker, Route 2,
Elkhart, from between the rails of a spur line on the
New York Central Railroad. Dunker was a volunteer
fireman from Osolo Township who was en route to
the scene of the tragedy at Midway. The auto which
he was driving was blown off of either U.S. 33 or
C.R. 45, no one is certain, and hurtled through the
air onto the tracks. Both east and westbound traffic
on the NYC tracks for some time was halted.
THE GOSHEN NEWS
A pall seemed to settle
over the Goshen commu-
nity mercifully untouched
by the twisters which
turned Elkhart and La-
Grange counties into ma-
jor disaster areas, leaving
54 persons dead and at
least 11 missing. Industry
had come to a standstill
and the customary string
of children playing on the
way to school had stopped.
Goshen residents gath-
ered in small groups in the
business district and talk-
ed tornado. They realized
how fortunate they were.
Some had seen a twister
smack down at the Elkhart
River dam and then lift
skyward. And a few short
miles to the north and to
the west was utter devas-
tation ... it might have hit
here.
Everyone had relatives,
or knew someone who
was either homeless or
had been killed or injured
in the Palm Sunday torna-
does. The Goshen News
Agency, which normally
handles 90 copies of The
Goshen News, had sold
more than 1,000 Monday
newspapers featuring aer-
ial photos of the stricken
areas taken by Mel Troyer
from a helicopter piloted
by Russ Miller.
“I was on the scene of an
airliner crash several years
ago. That was nothing
compared to this. It got to
me,” one funeral director
said here.
Road blocks
Goshen police officers
were stationed on the
North Main Street hill and
Indiana National Guard
units were stationed fur-
ther out on Indiana 15 to
stop sightseers from tying
up traffic in the Jefferson
Township area. They re-
routed traffic around the
disaster area south of Mill-
er’s Country restaurant.
The impossible task of
trying to salvage some
personal possessions from
the piles of rubble and
scattered debris was un-
derway at Jefferson Place
Subdivision. Where would
one start?
Fires were burning
along Indiana 15 as some
of the debris was burned
to clear the area. Curios-
ity seekers had been a
problem here. This morn-
ing Indiana 15 was open to
traffic.
“We were anxious to
build our new home this
spring. We sold our home
and are living in an apart-
ment. The contract has
been signed and all they
are waiting for is the
weather. But after you
see these people without
homes I don’t think we
should build right now,”
said one Goshen woman.
Although a number of
residents of the Jefferson
area were injured, the
three tornado deaths in
this area were a mother
and child and a Goshen
man, motorists caught in
the twister.
No Midway
That second black tor-
nado, which looked like it
would sweep right across
the same place, had veered
north.
Near the junction of
Midway, U.S. 20 and In-
diana 15, the winds had
raised shingles and dam-
aged farm buildings. A util-
ity pole jutted across the
Editor’s note
Reprinted from the April 13,
1965 edition of The Goshen
News.
Pall Settles Over Goshen, Untouched By
Twisters; Industry At A Standstill Again;
Elkhart County Toll Now Figured At 54
See
Conrad
| 30
See
Rescue
| 31
See
Tangle
| 30
