R
ETIRED
?
Need extra cash??
Bring ALL your unwanted
coins, jewelry, collectibles,
military items & firearms into
C
ASPER
’
S
and leave with
CASH
Casper’s Coin & Jewelry
428 W. Pike St.
Gosehn, IN 46526
Serving Michiana since 1983
574-971-8619
Tues-Fri 9-6
Sat 9-3
CLOSED Sun & Mon
Facebook: caspers coin and jewelry goshen
E-bay Store: caspersgoshen
Join Casper’s MVP Club text SILVER to 313131
Search Craiglist: Yee-Haw
P
alm
S
unday
T
ornadoes
| 50
th
A
nniversary
20
| Saturday, April 11, 2015 The Goshen News
F
rom
O
ur
R
eaders
Aftermath of Palm Sunday Tornadoes, ‘no good sight to see’
By HOWARD YODER
I was a young boy, 13 years old,
when the Palm Sunday tornadoes
hit.
It was a hot, humid day. That
evening, we were milking cows.
My dad went to close the door of
our bank barn. I remember Dad
saying he almost couldn’t close
the door because there was so
much suction.
Later on that evening, our
neighbor Levi (Lottie) Miller
came with his pick-up truck with
a camper on top and asked if we
wanted to go and look at what
happened, so we went with him.
The tornado went through
about two miles south of us, by
the corner of C.R.s 28 and 43.
It hit my first cousin Monroe
Yoder’s place. It took the barn
down. When we got there, they
took a chain saw and cut a hole in
the barn to go a little colt out, but
the mother was dead.
We drove around until we came
to Ind. 5 and U.S. 20. By that
time it was dark. In the southeast
corner, there was a big pasture
field. People took flashlights and
were looking for one more miss-
ing person, who we found a little
before midnight. They rolled him
on a cot and covered him, which
was no good sight to see.
Next morning, we drove
around again. We stopped at
Johnny Hochstetler’s. There was
a 4-by-6 board that went through
a cow.
We also went to Chris (Bar-
ney) Yoder’s. He had two sets
of buildings, which were a total
loss. The big house was lifted off
of the foundation about six feet
to the east at an angle. The roof
was off. I remember going to the
top of the house and it gave me a
funny feeling. Chris’s lived on 100
South, which was called Cable
Line Road. There was a piece of
wood 1½-by-14 inches that went
through the cable. At Rueben
Bontrager’s there was a pipe that
was twisted around into a knot.
We went back to Ind. 5 and
U.S. 20 in the daylight. Every
tree was gone. It did not look like
the same place. Now there are
houses and a factory there.
I remember my cousin, Josie
Mast (deceased) had left Ind. 5
and U.S. 20 with a horse and bug-
gy at the time of the tornadoes.
All I can recall is that he stopped
and hung onto a fence post.
Amish men from Pennsylvania
came to help. For five weeks, a
big bus would bring men to help.
They would drop them off at
Monroe Miller’s sawmill, which is
now Indiana Wood Products.
Alvin K. Miller’s wife, Ruth,
would take the men to different
places for the night. I remember
some of the Pennsylvania men
staying at our house and we
became good friends.
Mornings they would go help
free of charge. At noon, places
were set up for lunch for the men
to eat. Church members brought
food in to eat. I am thinking lunch
was at Ben C. Millers and Andy
Rabers in the Shipshewana area.
I stayed home from school a
couple days to plow so my Dad
could go and help rebuild.
I don’t know how many dol-
lars worth of damage was done.
I don’t recall any names, but I
remember them saying close to
Ind. 5 and U.S. 20, five people
went for the basement and the
last one was on the bottom step
and the steps went up and the
person fell into the basement.
There was a funeral for (eight)
people at Shipshewana School:
Mr. and Mrs. LeRoy Yoder,
(he was principal of Honeyville
School) and Mr. and Mrs. Willis
Bontrager.
Howard Yoder lives along C.R.
43 near Middlebury
‘My life was spared’
April l0th I had gone
to Fort Wayne to visit my
girlfriend. I was planning to
return to my home in the
country, between Middle-
bury and Shipshewana on
April llth. We saw in the
news that a strong weather
system was coming through
the area, so she talked me
into staying overnight and
returning early April 12th.
As news began trickling
in, we heard the massive
tornado ripped through
Sunnyside in Elkhart and
headed northeast on to
Shipshewana. Her sister
was a nurse at Goshen
hospital and she said many
injured were brought in as
they were found during the
evening.
My folks lived in the path
of the tornado between Gos-
hen and Shipshewana.
Phones were ripped out
so I couldn’t get through to
them all night. Not know-
ing if they were OK or not.
My father had stood at the
kitchen window watching
the dark funnel go through
the fields just south of our
place.
So Monday morning as
I drove on Ind. 5 coming to
the intersection of Ind. 5 and
U.S. 20, I could not even rec-
ognize the place that I drove
through every day to work.
Huge trees were down. De-
bris was all over the place.
I was able to turn west and
get to our home. They were
all safe, praise the Lord!
Had I left on Sunday as
planned I would have been
coming through 5 & 20
about the time the tornado
ripped through the area. My
life was spared.
— Sandy Hartzler
Goshen
‘Brothers at the
hospital
That tornado Sunday,
The Rev. Dr. Andrew Hardie
saw to it that all the young
people were rushed home
from the First Presbyterian
Church to be with family. He
went straight to the Goshen
hospital, where as a member
of the board, he was readily
recognized. He was asked
to be at the main entrance
where carloads of people
entered the building.
Despite rain and winds,
he helped move all the
furniture out into the rain,
clearing floor space for a
triage area where people
were identified and placed
according to their injuries
and critical needs.
Families rushed in look-
ing for lost family members.
One couple was desperately
looking for their little son.
Hardie informed them there
had been two little boys,
brothers, who were moved
up to a pediatric area.
“No, it was just our son,”
and they rushed out to con-
tinue their desperate search.
It was more than an hour
later when Hardie looked up
and saw the couple again.
“I’ll show you where he’ll
be if he’s brought here.” So
they went upstairs to see
the two brothers there in
the playpen. The parents
suddenly dashed to one of
the boys, grabbing him in
their arms.
As Hardie lifted the other
boy to hold him, the boy
said, “Since we couldn’t
find our moms and dads,
we decided we’d better be
brothers — so we told them
we were.”
— Laurie Hardie
Goshen
Tornado response
‘tore (father) up’
I was a month away from
my third birthday, yet I do
remember. I remember be-
ing literally thrown into the
basement with my brother
when the storms came, but
instead of seeking shelter
with us, our parents stood
on the front porch and
watched the tornado that
took out Midway Trailer
Court.
We lived on the corner of
Clinton Street and Greene
Road, which was almost
the boonies back then. For
the rest of the summer
and for several summers
following, just the threat
of a thunderstorm would
force us to have dinner in
the basement. I, for a long
time, would panic whenever
the fire trucks would come
through town to announce a
tornado warning.
I also developed a sixth
sense of when severe weath-
er was going to develop. It
could be a clear blue sky
afternoon and I would tell
my grandmother that the
tornadoes were coming. She
would tell me I was crazy,
but then she would turn on
the TV and the red ball and
the tone would come across
announcing a watch. After
a few times, she would take
my word as gospel and she
liked to tell that story until
she died in 2012.
Since my dad was a
wrecker operator for
Lechlitner’s Garage, he
was called to help with the
recovery efforts. He used
to tell us stories about some
of the gorier runs he went
on, but working the tornado
aftermath tore him up. He
was, and is to this day, still
bothered about finding
the child in a tree who was
eviscerated.
Grandma and Grandpa
lived on C.R. 17 between
C.R. 18 and the bypass.
Their house was in the path
of the storm that hit Sunny-
side as it was making its way
to the intersection of U.S. 20
and Ind. 15. My grandpar-
ents and my uncle were on
the way to the basement and
they stopped at the picture
window in the dining room
to watch. They were too
terrified to move and too ter-
rified to scream. Grandma
whispered, “We are going to
die” and all Grandpa could
do was whisper back, “I do
believe we will.” The wall
cloud came between their
house and the neighbor’s
house and left both un-
scathed. The only evidence
of the tornado was scattered
pieces of insulation and
other debris in the back 40.
Grandpa was the janitor
at Concord Junior High and
needed to be in the Dunlap
area. Those who had legiti-
mate business there had to
have a yellow tag. He also
was a HAM operator, and he
spent a lot of time relaying
health and welfare messages
to people across the country
due to downed phone lines.
Remember, there were no
cell phones and Internet at
the time.
— Sue Wilden
Goshen
