bob Conrad |
The Goshen News
A second tornado
approaches the already devastated Midway Trailer Court just less than an hour after a twin, F4 twister hit the trailer court around 6:18 p.m. on
April 11, 1965. This tornado, also reportedly a twin according to witnesses, swung north and leveled many homes in the Sunnyside Addition, north of Dunlap.
Mother-Son
Jammin’ Fun
will take place at Schrock Pavilion in Shanklin Park, 6–8 pm.
This exciting event is
a special night of fun for
MOMS AND THEIR SONS.
Enjoy dancing, games, refreshments and punch.
Bring your cameras; this evening will make
memories that will last a lifetime!
The event date is Thursday, May 7.
Preregistration is required at the Goshen Parks
Office now through May 1 or until capacity is met.
Tickets are $10 each.
Seating is very limited;
please register early to ensure availability.
Moms have spoken,
AND WE HAVE LISTENED!
Mother-Son
Jammin’ Fun!
Working for the Common Good
Join the Bethany community
serving grades 4-12
in times of need
to benefit our community
making our world a better place to live
P
alm
S
unday
T
ornadoes
| 50
th
A
nniversary
The Goshen News Saturday, April 11, 2015 |
3
A
s the skies above Elkhart and
LaGrange counties began to
turn a sickly color around 6
p.m. on April 11, 1965, many of
those who were alive then said
they could feel the eeriness of the
moment.
It had been a gorgeous Palm
Sunday. Temperatures jutted into
the 70s as children took to the fields
and parks to play. Evening church
services celebrating Christ’s trium-
phant entry into Jerusalem were
planned. Most businesses during
that era were closed on Sundays.
Families were together, breaking
bread, relaxing or watching the
Master’s golf tournament on their
black and white televisions.
Soon, that peace and casual pace
would be shattered and a lazy Palm
Sunday would be transformed
into the most horrific and perhaps
historic day in our local history.
“It was the nicest day of the year
and we were outside playing in
our yard,” remembered musician
Laura Johnson, who was 10 at the
time and lived with her family in an
old farmhouse at the intersection
of C.R. 28 and C.R. 13 northeast of
Goshen. “The sky got really funny
looking. It had gotten a little bit
windy and then became still. It just
felt weird.”
Moments later, at approximately
6:18 p.m. Johnson said she saw
boards flying in the air. That was
the first F4 twin tornado that tore
through the county, leveling the
Midway Trailer Court along U.S.
33 between Goshen and Dunlap
and the Jefferson Place subdivision
along Ind. 15 north of Goshen. Ten
people lost their lives at Midway.
That storm also claimed lives north
of Middlebury.
Within the hour, rescue workers
at the trailer court were ducking
for cover as another F4 monster
barreled through Dunlap. This
twister was farther north and took
dead aim at the Sunnyside housing
addition, a post-World War II neigh-
borhood just east of the tracks that
didn’t stand a chance.
“I seen it coming,” Carl Burk told
Goshen News City Editor Roger
Schneider. Burk lives on Kendall
Street in the addition today, but
lived on Lawton Avenue at the time.
“…All we could see was a couple
of Christmas (pine) trees floating in
the air. We didn’t have any idea how
bad it was until it was over.”
Nearly 150 homes were de-
stroyed in and around the neigh-
borhoods and 27 people died. That
tornado that some witnesses say
also split into two funnels, contin-
ued northeast, leveling businesses
and homes near the intersection of
Ind. 15 and U.S. 20 and claiming six
more lives.
Around the same time, by most
accounts, a third F4 tornado had
mercifully bounced over the south
end of Goshen before landing again
and churning up the countryside
into LaGrange County. In its path
was the Rainbow Lake community
just southeast of Shipshewana.
There, 16 lives were taken by the
storm and eight of them were
members of Shore Mennonite
Church.
Locally, 70 people died that Palm
Sunday here in Elkhart and La-
Grange counties. Twenty of them
were children. Six of them were 1
year old or younger. In addition,
hundreds of homes and businesses
were wiped away. The lives of
those who survived were changed
forever.
What do we still talk about 50
years later? Not much. But we
still talk about the Palm Sunday
tornadoes, some of us like it was
yesterday. The stories are so vivid
that for those of us who weren’t
there, it feels like we were.
John Hertzler, manager of the
Goshen Historical Society, said
the Palm Sunday tornado is the
most asked about local event at the
downtown museum. He said he has
some old photographs, but that’s
about it.
“I suppose it was (the most
historic event in local history),”
Hertzler said. “If it wasn’t, I don’t
know what else would be.”
Neither do we.
Michael Wanbaugh is managing
editor of The Goshen News. He can
be reached at michael.wanbaugh@
goshennews.com.
Michael Wanbaugh
Managing editor
Palm Sunday was the most historic day here
