By this fall thirty years will have past since the tornado went through and turned our lives around starting us off in a totally different direction. I have never tried to put the events down on paper before and I find it a little difficult to do so now. Where do you start the story and just how much detail do you put in before it becomes boring. This episode will be for my Grandchildren so I'm going to start by backing up and giving a few events that happened earlier in the summer.
Etta was carrying our fifth child who was due to arrive in about the middle of September. It had not been an easy pregnancy for her and problems were beginning to surface. The Doctor {Veenstra } had been monitoring her on a regular basis. I thought that she was in good hands and probably was not as concerned as I should have been. When Etta went in for her weekly checkup I had gone to the marsh where I had hired a bulldozer to remove several trees around the edge. Upon returning she came down where I was to tell me that the doctor had discovered a problem and he wanted to induce childbirth immediately. This was on the 28th of August nearly three weeks early. This time I went with her. The next several hours was spent in the waiting room. The doctor had made several trips in to keep me informed of what was happening . First he had stated that they had lost the babies heart beat and he feared for the survival of the baby. Then next it looked as if a cesarean operation might have to be performed. But shortly after midnight I was informed that all had gone naturally and we had a boy and that even though he was a little blue he was all right. Etta was not, and she would have to stay in the hospital for several days to receive anti biotics and other medicines. They released her on September 4 on the condition she stay down for several days. I picked her up on Saturday at about four in the afternoon. It was extremely hot with the threat of thunder showers in the air. On the way home we stopped at a grocery store to get supplies that I could cook. It was after six by the time we got home and by the time supper was finished it was nearly eight o'clock. We had the TV on and there was no mention of any severe weather in our area. Philip went to the barn to feed the ten yearling steers that were being kept in the barn for the summer. It didn't take him long and he returned to the house at about fifteen after eight. The sky was terribly black to the south west and it appeared that a major thunderstorm was on the way. The tremendous roar and the wind that followed was unbelievable . Etta recognized it for what it was and grabbed the baby and started herding the other children down the basement stairs I took time to get a flashlight from the kitchen cupboard but by the time I got to the stairway it was all over. The family was all in a corner where they were supposed to be. Etta found that in grabbing the baby she was carrying him upside down. We waited a few minutes before emerging from the basement. A check of the house revealed that there was no major damage only broken windows. What a homecoming for Little Clint. He was not home for two hours and he had already experienced his first tornado. It was now time to asses the rest of the farm to see how much damage had occurred. Philip and I started out armed with a flash light. The electricity was off so we had no other light. We started for the barn and was under the power line when it suddenly dawned on me that we might be walking into live power lines. I ordered Philip to stop in his tracks and not to move even one step. A search of the power pole revealed that both wires were still attached so there was no danger. The barn and silo were completely flat and the cattle were trapped under the collapsed barn I could hear them groaning as they were pinned under five thousand bales of hay and straw A quick survey revealed that every building on the place except the house was flat or gone completely. All the tree were uprooted and also laid flat. I had no idea where the storm came from or where it had gone. My first concern was the cattle trapped and suffering under the tremendous weight above them. There wasn't to much that could be done immediately. A check of the telephone show that it was still operating so I called the Sheriffs office and requested assistance. Next I called the Deitz's to see how they had fared, they didn't even know that a storm had passed or that they had lost there travel trailer and there garage was sitting at a forty five degree angle. At about this time Al Baron and his wife Bernice drove in. They had been coming down to see the new member of the Peterson clan and had just turned off Leonard Road onto 120th as the storm went right over them. they watched the trees blow down in Kolbergs yard. I made several more telephone call to my family, My sister in Grand Haven, My brother in Ferrysburg and of course my folks . The Sheriffs patrol arrived and put the whole thing on the air as they checked the damage and reported it. Civil Defense teams from Allendale and Hudsonville were alerted but not activated until daylight. Jack Rozema of the sheriffs department responded and I asked him if it would be possible to get down under the collapsed barn and shoot the stranded cattle to put them out of their misery. He asked if I had a deer rifle and some ammo. which I supplied. Two of the steers lay between joist and although they were trapped they were in no danger. The rest were shot. After midnight a television crew from some Detroit station came and wanted an interview . By this time I was not in a frame of mind to do justice to an interview, the whole thing appeared all over the State. .
Before daylight Sunday morning my brother in law Frank Tiles pulled into the yard with his bulldozer and started to clear paths through the debris. The defense teams soon followed. Later all the neighbors came with tractors and wagons and soon there was a steady stream of loads of bales being taken to other barns in the neighborhood. My sister in law Minnie stopped at Casmiers grocery store in Spring Lake and they cleared the counter of lunch meats , sweet rolls and buns at no cost So Minnie soon had a lunch counter for the people to have a break from there work. After the hay had been removed a wrecker hoisted the timbers up so the dead cattle could be removed. The two uninjured ones walked away unhurt. That day all five thousand bales of hay and straw went to other barns and in addition seven hay rack loads of boards shingles, tin roofs and other junk was picked up in the field just to the north of the barn.
Sight seers were coming from everywhere and there was danger the roads would be blocked so that it would be impossible to move the wagons Earl Muller the Township constable at that time worked extremely hard to keep traffic moving. Hundred of people showed up for the sights. Someone remarked that a collection fee should be charged . Bill overheard the remark and even though he was seven at the time he took a pail down the road and was asking for donations. I soon heard about it and put a stop to it. Even though I was embarrassed I remember thinking that there was one boy who would make it in life. For weeks afterwards farmers showed up to spend a few hours helping to clean up the mess. some came from as far away as Coopersville. I had asked Al Baron an army buddy who was a photographer to take pictures to document everything for the insurance company.
A few days later a man from the weather bureau in Grand Rapids came to document the storm. It was from him that I received the official story. The storm started in the southern part of the County and traveled in a northerly direction dropping down briefly in Robinson Twp. where a garage and a few trees were destroyed. From there it hopped the River and setting down to the ground as it approached high ground. It was at its most destructive force as it approached our place. Its path was about two hundred yards wide with side eddies that reached out beyond that. It was first timed at about a quarter after eight and continued in its northerly direction Getting to our place at about twenty after eight. From here it went across the east side of the Spencer woods leveling trees two foot in diameter. Passing over the neighbors {Plant} place and next Kolbergs. From there it jumped to Nunica where the old Pickle factory was leveled , traveling northward on into Muskegon County to Ravenna where a barn and other buildings received damage. In all it traveled a distance of about thirty five miles in about thirty minutes, making the average ground speed of over sixty miles an hour The weatherman stated that by the appearance of the damage here the velocity of the wind was in excess of three hundred miles an hour.
A tankage company from Rockford was called to pick up the dead animals. About three weeks later the manager of the Company was arrested for selling parts of dead animals for human consumption. I have often wondered if those steers may have ended up going over the meat counter in some stores.
It is hard for me to understand how the house withstood the wind when trees were uprooted on every side. I guess the best explanation came from one of the kids with the remark that "God was holding his hands over us" What better protection could one have than that.