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Pages of History
The month of March is supposed to come in like a lion and go out like a lamb. But in 1945, April came in like a lion.
On the morning of Tuesday, April 3, the worst snowstorm of the winter struck northeast Nebraska. Blowing snow continued throughout the day and night. By the time the storm abated on Wednesday, roads were blocked and train service was temporarily discontinued.
The Norfork to Sioux City bus which normally ran through Wakefield was diverted to Highway 20 because of drifting snow. This turned out to be a mistake.
The bus came over the top of the hill near Waterbury and skidded into a loaded stock truck that was stalled in the road. No serious injuries were reported. By morning the highway was blocked with drifts 6 to 8 feet deep and the bus and stock truck remained crossways in the road.
A week later the weather warmed up, the rains came, and the side roads turned to mud.
The Black Ford hadn’t been seen for some time. It wasn’t entirely due to road conditions. “We have heard rumors there has been some wife trouble interfering with the romance,” said Editor Allison.
Mud may have contributed to the death of 55-year-old Ernest J. Schultz. On the afternoon of Tuesday, April 10, Al Rubeck was delivering gasoline and tractor fuel to the Schultz farm four miles southeast of Laurel. He was told that Mr. Schultz was working in a field at the time so Rubeck walked out to ask about the delivery.
He found Schultz‘s lifeless body pinned beneath an overturned tractor.
It was thought that the tractor may have rolled over when a wheel dropped into a ditch that ran through the field. Dr. Carroll was called to the scene. He said Schultz’s chest had been crushed and death was probably instantaneous.
Funeral services were held in the Dixon Methodist Church followed by burial in the Daily Cemetery Northeast of Dixon. He was buried alongside the body of his two-year-old daughter who had been killed in 1936 when a limb from a tree that was being cut fell on her.
Schultz‘s obituary noted that he had lived in this area for 38 years and was a veteran of World War I. He was survived by his wife and six children including Vernon who would later farm north of Laurel.
Tragedy also came to the Louis D. Bruggeman home. Mrs. Bruggeman lost three members of her family in one week. A brother died on March 16, a sister on March 21, and a sister-inlaw on March 22. Her grief was abated when a new grandson arrived in April. His name was Dean.
Mrs. Ralph Gailey was surprised when a box of candy fell from the sky shortly before Easter and it wasn’t from a flying Easter bunny. Her son-in-law, Lt. M. L. Eastman, was ferrying a large transport plane from St. Joseph to Minneapolis. He took a slight detour over the Gailey farm, circled the farm and dipped his wings to attract attention, then tossed out a parachute attached to a box of candy for his mother-in-law.
Mrs. Anthony McGowen of Dixon received word that her husband was a prisoner of war in Germany. He had been reported missing in action since December.
Mr. and Mrs. Bert Rumsey returned to their former home in Geneva. Rumsey had been editor/publisher of the Belden Progress until it ceased publication in August 1942. The family then moved to Laurel and he began working for the Advocate. In April 1945 Rumsey decided it was time to retire. He was then 75 years old and in failing health that was no doubt aggravated by the death of his son Judson in a German prison camp in March.
Rumsey’s farewell editorial in the Belden Progress of Aug. 27, 1942, was entitled “Our Obituary.” he noted that he came to Belden three years earlier, hoping to make it his future home. “How well we succeeded has shown itself a complete failure,“ he wrote.
Rumsey said subscriptions and advertising had dropped off so much that he ended his last year $300 in the hole. He thanked the Belden bank and the Westrope store for supporting him to the end. Rumsey said if other businesses and subscribers had done the same, he would have kept the paper going. Perhaps what Rumsey needed was a few Black Ford stories. Surely there must have been some hanky-panky going on in Belden.
The seniors of Laurel High School presented their class play in the city auditorium on Friday evening April 13. It was entitled “Here Comes the Prince.“ Billed as a “rollicking farce,” the cast included Ailene Carlson, Della Reimers, Clark Smith, John Peterson, John Brockmoller, Louis Tolles, Kenneth Wacker, Verniel Lundquist, Wanda Huetig, Marjorie Moore, and Gloria Bruggeman. In California the arrival of spring is heralded by the return of swallows to Capistrano. In Laurel the arrival of spring was heralded by the return of geezers to the benches on Main Street.
“The sit-and-spitters are beginning to crawl out of their holes,”said Editor Allison in the Advocate of April 11. The boys will soon get into action saving the country, commenting on ladies fashions, and generally making themselves useful in our civic set up.“ Exactly how useful a bunch of tobacco chewing old men were to the community was not explained.
The spitters would have a major problem to debate the next day. President Franklin Roosevelt, who had been in charge of the country since 1933, died unexpectedly on April 12. Harry S Truman, who had been Vice President for less than four months, assumed the reigns of power at a critical stage of the war. Many people wondered if he would be up to the job.
