Bio: Ruggles, Mrs. Walter (Storm Damage - 1962)

Contact: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Ruggles, Sorenson

----Source: THORP COURIER (Thorp, Clark County, Wis.) 06/21/1962

Ruggles, Mrs. Walter (Storm Damage - 17 JUN 1962)

At least 10 heard of livestock were reported killed in a heavy wind and rainstorm which collapsed a barn on the farm of Mrs. Walter Ruggles, a mile west of Longwood (Clark Co., Wis.) early Sunday evening.

Mrs. Ruggles and her son, Jerry, 20, were in the barn when the winds began to topple the structure, but managed to crawl to safety.

The structure fell on 19 cows, killing ten and injuring others.

Volunteer rescue workers helped drag away timers and stored crops to free the injured and un-injured animals. Only one of the 19 cows was able to walk away from the barn unassisted after the building was downed.

On the Harold Sorensen farm, also in the Longwood area, the wind ripped roofs off a barn and granary.

Reports said that the storm did damage to other farm buildings in the Thorp area, several of them on vacated farms.

The destroyed Ruggles barn was being remodeled and apportion of a west end wall for the new addition as included in the loss.