Follow the River.......

Historical Recollections by Lula Mae Stewart

Contributed by the Greenwood Public Library, Transcribed by Janet Schwarze

This is a picture of our church at Wolter's Corner. I have no dates on when this church was ready for use, I do know it wasn't built on the land it was on when this picture was taken. There was no church at Wolters Corner. The members of the Ladies heard about a building they could purchase for a small amount of money but they had to have land on which to put the building. So they leased a small piece of land and purchased the building and had it moved.

There was much work to be done on the building before it could be used for services. But the people of the area were happy to have a church so they all rolled up their sleeves and pitched in. The walls were painted and the floor was sanded and sealed, a carpet was purchased for the aisles. We purchased a used pulpit and used benches, some hymn books and we were ready to have services in our own little church. It is amazing what a group of women can accomplish when they set their minds to it.

We had many different ministers over the years. They had another church besides ours so we always had evening services. In 1946 Pastor Noresen of the Emanuel Church of Longwood held services for us. We had many Pie Socials and Pot Luck suppers to raise money for the church. We had no electricity for our building. The women donated lamps. I especially remember one fall afternoon, a group of ladies went to clean the church and get things in order for a Pot Luck supper the following evening. When we opened the door what a sight met our eyes. A partridge had broken a window and had flown around until he died from exhaustion. There were feathers all over the place and a horrible smell, After much scrubbing and spraying and leaving the windows open we were able to have our supper.

Pastor Noresen led an adult class in the Lutheran faith, after confirmation. We closed our little church and joined the Nazareth Lutheran church.

Wolters Corner was a good place to live, with good friends and neighbors always ready to help each other in times of need.

June, 1958...... The Day the Tornado Struck

It was a hot horrid day in June, the air was so still, not a leaf stirred on the trees. The cement in the barn was wet with sweat. We went about our work as usual. Then about three o'clock the weather stations began issuing tornado watches. We went and drove the milking herd home and locked them up in a night pasture near the barn. We got out the oil lamp and lantern to use in event the electricity failed as sometimes happened during storms. We took in lawn chairs and other items that could be blown away by the storm. Then we had an early supper, so we could milk a little earlier than usual.

We finished the chores and returned to the house and it was no longer a tornado watch it was a warning, so we went to the basement. Then the twister struck. I could hear something that sounded like glass breaking and many other noises. When it was over we went upstairs. Our house was spared there were broken dishes in the cupboard and a few trees were down but we were safe. A few miles away Mrs. Lato had been killed.

The electricity had been knocked out. Heavy rain fell during and after the storm. I think we had four-inches or more in about an hour, The South Fork of the Eau Claire river ran through our land. At times the water was shallow and the children could wade and play in the river but with a sudden heavy rain it could become a raging torrent in a very short time. That is what happened that awful night.

We could see through flashes of lightning that our barn had been spared, but most of our land was flooded. We couldn't see any of our herd of thirty-eight milk cows. We were worried that they had drowned. But the next morning they were all standing in a lot behind the barn.

The new Highway 29 hadn't been built at that time so County trunk X was then Highway 29. The water went over the road and cars trying to go through became stalled because the motors got wet. Wreckers from Owen and Thorp were called to pull the cars back out of the water, we watched this from our front porch. Most of our crops were washed out. Several hay fields were so full of debris that the hay couldn't be used to feed the cattle. We had to cut and burn it. But we were much more fortunate than others.

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