[0:07] [Music] [0:16] armus day 1940 the day started out [0:20] beautiful uh it's just like any other [0:22] ordinary fall day uh Minnesota was [0:25] primarily [0:26] Agricultural and uh things seemed fairly [0:29] normal a day to remember but in those [0:32] days 1940 there was no Advanced National [0:36] Weather Service like we have today where [0:38] they can predict the weather days in [0:40] advance there weren't cell phones in [0:42] fact many homes didn't even have [0:44] telephones at all the day started out [0:47] mild Sunny people dressed accordingly [0:50] with just light clothing on but by mid [0:54] afternoon it had turned horribly cold [0:57] the wind would picked up from the north [0:59] it was very very very cold it started to [1:02] snow and people were not dressed [1:06] properly many many many duck Hunters [1:09] were out in their blinds and weren't [1:11] dressed properly and died froze to death [1:14] Farmers had a very difficult time [1:17] getting to their animals out in the barn [1:20] some of them got lost blinded by the [1:23] snow and froze to death in their in the [1:26] Groves close to their Farms [1:30] [Music] [1:33] it's a story that uh my mother told many [1:36] times over the years of what happened [1:38] with her uh during the Armistice Day [1:40] blizzard November 11th 1940 as I look [1:44] back to my years at the Lakeville High [1:47] School there is one occasion I will [1:49] never forget on November 11th 1940 my [1:54] brother Julian and I rode the school bus [1:57] to Lakeville as usual it was a mild day [2:00] in November and uh warm it was kind of [2:03] overcast a little bit Misty and they her [2:06] and her brother Julian rode the school [2:08] boss to school each day so they just [2:12] dressed in light clothes they wore light [2:14] jackets no hats or scarves no gloves [2:18] mittens and the girls all wore skirts to [2:21] school so she wore a skirt that day [2:24] before noon it had started to snow [2:26] heavily we were served our lunch and [2:29] then dismissed they called for the [2:31] school bus and the uh owner and operator [2:34] of the school bus was Arnold saber my [2:36] dad had a transportation company before [2:40] he and my mother got married in 41 and [2:43] part of that Transportation was starting [2:46] the bus service he also delivered cream [2:49] to Lakeville and milk to [2:53] Farmington so the bus service was part [2:56] of him driving and working with vehicles [2:59] and so he came to pick up the kids at [3:02] school uh after they had fed them lunch [3:05] and they started out for Credit River [3:07] Township is where my mom grew up on a [3:10] farm and so they only got maybe 2 miles [3:14] out of Lakeville traveling west a [3:17] terrible blizzard hit the area it was [3:20] impossible to see the road and finally [3:24] the bus became stuck in a huge drift [3:27] Arnold tried in vain to get the bus out [3:30] of the snow drift get the bus unstuck [3:33] and it just wasn't working and [3:35] eventually the transmission went out on [3:37] the bus and so they were stranded there [3:39] Arnold made some attempts to locate some [3:41] shelter for them but the visibility was [3:44] really very bad they couldn't see so [3:47] they just kind of tried to wait it out [3:49] and when it got to be about 7:00 at [3:51] night Arnold felt that if they stayed in [3:55] the bus they would freeze to death it [3:57] was very cold out very windy and the bus [4:01] was running out of gasoline Arnold made [4:03] a decision based on a farm that he had [4:06] passed uh about a half a mile or quarter [4:09] mile back that they should all hold [4:12] hands form a chain don't let go and [4:15] we're going to make it to this Farm [4:17] Arnold and um some boys led the way cuz [4:20] they had long pants on and then the [4:22] girls were next and they tried to walk [4:25] in the tracks of the boys the oldest [4:27] boys brought up the rear to make sure [4:29] know kids were left behind and they [4:31] walked about a quar of a mile to a farm [4:34] and they got to the farm and they got [4:37] inside and they were in shelter there [4:39] was frostbite and their ears Etc and my [4:42] mom described having to peel literally [4:44] peel ice off the back of her calves the [4:47] farm family was a young couple that had [4:50] one baby we thought the farmer's wife [4:53] must have gone into shock with 26 kids [4:56] coming into her home we were never [4:58] offered any food that evening or [5:01] breakfast the next morning after closing [5:04] the kitchen door she made breakfast for [5:07] her own family and then asked us if we [5:09] would like a cup of coffee they didn't [5:11] have a telephone so there was no calling [5:13] for help Arnold decided that that wasn't [5:15] a good place to just camp out for the [5:18] remainder of the storm so he and two of [5:21] the oldest boys uh one of them being my [5:24] mother's brother I decided to walk for [5:26] help and Arnold's Family Farm was about [5:28] 2 miles away [5:30] so they uh walked through the snow [5:33] drifts 2 miles to the saber Farm they [5:37] got a team of work horses and a box sled [5:42] he brought the sled to the other Farm [5:45] they loaded all the kids into the back [5:47] of the sled and covered them all over [5:49] with horse blankets and they made their [5:52] way into the town of [5:53] Lakeville and the first place they [5:55] stopped was the local cafe and and [6:00] Arnold told all the [6:01] kids go in order whatever you want to [6:04] eat don't worry about paying for it [6:07] it'll be fine and in the meantime he got [6:09] a hold of the superintendent of [6:11] Lakeville schools and they started [6:13] calling families in Lakeville and asking [6:15] if they could take a child or two in [6:17] until the till they could get back home [6:20] my mother and another girl stayed with [6:23] one family and her brother and another [6:24] guy stayed with a different family and [6:26] her brother and his friend decided they [6:29] could shovel snow and make some money [6:31] and the local movie theater operator [6:33] opened up the movie theater for the kids [6:35] one of the evenings they could go and [6:37] they could have popcorn and they could [6:39] watch the movies after a terrible [6:42] experience in the blizzard it was so [6:45] great to be safe and sound and to be [6:48] treated with such kindness and the [6:50] people in town had telephones my [6:52] grandparents my mother's parents didn't [6:54] know where they were and for over 24 [6:58] hours once they got into town they could [7:00] call all the families and say your [7:02] children are safe it was 3 days before [7:06] my grandfather could get into town to [7:08] bring them back home Arnold he was only [7:11] 25 years old when he had the [7:13] responsibility for all these kids and [7:15] making sure that they um didn't perish [7:19] that they got brought to safety we never [7:21] really heard about the blizzard story [7:23] this was all news to me and wonderfully [7:26] so when I talked with Judy and and she [7:30] filled me in on her mother's um write up [7:33] and he had the bus company until he was [7:35] drafted for the war so it does not [7:39] surprise me at all that my dad would [7:42] have done the very best he could for the [7:44] kids he not only brought him to safety [7:46] once he brought him to sa safety Two [7:48] Times by walking to his parents' farm [7:50] and getting the horses and the sled and [7:53] and uh making sure they were all covered [7:55] up and warm and so he took a lot of [7:58] responsibility for a young man of 25 [8:01] [Music] [8:15] [Music]