Christine, I didn't know how you were going to pull together the four elements in your title, but you certainly did! So glad your brother survived that tornado. Thanks for the interesting story! Here in San Diego County, we have The Flower Fields: 55 acres of ranunculus, a 300 by 170-foot hillside American flag made out of petunias, a cymbidium orchid greenhouse, the artist gardens, bird aviaries, a sweet pea maze, and a 1500 square-foot greenhouse filled with world-famous Paul Ecke poinsettias on the property. Tractor wagon rides take visitors to the sites.
Well written, Christine! I LOVE tulips. They are a sign of spring and a promise of warm days ahead. In fact, I was chatting with a friend about them today. We were discussing how to make cut tulips last longer. She adds sugar to the water. I add 7:UP. Both work to make the most out of lovely blooms.
I remember the Barneveld tornado. Such a tragedy, but I also remember the sign someone posted afterward, "Barneveld Strong!" I think it must have been on a painted bedsheet or a piece of plywood, something like that. That was before 18-151 was four lanes, I think, and traffic stretched on for miles. I'm glad your family was spared. I have a special place in my heart for southwest Wisconsin. The area is gorgeous--Governor Dodge, the Blue Mounds, and the Wyoming Valley. A favorite place, for sure!
Thanks for the note. Yeah, the tornado was before the four lanes. They were strong people then. I remember joining my mom with some of the townspeople and Red Cross helpers and we were all holding hands in a circle to say a little prayer and then they were getting on with the work of recovery immediately. Sleeves rolled up, as we say, and they dug in. It was surreal.
This was a very fun piece to read--love all the connectivity. It's hard to believe it was 40 years ago when that tornado caused such massive destruction--I still think about that every time I drive by the Barneveld exit.
Christine, such an amazing history told through your heart and brilliant storytelling. I promise to plant tulips this spring in commemoration with you, my friend. Thank you for sharing this.
More words of wisdom from my Wisconsin colleague. I love history, even the sad day of the Barneveld tornado. Talk about a resilient community. As for tulips, the Holland, Michigan festival is on my bucket list. I love bulb flowers, a happy reminder that while things look dead above ground, underneath, life is just waiting. Thanks for such a well-researched post.
What a lovely post, Christine. My husband's uncle and aunt's historic home was destroyed in that Barneveld tornado. She was lifted from the house and landed about a block away in her bed. Luckily neither of them were badly hurt.
Christine, I remember driving through pre-tornado Barneveld on the old Hwy 151 going to college at UW-Platteville, 1972-76. I remember seeing the tornado aftermath photos. There is a special place in my heart for your community. Thanks for sharing info.
Thomas, your bio says you're a former weekly newspaper editor. What newspaper? I'm a journalism grad who got lucky and worked at the Dodgeville Chronicle for a couple of summers during college, writing feature stories and learning the ropes.
Sorry for missing this before. I graduated at UW-Platteville in 1976 with an English major and Journalism minor. I was at: the McFarland Community Life and Monona Community Herald, 1976-77; the Edgerton Tobacco Reporter, 1978; and the Cheney (WA) Free Press, 1979-1985, as editor, a weekly near Spokane, home of Eastern Washington University. I did all the reporting, photography and darkroom, including even sports.
Newspapering is where I learned to write, more concisely than I seem to do now. To that end, I have enjoyed the writing and works of Earnest Hemingway, Steinbeck and others, including now a number of current authors with thriller novels with game wardens and others in rural settings from Maine to Montana.
Upon graduating UW-Platteville in 1976, I became the reporter, for a year and a half, at my hometown weekly, the McFarland Community Life and also as needed for the Monona Community Herald. Did all the meetings for the village and the Town of Dunn at a time when heated town board meetings often went on into the wee hours of the morning as farmers and new home owners around Lake Waubesa argued land use/zoning regulations restricting how farmers got to sell their farms, etc. Then, in January 1978, I married an Irish gal, a radio/tv major also at UW-P. I then took a job as editor of The Edgerton Tobacco Reporter weekly for a year, before moving on to a weekly in Cheney, WA, near Spokane, for the next seven years. Cheney also was home to Eastern Washington University where the Seattle Seahawks held their summer camps. Loved that town, but we moved back to WI when our daughter was born in 1985. Then, we raised our family in Sun Prairie, until my retirement in 2016, when we moved to our current condo in Ocomomowoc. I worked a number of different jobs in those years, while Peggy ended up retiring a year ago from a career in banking. I interviewed, right out of college, also for the Grant County paper in Lancaster, but did not get that. I really liked Southwest WI.
Christine, I didn't know how you were going to pull together the four elements in your title, but you certainly did! So glad your brother survived that tornado. Thanks for the interesting story! Here in San Diego County, we have The Flower Fields: 55 acres of ranunculus, a 300 by 170-foot hillside American flag made out of petunias, a cymbidium orchid greenhouse, the artist gardens, bird aviaries, a sweet pea maze, and a 1500 square-foot greenhouse filled with world-famous Paul Ecke poinsettias on the property. Tractor wagon rides take visitors to the sites.
Well written, Christine! I LOVE tulips. They are a sign of spring and a promise of warm days ahead. In fact, I was chatting with a friend about them today. We were discussing how to make cut tulips last longer. She adds sugar to the water. I add 7:UP. Both work to make the most out of lovely blooms.
I remember the Barneveld tornado. Such a tragedy, but I also remember the sign someone posted afterward, "Barneveld Strong!" I think it must have been on a painted bedsheet or a piece of plywood, something like that. That was before 18-151 was four lanes, I think, and traffic stretched on for miles. I'm glad your family was spared. I have a special place in my heart for southwest Wisconsin. The area is gorgeous--Governor Dodge, the Blue Mounds, and the Wyoming Valley. A favorite place, for sure!
Thanks for the note. Yeah, the tornado was before the four lanes. They were strong people then. I remember joining my mom with some of the townspeople and Red Cross helpers and we were all holding hands in a circle to say a little prayer and then they were getting on with the work of recovery immediately. Sleeves rolled up, as we say, and they dug in. It was surreal.
This was a very fun piece to read--love all the connectivity. It's hard to believe it was 40 years ago when that tornado caused such massive destruction--I still think about that every time I drive by the Barneveld exit.
Christine, such an amazing history told through your heart and brilliant storytelling. I promise to plant tulips this spring in commemoration with you, my friend. Thank you for sharing this.
More words of wisdom from my Wisconsin colleague. I love history, even the sad day of the Barneveld tornado. Talk about a resilient community. As for tulips, the Holland, Michigan festival is on my bucket list. I love bulb flowers, a happy reminder that while things look dead above ground, underneath, life is just waiting. Thanks for such a well-researched post.
What a lovely post, Christine. My husband's uncle and aunt's historic home was destroyed in that Barneveld tornado. She was lifted from the house and landed about a block away in her bed. Luckily neither of them were badly hurt.
Wow, what a tale they have to tell. Isn't it interesting how we find new connections with one another? (You and Christine in this case).
We drove through Barneveld in the eighties and heard about all the ancient oaks that lined Main Street. Very sad.
I'd love to know who they were, if you can share. You know where to email me.
Christine, I remember driving through pre-tornado Barneveld on the old Hwy 151 going to college at UW-Platteville, 1972-76. I remember seeing the tornado aftermath photos. There is a special place in my heart for your community. Thanks for sharing info.
Thomas, your bio says you're a former weekly newspaper editor. What newspaper? I'm a journalism grad who got lucky and worked at the Dodgeville Chronicle for a couple of summers during college, writing feature stories and learning the ropes.
Sorry for missing this before. I graduated at UW-Platteville in 1976 with an English major and Journalism minor. I was at: the McFarland Community Life and Monona Community Herald, 1976-77; the Edgerton Tobacco Reporter, 1978; and the Cheney (WA) Free Press, 1979-1985, as editor, a weekly near Spokane, home of Eastern Washington University. I did all the reporting, photography and darkroom, including even sports.
Newspapering is where I learned to write, more concisely than I seem to do now. To that end, I have enjoyed the writing and works of Earnest Hemingway, Steinbeck and others, including now a number of current authors with thriller novels with game wardens and others in rural settings from Maine to Montana.
Christine,
Upon graduating UW-Platteville in 1976, I became the reporter, for a year and a half, at my hometown weekly, the McFarland Community Life and also as needed for the Monona Community Herald. Did all the meetings for the village and the Town of Dunn at a time when heated town board meetings often went on into the wee hours of the morning as farmers and new home owners around Lake Waubesa argued land use/zoning regulations restricting how farmers got to sell their farms, etc. Then, in January 1978, I married an Irish gal, a radio/tv major also at UW-P. I then took a job as editor of The Edgerton Tobacco Reporter weekly for a year, before moving on to a weekly in Cheney, WA, near Spokane, for the next seven years. Cheney also was home to Eastern Washington University where the Seattle Seahawks held their summer camps. Loved that town, but we moved back to WI when our daughter was born in 1985. Then, we raised our family in Sun Prairie, until my retirement in 2016, when we moved to our current condo in Ocomomowoc. I worked a number of different jobs in those years, while Peggy ended up retiring a year ago from a career in banking. I interviewed, right out of college, also for the Grant County paper in Lancaster, but did not get that. I really liked Southwest WI.
I lived across the street from Lake Waubesa in Town of Dunn for 30+ years.