Hudson Post-Gazette - 1965 Palm Sunday Tornado

A warm and pleasant Palm Sunday on April 11, 1965 ended in death for 14 people around the region, great personal loss and numerous acts of heroism as the worst natural disaster ever to hit the region left a path of destruction across Branch, Hillsdale and Lenawee Counties. Countless people survived miraculously as their homes disappeared around them. Many Hudson area residents worked throughout the night giving the assistance to those in need.

The two huge tornados, hitting about eight in the evening, was one of the most destructive ever to hit the state. Rescue operations began almost immediately after the twisters struck between 7:30 PM and 8:00 PM, depending on the area hit. It took the lives of several, including three people in the Poling family six miles north of Hudson - James & Patricia Poling, his father, Pearly Poling, Mrs. Ethel Oles and six people in the Ferguson family, eight miles north, Lyle and Irene Ferguson, their daughter and husband, Carol and Larry Martin and their two children, Kelly & Randy. A dozen people in total died the night of the storm and two more died later of their injures, Mrs Gladys Hudnutt and Leon Lytle.

Several other people were injured and there were a number of miraculous escapes. A number of families lost literally everything but their lives.

'The extent of the damage in some areas defies telling', the story in the Post-Gazette read. Among the heavily damaged or destroyed was the Lakeview Pavilion, Christian's Market, Perry's Store, the Devil's Lake Drive-In Church, Moon Lumber Company and Minster's Marina. The newly dedicated Manitou Beach Bible Church was destroyed. There were 65 in attendance taking refuge in the basement. Also gone was St Mary's On the Lake Catholic Church. Many other areas of Manitou Beach were also destroyed.

President Lyndon Johnson flew over the damaged area shortly after the storm and called some of the damage the worst he had ever seen. Michigan was declared a Federal disaster area.

People from around the area pitched in on the cleanup. Although much was done early, it would take years for the damaged areas to fully recover, the face of the resort area forever changed, as the lakes became less of a place to go for a day and more of a cottage and summer residence.

FOOT NOTE: Then Post-Gazette editor, Ed Potter, vividly remembers the Monday morning after the tornadoes. He had received permission from the Michigan State Police command post at Manitou Beach to enter the sealed off area extending from there along the south shore of Devils Lake and between Devils and Round Lakes where destruction was most evident.

"It was a shock to see places that were intimately familiar to me suddenly gone," Ed recalls. The editor had started his newspaper career years earlier as a reporter for the Log Cabin Weekly News, published by the Post-Gazette for many years during summer months and serving the lakes area.

When the Post-Gazette was printed four days later readers had a illuminating look at the worst natural disaster ever to strike the region. Thirty-two photos graphically showed scenes of the carnage. Some aerial photos were taken by the late Jim Baker of Hudson. "The press run immediately sold out even with extra copies and became the most sought after issue in the newspaper's history," Ed said.