The Woodhouse Six and the Armistice Day Blizzard

HER STORY:

The Woodhouse Six

AND THE ARMISTICE DAY BLIZZARD

BY CAROLYN CORBETT

Nov. 11, 1940, started out rather mild in mid-Minnesota, Mavis Galligher remembers. However, the weather changed quickly and unexpectedly. The wind became stronger and the snow heavier as the powerful winter storm intensified. And so the Armistice Day Blizzard began.

Mavis Galligher. was Mavis Woodhouse back then, a 10-year old youngster with five siblings. The children had gone off to the Pillager school that day as usual. First, the weather was misty, then came the snow. An unprecedented and un-forecasted amount of snow. At about 10:30 in the morning, the school buses were called to take the students home.

Frank Yezek was driving the bus going east of Pillager and brought along another man as a helper. The Woodhouse kids — Mavis, Francis, Joyce, Muriel, Herb and Helen — loaded onto the bus for the 7 mile trip home. Four other students were on the bus, including Harold Peterson and Phyllis Livley.

Mavis at age 90, last Christmas. Submitted

As Mavis looked out the bus windows, snow drifts were building along the edge of the road. Soon drifts ran right down the middle of the highway. She and the other students were not scared. For one thing, they didn’t realize how serious the situation was. They’d been in snow storms before. Plus, Frank had been their driver for a long, long time and was taking good care of them. They were well-behaved children who did as they were told without making a fuss.

When Charlie and Mabel Woodhouse got word the school bus was leaving Pillager to bring their children home, Charlie left with a team and sleigh to meet the bus, while Mabel prayed for the safety of her family. Their homestead was two miles east of the Sylvan Town Hall. The Woodhouse kids didn’t know their dad made it as far as the town hall when he saw the tail lights of the bus leaving to go back to Pillager. Charlie had no choice but to go home without his children.

With the storm raging stronger by the hour, the bus ended up in the ditch just a mile and a half out of town. It was a blessing they saw lights on in a house not far from the road. It was the Andrews’ farmhouse. Frank got permission to bring the youngsters in from the bus, having no idea how long they would end up being there. The driver told the high school boys to carry the little ones to the house. Once the children were settled in, Frank and his helper took to the railroad tracks to slog through the snow on foot back to Pillager.

The Woodhouse Six pictured here in 2000 include Muriel (left), Joyce, Helen, Mavis, Francis (back, left) and Herb. As young children, these siblings experienced the Armistice Day blizzard of 1940. Submitted.

For five days and five nights, the threeroom farmhouse sheltered the 10 young people from the bus, along with their hosts, the Andrews family. Mrs. Andrews found games, puzzles and cards for the children. The older ones played cards into the night, while the younger ones were put to bed. The five girls slept crosswise on the bed so they would all fit. Some of the others slept in easy chairs and still others on the floor. They were comfortable being with the Andrews and rather thought they were having a party. No one was worried, upset or crying. They were just being good kids.

“Mr. and Mrs. Andrews and their 10-year-old son, Russell, were so kind to us and so protective,” says Mavis, who is now 91 years old. “Where Mrs. Andrews found food to feed us all, I’ll never know. We never went hungry.” Mavis remembers breakfasts of oatmeal or cream of wheat along with fresh baked bread. Her sister Muriel still recalls the mashed potatoes at supper.

On the fifth day, snow plows broke their way through 5- to 6-foot-high drifts. Soon after, Charlie arrived to take his family home. Back at their house, as Mabel gave each of her children a grateful hug, she said, “Thank you, Lord, for bringing my children home.”

Ten-year-old Mavis in 1940. Submitted.

Mavis grew up and 12 years later married Ronnie Galligher, her high school sweetheart. They raised four beautiful children – two boys, Tim and Tom, and two girls, Debbie and Roxanne. The couple had 34 years together before Ronnie passed away.

Mavis worked at the Staples-Motley Bank for 21 years before retiring in 1991. “Two years before I retired from the bank, a man came in one day and asked if I remembered the big blizzard,” Mavis recalls. It was Harold Peterson. Harold said, “I carried you from the bus that day.”

Carolyn Corbett has written more than 250 magazine articles for various national and regional publications over the years. She lives in Brainerd with Bryn, her furry mentor of meditation and mindfulness. Bryn takes her job seriously, encouraging Carolyn to practice self-care by taking regular breaks from writing to pass out Whisker Lickins and pet the cat.