Fifty Years Ago

                                       Fifty Years ago

Fifty years ago today, I was in an accident that changed my life forever. It doesn't seem possible that fifty years have pasted into history. I have put to words most of what happened that fateful night. I always have said that a part of me died on that night under that bridge and I became a different person. Of course I have the same body but mentally I was completely changed and my outlook of life was completely changed forever. I will turn seventy this year and Valerie would have turned fifty this past August if she would have surived that night. This past May, Pat and Vanessa turned 48 and 46, so that makes one realize his mortality. I have been blessed all these years and also have said that I am living on borrowed time. I intentionally blocked alot of what happened that night just to remain sane and go on. Of course everything that happened that night is and will always be ingraved in my mind forever and I think about it everyday. This is where it takes dicipline to live on all these years as I was told that night of a purpose for me staying here on this earth.

Here is a copy of what I have written about that night.

We boarded the train for home and settled in learning to sleep to the clickity clack of the train track. We arrived in Kearney late in the evening and when we went to get our car, that we had left with a friend. They tried to get us to stay the night but I told them that I had to be at work the next morning. So we set off around 10:00 PM on the 100 mile trip home.

We went through Smith Center Kansas which was about 20 miles from home. I had been having trouble falling asleep at the wheel but thought I could make it home. It was around 1:00 in the morning and Ruth and Valerie were both asleep. I guess I was asleep too because I woke up to Ruth yelling “Look Out” Then there was this big crunch and I was knock out and didn’t even know what I had hit until I came too later. I didn’t feel anything yet but as I came too I yelled for Ruth and Valerie. I could see the stars and hear the popping of metal. I tried to stand up and found out that my leg wouldn’t hold me and that I didn’t have any control of it. I took the weight off of it and stood on my other leg that wasn’t broken. I then realized that I had hit a bridge and the car went across a creek bed landed on its top smashing the top down to the seats and then landing back on the wheels. I was standing in the car up through where the wind shield used to be. I tried to get out of the car but my leg wouldn’t come out as my femur was broken. I had to lift my leg out of the car and tumbled down to the ground. I was still looking for Ruth and Valerie when to my horror there was Ruth under the car all except her feet. I lost it and tried to lift the car off her and then tried to pull her out, but I knew she was dead. Then I saw the lifeless body of Valerie about 10 feet from the car and she had a big gash in her head and I knew she was gone too. By then I started to feel some pain set in. I prayed for god to take me too if it was his will as I couldn’t understand why this had happened to us. As I lay there on the ground and realized that I was bleeding real bad on my hand from cutting it when I got out of the car. I also had several broken ribs and a broken collar bone. I then tried to crawl up out of the ravine by using my one good leg and one good arm. I pulled myself about 15 feet from the car but couldn’t get any farther. I listened to the frogs croaking and the other night sounds and every once in a while I would hear a car coming, as it got closer I would yell “ help, help ” and of course they couldn’t hear me. This happened several times during the night until day break when I heard a car stop. I heard a door open but didn’t see anyone as I yell for help. I then heard the door slam shut and the car sped away. I thought, oh no they didn’t hear me. About an hour later help arrived and they came down to help me. I asked them if they could cover up my family as they were both dead. I told them where I was hurt and that I knew that when they lifted me onto the gurney it was going to hurt. I yelled out in pain and then they carried me up to the ambulance. I asked them to call my father-in-law and let him know what had happened. They took me to the Smith Center Hospital, put my leg in a splint and sewed up my cuts on my hand, arm and leg. By then my father-in-law arrived and came in to see me. I cried and told him I was sorry for what had happened.

The doctors decided to send me to the hospital in Hays Kansas as they weren’t equipped to operate on my leg. I was pretty well out of it from the morphine they put me on. After the long trip I was admitted to St Anthony hospital and taken into surgery to put a steel rod in the middle of my leg bone. They found that I had one lung collapsed so they couldn’t put the rod in and instead put in a steel pin through the bone just below my knee so they could put my leg in traction. So when I woke up there I was with this traction bar overhead with rope through pulleys and weights holding my leg bone apart. The doctor came in the next day and explained that they would gradually remove part of the weigh letting the broken bone move together. After that was done the doctor said that the bone was lined up perfectly and that they decided not to put in the rod and just let it heal with me in traction. When they told me when the funeral was going to be, I asked to go but of course wasn’t able to. I had said my goodbyes out there in that creek bed. They were buried in a casket together and later on I put on their grave marker, together in birth, together in life, and together in death.

After five months in the Hospital they put me in a body cast for another five months. When I went back to the Doctor to remove the cast I looked at this shriveled up leg and had to walk with crutches for quite a while. I was married at 17, a father at 18, and a widower at 19. I look back today and wonder how I managed to make it through all that but with Gods help I made it.

                            

A Life Changing Event

On June 24, 1963 I fell asleep at the wheel, hit a bridge breaking off the corner, the car flew through the air around 80 feet, landed on its top smashing the top down to the seats, and then flipped back over onto its wheels. My wife and little 10 month girl were both instantly killed. It was a miracle that I survived such a mangled car. I spent 2 1/2 months in the hospital and 2 1/2 months in a body cast.

After almost 48 years I made a trip back to the bridge and went to the local paper and got a copy of the article printed on June 27, 1963.

As printed on June 27, 1963.

___________________________

A speeding car that left the highway and hurtled 82 feet across a dry creek, eight and one forth miles south of Smith Center on US-281, about 2 a.m. Monday morning caused the deaths of two persons and the critical injury of the third, the driver. All were from Osborne.

Killed instantly were Mrs. Ester Ruth Alflen 23, and daughter, Valerie, The husband and father, Gerald "Gary" Alflen, 19, driver, was critically injured with fractures of the right leg and collar bone and three ribs in addition to cuts, bruises and contusions.

Mrs. Alflen and daughter were both thrown from the car and Mrs. Alflen was pinned beneath the car which landed on its top, then rolled back on its wheels. Mr. Alflen thinks he crawled from the battered car after the accident. How he did it, considering the condition of the car and his injuries, is a mystery.

It was almost four hours after the accident, about 5:45a.m., before it was discovered by John Watkins, a young man from Harlan, who was coming to Smith Center.

Mr Alflen said he vainly tried to hail cars that sped by during the early morning hours.

The car going south, pulled to the left north of the Dry Creek bridge and snapped off five or six of the guard rail posts that were inked together by cable. Then it hit the edge of the concrete banister and smashed it off before taking off its 82-ft. catapult through space and across the creek.

It is believed that Mr. Alflen went to sleep, causing him to lose control of the car.

Mr. and Mrs. Alflen and daughter were on their way home from a vacation trip to Puyallup, Wash., where they visited his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Alflen. They left their car in Kearney, Nebr. and made the trip by train. Arriving back in Kearney early Monday morning, they got their car and started for home. Mr. Alflen was employed by McFarland's store and was scheduled to go to work at 7:00 a.m.

Corland Brown, deputy sheriff, said he found a note beside the car, evidently placed inside by people where the car was left in Kearney, something like this---Better come in and spend the night and drive home in the daytime.

Mrs. Alflen, Ester Ruth, daughter of the Rev. and Hrs. Harold Hollis was born at McCracken, October 19, 1939. She came to Osborne with her parents and sister, Marie, March 25, 1954. She graduated from Osborne Rural high school in 1957and then attended Evangel college at Springfield, Mo. Then she took a beauty course in Salina and opened her own shop in Osborne. On June 11 1961 she was married to Mr. Alfen.

Valerie Ruth was born in August 1963.

Mr. Alflen was brought to the local hospital where he remained a patient until Wednesday forenoon. Then he was removed to Hays Hospital.

Memorial services for Mrs. Alflen and Valerie Ruth will be held Friday after noon at 2:00 o'clock at the Assembly of God church in Osborne.

_________________________________

This was a lift changing event that will be engraved on my mind forever.

Holes in My Heart

After all these years as one becomes a Senior Citizen I noticed that you can’t do all the things that you use to do when you were young. As I thought about it I have come to the conclusion that this is caused by the accumulation of the many holes that one acquires in the heart. The more holes that you have the more that you lose that energy and fortitude to accomplish tasks that you would have done in your earlier years. So here is my rendition of what I call Holes in my Heart.

In 1950 as a boy of seven years old the first event happened to me. The traumatic thing I remember was when my Granddad Knoll died. It was hard for me at that young age to understand what had just happened. I heard my parents talking about if I was old enough to go to the funeral. So we all packed into this church and they talked about my granddad Knoll and that he wasn’t with us anymore. At the close of the funeral we all went by his casket where there he lay asleep. They explained that I couldn’t see him anymore and that he was now in heaven. That was my first funeral that I remember and will never forget. Even though it was traumatic for me I believe it was good for me to learn about life and death at an early age. This was my first hole that I acquired in my heart.

My grandma Alflen, Blanche, was about everything to us all. Growing up we spent many days at our grandparents house. She was always there for help in the greenhouse and always had the meals prepared on time. I remember those special tastes that only she could prepare. Fried potatoes served with meat and vegetables. She had a special way to prepared sweet potatoes. She would boil them in the skins, peel, cut into half inch strips, coat them with sugar and fry until golden brown. To this day I can’t seem to duplicate that taste. For breakfast it was usually bacon and eggs with pancakes. I don’t know if granddad realized it , but she was always there for him even if he was at times harsh to her. She always attended church every week and I can still see her reading her bible and praying for all of us. Later in life she became ill and was in the hospital with pneumonia. Mom and I was there with her as she got worse and was unconscious. She would forget to breath so we would have to tell her to take another breath. The next morning in 1960, she past in her sleep . The family gathered from New York, California, and Washington as they had spread across this nation. This was the first time all the siblings had been together since they had left home on there own. It’s a shame that sometimes it takes a funeral for family to get together. This was the second hole placed in my heart.

In June of 1963 I had two more holes added to my heart. After being married in June of 1961 and having a baby girl born in Aug of 1962, we had made a trip to Washington State to visit my parents. After two weeks of vacation, we boarded the train for home and settled in learning to sleep to the clikity clack of the train track. We arrived in Kearney Nebraska late in the evening and set off for the 100 mile trip home. About eight miles south of Smith Center Kansas I fell asleep at the wheel, hit a bridge, and landed across a creek bed on the top of the car and then back on its wheels. When I came too I could see the stars and hear the popping of metal. I tried to stand up and found that my leg wouldn’t hold me and that I didn’t have any control of it. I took the weight off of it and stood on the leg that wasn’t broken. After lifting my leg out of the car, I landed on the ground in a heap. I was in shock and felt no pain yet. I had been looking for my family and to my horror I found my wife under the car except for her feet and my 10 month old daughter was a few feet away laying there silent, I knew then they were both gone. That morning under the bridge changed my life and a certain part of me died that day giving me two of the largest holes in my heart. They were buried in a casket together and later I put on the grave marker, together in birth, together in life, and together in death and eternity.

Later in the fall of 1963 as I was still recuperating from my car accident and in a body cast, I received a call that my Granddad Alflen had collapsed and to come right away. When I got there they said he had died in the bathroom. I was 20 by this time and the only relative in town so they wanted me there. I was told that when they were going to remove his body from the bathroom that I could leave but I thought I owed my granddad the dignity to stay with him. As they couldn’t get the gurney in the bathroom they had to put a blanket under him and carry him out. Granddad was a little on the heavy side so as they brought him out, his head would bang on the floor. Even though I knew he wasn’t there it bothered me to hear that thud. I was able to say my goodbye and then began calling relatives about the bad news. Granddad Alflen was very special to me as he had taught me many things about living life and how to deal with the many roads of life to follow. He was a self taught farmer and had a large greenhouse and even though he had only completed the third grade he was a very successful business man. To this day I miss him greatly. So 1963 had ripped three more holes in my heart.

In 1976, Dad was just 53 years old and had been having trouble with symptoms that should have told us that he had a problem with his heart. He had pains in his shoulder, nauseous , and other signs that at the time we didn’t pick up on. On that February morning, Dad decided to go with our neighbor to cut some firewood. They were always competitive about there different brands of chain saws, so when it came time to cut wood they proceeded to race to see which saw could cut wood the fastest. Dad suddenly had a severe heart pain and announced that he wanted to go home. After arriving home he proceeded to take a shower and drink something to settle his stomach. He was still having problem with heart pain but didn’t want to go the hospital. After some coaching he finally agreed to go. As they were checking him out in the emergency room and hooking him up to the different machines he suddenly had a massive heart attack and even though he was in the hospital they were unable to save him. I remember that morning as if it was yesterday. Before Dad had left for his wood cutting event, he waved to me from across the pasture. I was working on something in the back yard and waved back, thinking about what I was doing and not really giving him the time of day. Later on that evening we had went out to dinner and had arrive home when there came a knock on our door. My uncle Daune was there with this terrible look on his face letting us know that Dad had pasted away. This was such a shock to the whole family as he was so young and active. Here I was at the age of 33 burying my dad and looking at my life with idea that I might only have as few as 20 years left in my life. This was another mile stone that changes how you look at your life and put another big rip in my heart.
　

Letter submitted for 50th Osborne High School reunion for May 2011

Gerald Alflen

3312 13th St SW

Puyallup, WA. 98373

gea43@aol.com

The story of my life Gerald (Gary) Alflen

Upon thinking of this lifetime, one looks back and can say, "has it really been 50 years since High School"? I was born in Osborne in 1943 and completed my formal education in Osborne. I remember many good things about school and how it shapes us to meet life's challenges. I remember taking typing for 2 years and even though I didn't use it much for many years, I found myself at a typewriter typing and being able to type without looking at where the keys where. We may not use everything we learned in school but it is a good foundation for us to follow. Living and learning from that time in a small Midwestern town of Osborne was a positive part of life.

After high school I went to work for McFarland Grocery as a produce manager.In 1964 I met a wonderful girl from Downs named Janet Teselle. We dated and were married that summer. She has been my soul mate, and the best thing to happen to me. In 1965 we were blessed with a son named Patrick (Pat). who now lives with his wife in Hawaii. In 1966 we decided to move to Washington State and start a new life for our family and built a home in Puyallup. In 1967 we were blessed with a daughter named Vanessa who lives here in Washington state with her husband. In 1971 we purchased 10 acres of forest land in the mountains. We built a vacation home on it with a beautiful view of the valley below. We spend a lot of time there enjoying the wild life and large fir trees that are now over 60 years old. Vanessa gave us our grandson named Devin in 1988. We enjoy going to our vacation home and riding motorcycles and quads.

Upon reflection one can look back to all the things that have shaped your lives. As a child of ten I started working for my Grandpa in his greenhouse and on his farm. He instilled in me a good work ethic and how to succeed as a business man even though he didn’t have much education. Not only good work ethics but value of ones word and a simple hand shake for a contract. His generation is a loss for our dealings of this time. I was raised in a good Christian home and taught values that have guided me through life. My dad was a successful business man even though he only completed 8 grade and he too gave me that drive to succeed through his example.

I worked in management for a large grocery chain here in Washington. After 40 years of success in the grocery business, I am now enjoying my retirement.

Gerald (Gary) Alflen

THEN-Brad Paisley

This video is so true in what I feel in my heart for my dear wife of over 46 years of marriage. I love you my dear Gerald

Mom's 86th Birthday

Dorothy Alflen
86th Birthday

Dorothy

1941 Senior

Mom's 86th Birthday party

Here it is June 10, 2010 and Mom's 86th birthday. How the years have passed into history. We had a great Birthday party with over 40 family members attending. All eight of my brothers and sisters were able to attend along with most of their family's. When there are eight in the family it becomes difficult to find a time when all of us can be present at the same time. So this was a real plus on this day of celebration.

We had a nice dinner and was entertained by Karl Thurmond, a very talented guitarist and song writer. Karl has written many songs about his family history and many of them fit in correlation to our family and everyone really enjoyed his talents.

As for some history, Mom was born on June 10, 1924 in Kansas and as a child lived on a farm with her parents and nine brothers and sisters. Wils and Celestis Knoll, her Dad and Mom, worked hard to raise their family during the depression years.

Celestis accidentally cut her hand and died of blood poison when Mom was 10 years old. The youngest child was just a few months old and the oldest was just in her teens. The County decided to take the children from their father and put them in several homes. Most of the boys went to farms so they had to work for their keep. Mom was in several homes and graduated from Downs High school in 1941. Her dad walked 28 miles round trip to see her graduate. She was married in 1942 to Lloyd Alflen and started their family in 1943. Mom had eight children, Gerald, Marsha, James, Dennis, Kelly, Darice, Kelvin, and Martin. After living in Kansas, they moved to Washington State in 1962 where we all live at this time. Dad passed in 1976 of a massive heart attack. He was the glue that held the family together so after his passing Mom has had to take that role that keeps us all together.

We have a lot to thank both of our parents for the Christain up bringing and high moral standard they have instill in us all these years.


Love you Mom


Gerald

A Loving Adopted Mother

A Loving Adopted Mother

Back in 1988, my wife Janet had the sad event of her mother Virgina passing away . She was very close to her mother and was having a lot of problems dealing with her loss. Mary Jamieson, my brother's mother-in-law called Janet to give her support and help her in her grief. This gesture was a real God send event that helped her through those dark days.

We both have adopted her as a very special person in our lives and we refer to her as Mom Mary. She is always there for a supportive thought or what ever you may need from her. We try to visit her when ever we can, just to sit down and talk about anything. It is so neat for her relay the memories of the days gone by of her childhood.

She is now 86 and one of the sweetest ladies we have ever met. When we go to see her she always greets you with a big hug and says goodbye with a big hug. I have always said that God has Angels here on earth and she is one to us.


Our dear Mom Mary past away on May 2 2013 at the age of 89. We will all miss her greatly and be thought of every day. She is now in Heaven with her dear Husband Floyd and other loved ones that had gone before her. She has no more pain and may she rest in peace. With Love Janet and Gerald