It was the Friday after Thanksgiving in 2014, and we were preparing to fly from our home in Richmond, Indiana, to Berrien Springs, Michigan. We were headed to visit my mother, Eleanor, and my brother Otto and his wife, Georgia, who all lived in Berrien Springs as neighbors. Flying made for easy holiday visiting when the whole family was together. We carried with us a big dish of cranberry Jello salad and an equally large dish of green bean casserole to contribute to the meal.
In preparation for the flight, my husband, Bill, took the right front seat of the 1959 Piper Comanche PA-24-250. I sat behind him. Bryce, our son, had the left front position, which is the “pilot-in-command” seat. Behind him was his friend, Mirtha. We were all excited to spend the day with family who had convened in Berrien Springs for Thanksgiving.
The preflight check, packing the plane, and securing the food completed, we gathered for prayer. Right there, in front of the hangar, all four of us assembled with our arms around each other and thanked God for the ability to fly and for the airplane to fly in. Most important, we asked for God’s protection; for angels to fly with us and bring us home safely.
In the Air
The plane started up, and everyone buckled in, or so we thought. Mirtha had to retrieve her seat belt from behind and under her seat. Distracted by the exertion of trying to help Mirtha with her seat belt, I failed to secure my own.
I have since discovered this quote in Early Writings: “Could our eyes be opened, we should see forms of evil angels around us, trying to invent some new way to annoy and destroy us. And we should also see angels of God guarding us from their power; for God’s watchful eye is ever over Israel for good, and He will protect and save His people, if they put their trust in Him. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. Said the angel, ‘Remember, thou art on the enchanted ground.’ I saw that we must watch and have on the whole armor and take the shield of faith, and then we shall be able to stand, and all the fiery darts of the wicked cannot harm us.”1
Off we went from the Richmond, Indiana, airport, leveling off smoothly at 7,000 feet and looking forward to being home for the holidays. About a half hour into the flight we felt a slight shudder in the engine, but it quickly smoothed out. Since the pilots did not seem concerned, we in the back relaxed. After about an hour and 15 minutes of flying, we saw the South Bend, Indiana, airport. Only 25 miles to the Berrien Springs airport remained.
Flying over the dam in Berrien Springs, we watched the St. Joseph River’s course toward Lake Michigan. Many orchards came into view. There was Andrews University. I had started first grade in Berrien Springs and went on to Andrews Academy, then to the first year of the university. I met Bill during the first year of college. We were married in the Pioneer Memorial church in 1965. My thoughts were disrupted as the runway came into view.
We turned toward the airport and lined up on a two-mile final stretch at 1,000 feet altitude. Then the engine quit running, and all was deafening silence.
Bill had told us, five miles from the Berrien Springs airport, that there would be a delay. There was a solid blanket of a snow squall right over the runway. We could not even see the giant markers that indicated the runway direction. He said we would go into a holding pattern off to the clear side of the airport and assured us that the prevailing winds would blow the snow shower away from the airport so we could safely land.
I heard Bryce speaking our location and heading into the radio. Then Bill and Bryce started discussing other options: “Should we try to land at the Dowagiac airport?” “Does the Niles airport have clear runways?” “Is the Benton Harbor airport close enough for a successful landing?” After 20 minutes Bryce announced that the airport was clear to land! We turned toward the airport and lined up on a two-mile final stretch at 1,000 feet altitude. Then the engine quit running, and all was deafening silence.
We were in God’s hands.
In God’s Hands
Before even starting the engine, we had prayed for divine protection. This was not the time to lose our faith. “Mayday, Mayday,” Bill calmly announced over the radio as the plane got lower and slower. Then we heard and felt the trees scraping the bottom of the plane. Mirtha and I grabbed each other’s hands and started to pray in earnest. Only the prayer was simply “Help us, Jesus! Help us, Jesus!” And Jesus did help us! All four of us made it out alive. God’s hand was securely around each of us.
None of us has any actual memory of the crash through the trees, or the sudden jerk-stop on the ground, or the crunch of bones as we came to an abrupt stop, upside down. All I remember is the snow. There was none in Indiana, but here the snow was deep and cold.
My next memory is of Bill, who had already found a way out of the front seat of the crashed plane, and was lifting me away from the airplane. He wanted to get me farther away so that if the plane shifted or rolled completely to the ground, further injuries would not occur. When I came to, I realized that although I was alive, everything hurt.
Mirtha remembers being upside down, restrained by her seat belt until Bill came to release her. Since her feet were also stuck under the seat in front of her, he had to pull her loose and lift her out. He helped her walk to the back porch of the house 20 feet away before she became aware of the excruciating pain in her ankle. Although she tried, it was too painful to take her boot off. Later, at the hospital, she was told that the boot was actually putting pressure on the ankle and foot, decreasing the bleeding and keeping the bones from moving out of place. Still, she had two large blood blisters that took a long time to heal.
From the porch where she sat, Mirtha could see Bill trying to access Bryce’s vital signs. Bryce was still upside down and apparently bleeding from the head or face. It looked like a lot of blood. Just as we were on the verge of severe panic, it came to light that all that “blood” we had seen on Bryce was mostly cranberry Jello. He was not hurt as badly as we had feared! God is good!
Bryce was alert and talking coherently to us as we waited for the rescue squad, who, when they arrived, swiftly assessed the situation and had Bryce quickly out of the wreckage. His injuries were limited to his face and teeth. His face had rammed into the yoke (steering wheel) and the control panel, leaving one tooth missing. Where had it gone? A facial X-ray in the ER showed the tooth was jammed right up into the sinus, halfway up his face. Once the oral surgeon had retrieved the tooth and cleaned out the sinuses, it took a year of letting the bones of the mouth heal before they could use a bridge to set the new teeth in position.
In the Hospital
It is a miracle that Bill had managed to release his own seat belt, carry me a safe distance away, help Mirtha, and check on Bryce, all while he had two fractures of the cervical spine, three of the lumbar spine, and two broken ribs. Of course, he didn’t know about these injuries at the time, but though he said he was not in pain, he still got a ride in the ambulance to the St. Joseph emergency room, as did the rest of us. The X-rays later revealed the damage.
Strangely enough, I remember nothing about the ambulance ride to the St. Joseph Lakeland Hospital emergency room. The only thing I heard one of the nurses say was “We have to get her warmed up. She has been lying in the snow.” I also did not realize that the family was gathering in the emergency room, so that by the time I was receiving treatment, they were all already there.
My X-rays revealed multiple fractures of the pelvis and right upper arm and shoulder. That should have clued me in to the surgeries, healing, and rehab that I was in for the next year; actually, for the rest of my life. Both Bill and I were transferred to Kalamazoo Trauma Center for pain control and possible surgery. We had adjacent rooms where we received consultations with medical personnel and visits from friends and family, as well as pastors and elders from churches we had been members of. Thankfully, we never contracted an infection as we went from one surgery to another.
Roughly a week after my operations, my care was transferred to Reid Hospital in Richmond, Indiana, where I stayed for a month of physical therapy. It was only a 10-minute drive from our home to the hospital, and Bill came to see me every day. Nearly a week into my stay at Reid Hospital Bill did not come to take me back to my room after my physical therapy, as he had done during the week prior. The head nurse came to tell me what had happened.
As Bill was coming on to the floor to get me, he doubled over with severe right flank pain. The head nurse had quickly come to his aid, putting him in a wheelchair and transferring him to the ER. There he was diagnosed with an eight-millimeter kidney stone. Evidently the sudden and severe impact of the plane hitting the ground had jarred the stone loose, and it had started its journey down the ureter. When asked what he got out of the airplane crash, Bill says in jest, “Oh, just a kidney stone.”
After a year of therapy, strengthening, and doctor visits, I was allowed to go back to work. For several years I had worked as a nurse in Bill’s medical office and had become friends with many of the patients. They had heard about the airplane accident from newspaper articles2 and had been calling the office to see how we were recovering. My return to work was anticipated with happiness, and I was met with gentle hugs and the repeated remark: “Barb, you are one lucky lady.” Well, I appreciated their words, but “lucky” was not acceptable. I knew that God’s own hand had protected and lifted us up alive. I could not let this opportunity to witness of His love pass by. Strengthened by God’s grace, I answered the same each time: God Himself gave us protection and healing. And I thank Him for it.
Lord, You have been faithful to Your promises: “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19). Thank You, Lord.
1 Ellen G. White, Early Writings (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1882, 1945), p. 60.
2 Here are some examples of news articles that covered the accident: “UPDATE: Berrien County Police Release Names of 4 Involved in Plane Crash,” Nov. 28, 2014, https://wsbt.com/news/local/update-berrien-county-police-release-names-of-4-involved-in-plane-crash; “Probe Continues in Berrien Springs Plane Crash,” Dec. 3, 2014, https://www.southbendtribune.com/story/news/local/2014/12/03/probe-continues -in-berrien-springs-plane-crash/46607497/.