At one time or another, I believe we have all had a time of “if only” or “what ifs” – incidents that have directed our lives in an entirely different direction, or road if you will – a crossroad that leads us to an unknown future. These incidents could be a death in the family, a serious accident of many forms, sickness, or even a change in occupation.

I arrived at my first crossroad on July 22, 1926, when a twister – a freak tornado – tore through our little town of Guilford, Vermont.
I will never forget that day – the gathering thunderheads against an ink-black sky, and the roar of the approaching storm that could only be matched by that of many freight trains.

We were feverishly trying to get the last of the hay to the barn – my father pitching the hay to my older brother who was placing it on the wagon, and I was raking the scatterings with a “bull” rake. This is a rake about 4′ wide with long teeth that one drags behind him as he gathers the loose hay, or scatterings, as it is called.

Suddenly the first blast of the wind struck us and the full load of hay was rolled off the wagon with my brother in its midst, but fortunately unhurt. The horses were unhitched and led to the barn, my brother and his horse safely inside, but as my father was leading his horse past the silo, the tornado lifted it from its foundation and it came crashing down killing my father and the horse.

This brings me to my first “if only” we had not waited ’til the last minute loading the hay.
I also wonder “what if” this had not happened. What would my life have been like?

Would I have stayed on the family farm – milking cows, cutting logs and firewood, plowing, haying, sugaring, and the many diversities of farming? Or would I have found work on the highways as I had in high school years, shoveling gravel to load trucks, or working on snow plows in winter?

We will never know why this accident happened – but I do know that this twister also turned my life, and others of my family, in entirely different directions.

As for me, I feel I have had a good life – be it the will of God or the aftermath of a twister.

Richard Thayer