The Geddes area farm eventually occupied by the Joe Masek family was assaulted by a tornado in the middle of the night.

Uncle Charlie, Aunt Anna Straka, and Grandmother Barbara Masek were living at the farm when the storm hit in the 1930s. Dorothy Petrik Buntgen, 9 at the time whose home was at Platte, was a guest at the farm home that night.

Dorothy explained that everyone fled to the cellar and remained there the rest of the night. There was cardboard on the cellar floor on which to recline. Blankets, coats and a lantern were in a ready position on the house porch during such storm threats.

When dawn arrived the house was found to be heavily damaged, the windmill was in a heap and a couple of hogs were hurt. The dog hid in some safe place and survived. Dorothy recalled that a wooden 2x4 came through a wall and was headed for the bed that she and grandma had evacuated.

The granary, approximately 75 feet from the house, escaped damage. It housed a bin of oats, a bin of corn, an area for separating cream from milk, and an upper level for storage. The upper level, reached by ladder, became the living quarters until the house was rebuilt. Cooking was done on a kerosene stove.

Several years later a tornado struck Lake Andes where the Victor Masek family and Joe and Rose Masek were living.

The tornado passed by the Joe Masek property near the city park within a block. The twister caused considerable damage to other homes and uprooted trees and knocked out power as it swept northeastward. Fortunately, at the Victor Masek property at the north end of town damage was at a minimum. The storm had occurred a few weeks after Charles Masek died in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A second tragedy during such a short time period would have been difficult to endure.

The Nov. 11, Armistice Day, blizzard in 1941 may have been the worst winter storm for the Midwest in the 20th Century.

It was a storm which caught the region unprepared in part because of inadequate warning by the National Weather Service. Some college students were caught on the road and perished after their cars stalled or possibly after they got lost in blinding snow while seeking shelter. There was serious loss of life to both humans and livestock.

The Joe Masek family huddled safely indoors on the farm to the sound of howling wind and blowing snow outdoors. There were cows to be milked, pigs and chickens to be fed and wood to be brought in for heating and cooking. Somehow it all got done in spite of the danger of losing direction in the fierce storm. Apparently, all cows and horses were crowded into the barn to offer them protection.

The pantry was a little bare. A 12-mile trip to the grocery store had been intended before the storm hit. However, on the farm there was always a supply of milk, chickens, eggs, vegetables canned from the garden, and flour and yeast with which to prepare dough and bake bread.

Earthquakes didn't escape some members of the Masek family.

Fred experienced a minor tremor in 1947 while serving with the Army in Korea.

Many years later, a light quake hit the Los Angeles area while Brian was asleep in his apartment. Brian remarked that he initially thought someone living above him was having a noisy party.

Divorces are unpleasant, but this is a history report and the fact that a divorce occurred can't be ignored. The case in point is the divorce of Fred and Patricia Masek, parents of Dick, 6, and Brian, 4, at the time.

Fred and Patricia met at an apartment house in Sioux Falls where they had both become tenants. Fred relocated there after covering the South Dakota Legislature at Pierre for the Sioux Falls Argus Leader.

After a one-year courtship they were married. Three months later they moved to a house at 1605 E. 25th St., Sioux Falls. Fred had purchased the property three years earlier and had been renting it.

Patricia was a first-year music teacher in the public school system when she met Fred. Her activities also included teaching private flute students and playing in the Municipal Band and the Sioux Falls Symphony. She later shifted her teaching duties from the public schools to Augustana and also spent time repairing instruments at K&M Band on W. 41st Street.

Why did the marriage crumble? Few people are real experts at determining the cause of the breakup. While the marriage at the outset in Fred's mind seemed to be made in heaven, it didn't turn out that way. Patricia filed for divorce against Fred. The judge deemed that Fred should have custody of the two sons.

Relationships since the divorce became sensible. Fred, Patricia, Dick, and Brian often shared a holiday dinner. When Fred was stricken with a life threatening ailment, Patricia transported him to the hospital. She was loyal during his hospital stay for what turned out to be an infected heart valve. She deserved considerable credit for her concern in behalf of Fred.

Anna Straka, 86, Fred Masek's aunt, died March 4, 1997, at David City, NE. She was the last to die in the family generation of Fred's father, Joe. Others in the family generation, besides Joe, were Julia Sip Langhorst, Rose Petrik Sweenie, and Joe's brother, Charles Masek, 7, who died from a fall in Cleveland early in the century.

Fred's father, Joe Masek, 87, died May 22, 1983, at the Wagner Good Samaritan Center. He had been a resident there for 12 years and had suffered from strokes.

Rose Masek, mother of Fred, was 64 when she died in September 1964 at the Wagner hospital. She had suffered for years with a dropse (liver) condition.

Lillian, first child of Joe and Rose Masek, died in June 1921, a few weeks after birth.

Charles Masek, 37, son of Joe and Rose Masek, died at Tulsa, Oklahoma, in May 1962 after suffering a second heart attack.

Victor Masek, 62, oldest son of Joe and Rose Masek, died June 26, 1985, at Wisner, Nebraska, from pancreatic cancer.