GUILFORD — It was Sept. 22nd, and the Hurricane of 1938 was raging on Hale Road.
“We had no radio. No one knew about the hurricane. I was ten years old,” remembers Eleanor (Coleman) Emery, now of Dummerston. “It had been raining so very hard for several days, and water from the Green River was coming right down the back of our home.”
Around 6 p.m., a neighbor came in his automobile to evacuate the family.
“Walter Petrie had seen the rising water, and concerned for our safety, came down in his car to get us away from the brook,” said Emery.
The family also consisted of Emery's father, Sidney; her mother, Gladys; her sister, Sadie, 14; and her brother, Norman, 6.
For the previous two weeks, the Colemans had also been caring for Emery's cousin, 1-year-old Roger Miller, whose mother, Flora, was hospitalized.
“Of course, now we know that we should have just stayed in our home and we would have been fine, but at the time, it made sense, seeing the river shift from the back to the front of our home, to get in Mr. Petrie's car,” Emery observed.
The Model A Petrie was driving, now full with three adults, three small children and a baby, headed toward the bridge to get to higher ground.
“We were surrounded by water on both sides because the river jumped the bank,” Emery said.
Norman Coleman, in an interview with Veranda Porche of Guilford, in October of 2009 recalled the family's journey.
“The water was so forceful almost up to the bridge, the water pushed us back,” he said. “Walt tried to make another run for the bridge, but that bridge was gone, washed out right in front of us. The flood waters took the whole thing, all at once.”
The Brattleboro Reformer reported at the time, “When the car became stuck they abandoned the machine. They were just about to step on to a small bridge leading to higher ground when the bridge washed away.”
The group decided that the safest course of action was to return to the house. Sidney Coleman put young Norman up on his shoulders. Petrie carried the infant in a blanket in his arms, while the girls and their mother walked together.
“I started walking behind Walter,” said Emery, “and as we headed back toward the house, the road had broken through and the water was coming toward us.”
“We had a small bank there and Walter went up that bank,” she said. “I was following him. He was going up there to put the baby in the house. I didn't see exactly what happened.”
The house was in sight, about 200 yards away. Petrie lost his footing while wading through the strong current and fell.
When he stood up, the blanket that he was carrying no longer had the baby in it.
“He lost hold of little Roger, and he was gone,” Norman Coleman recounted. “The little one, little Roger, was swept away. I can still picture it.”
“We were struggling forward, hand to hand with each other,” Coleman said. “Walt was carrying the baby, and Daddy had me on his shoulders, and we were struggling forward toward the house on higher ground.”
“There was a little high knoll in front of the house, and Walt walked toward it. I was still on Daddy's shoulders. The current was so strong. What saved Walt at that time was that he grabbed ahold of the rosebush.”
The Reformer continues the story: “Gathering darkness and rapidly rising water made it impossible to locate the body of the child and Petrie devoted himself to rescuing members of the Coleman family. He finally managed to reach shore and get a rope. With this he eventually reached Mr. Coleman, who for hours was marooned in the stream as he held his youngest child Norman on his back. Mrs. Coleman and the two other children managed to keep their stand in the more shallow water at the edge of the stream until Petrie reached them.”
Eleanor Emery paused for a moment as her storytelling slowed.
“Well, here I am, standing over here in the water. Walter went to the barn and got a rope, and he threw it to me and yelled, 'Tie it around your waist.'
“He pulled me across the water. I went into the house,” she said.
Several neighborhood men heard of the family's plight and had come to their aid. One of the men was a neighbor, John Russell.
“He was a young man who was a hired hand at a neighbor's place,” Emery recalled. “He worked for a couple who were both crippled. He was so good to that couple. He lived right there and took care of them. He carried me across the brook and through the field. Then he took me to the house of Mr. and Mrs. Wilde. We all stayed at the Wildes' place for several days,” said Emery.
“There was never anything worse than that day,” Emery said, a sad look crossing her face. “That baby was never seen again. The body was never found.”