Second grade began in Hoquiam, Washington, which lies on Grays Harbor, not far from the Pacific Ocean. By this time Steve and I had younger siblings – Karen and Keith.
One Friday after dark, the chore of washing dishes was mine. As I toiled over the sink, a glance out the window revealed trees and bushes whipping wildly in the wind.
When I ran excitedly to the living room, my mom said I should stop imagining things and go back to washing dishes.
Just as I began to protest, the lights went out. Thankfully, the dishes were forgotten.
The next few hours were frightening as high winds buffeted the house. Our dad was across town at a board meeting, so our mom took charge, leading us in a prayer for safety. Then we all huddled by candlelight on the couch, watching a large picture window bow dangerously inward only a few feet from us. With our prayers and God's grace the window held.
By sunrise the wind subsided. It was only then that my mom realized the danger we had been in from the bowing window. With all the wind noise we hadn’t heard an upstairs window break which was directly above the picture window. Mom regretted not moving us to safety away from the window but expressed thankfulness that God had protected us. Was it a miracle? I wasn't sure, but for me this became my first awareness that God can answer prayer.
Soon my dad made it home, and told of power lines and trees down everywhere. In addition to our broken window, our chimney had fallen over and many trees on our street, including our neighbor's, were uprooted. And then, of great interest to my brother and I, a two-story house about a block west of ours became a single story house when its lower level collapsed!
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A scene from Newberg, Oregon after the Columbus Day storm of October 12, 1962. (National Weather Service photo posted on Wikimedia Commons) Although the storm was originally called Typhoon Freda, it came to be known as the Columbus Day storm.
Thanks to the modern wonder of the Internet, I have learned that it has been called “the most powerful windstorm to strike the Pacific Northwest in the 20th Century.” (Wolf Read, Phd., 2018).
Pennies from Heaven
This storm was the first of two faith lessons that month. In a few days, the Cuban Missile Crisis also required prayer. One Friday, teachers at our school announced we might soon find Russia had conquered America, replacing our teachers with communist soldiers.
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To a seven-year-old this seemed really bad, so it was time for action. On Sunday morning I put my new-found faith to work, asking God to send money to buy weapons to defend the United States. I even set a time limit, making it clear that I expected an answer by bedtime!
By the end of the evening service my prayers hadn't been answered. But then a small miracle happened. As I was walking toward the exit, a younger kid asked me if I would like some money! I knew this was the answer to my prayer, and I said “Yes!” But then he only placed eight cents in my hand.
A 1962 photo of the Hatch family dressed for church.
Shown are my parents, Duane and Lois, Keith in my father’s arms, Karen in front, myself smirking, and my older brother Steve.
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I knew eight cents wouldn't buy tanks, but even though it didn't seem like much, I think my inability to explain away this simple answer to prayer helped keep me from the brink of spiritual idiocy as a teen when I was tempted to buy into the faithless view that God isn’t real, or that prayer is powerless.
Second grade was also the year that Sunday School lessons began sinking in. Basic life choices became front and center, such as whether to live selfishly, or to live for God and others. The temptation was to simply toss out faith, and lie, cheat, and steal, or do whatever advances one's own cause. Of course the other option was to treat others as you would wish to be treated.
In the end, the Golden Rule was persuasive. I decided that Christ's command to "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you" contained simple logic that is hard to deny. I suspect the paths of many other lives have been altered – and improved – by those few words. As years passed I became aware that many reject or ignore the Golden Rule altogether and choose to live lives filled with selfish ambition, arguments, fighting, rants and discord, so I am glad for those early Sunday School lessons. •
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