Joe Hornaday
Larry Colson went to sleep late Friday night, while the rains and winds from a gathering storm front buffeted the outdoors.
A few hours later, at 2:20 a.m., he was awakened by a telephone call from his neighbor, Susie Ketchum. She informed him that a lightning bolt had just struck a nearby home he owned at 2055 N. County Road 450 W. According to Colson, Ketchum had called 911 before calling him, and she noted that the lightning strike violently shook her house, which was about 400 feet away.
The Adams Volunteer Fire Department was the first emergency crew to arrive on the scene, Colson said. When the firefighters realized the severity of the situation, they called in for assistance from all available units. Colson’s home had erupted in flames. Fortunately, no one was in the structure, and no one was living there.
“Units from Adams. Washington Township, St. Paul, Letts and Burney spent about six hours dousing it with about 30,000 gallons of water to put the fire out,” Colson said. “The Adams firefighters had to come back three more times to put out hot spots. The fire was completely snuffed out at noon on Saturday.”
As the firefighters fought the early morning blaze, Colson was able to arrive and tell them about the house
The lightning strike and subsequent fire destroyed the home, which Colson said had an interesting history.
Colson had painstakingly moved his home as a result of the incoming Honda Manufacturing Plant a few years ago. Honda had purchased his property on Vandalia Road in 2006 and he moved up the road about a mile.
Eventually, he built the new home at Cottonwood Lake and was looking to sell it when Honda arrived on the scene. The auto maker purchased the property but allowed Colson to move the house. The house was eventually moved to its present location at 2055 N. County Road 450 W. It had been completely remodeled. Colson had added a large family room between the old house and added a four car attached garage.
“I moved the house and was ready to put it back on the market, but the market was so lousy,” Colson explained.
So the house sat idle while Colson waited for the market to improve. The house, Colson noted, had been built in 1902.
“(It) was the only surviving home from the Honda transition because I moved it,” Colson said. “Mother nature must have been upset because she totally destroyed it at about 2:10 a.m. last Saturday.”
Colson noted that there were very few items in the house to be destroyed. However, Colson did have a few heirlooms he had hoped to keep, which were in the home at the time of the lightning strike.
Colson had kept his two adult daughters’ baby dresses and baby shoes in the house, along with some old school books once used by his grandfather, Harley Bertice Colson. One of the school books was used in 1909, at which point Colson’s grandfather would have been about 12 years old.
Colson was also holding onto a uniform that had been worn by 8 year old Molly Starkey, during a two-day sporting tournament held in the city of Richmond about 17 years ago. Colson was sponsoring the team at the time, and said that Starkey had given it her all during the games.
That uniform has yet to be found, while Colson continues to search the remnants of the home.
“I was going to give it to her when she got married,” Colson said.
Despite the likely loss of some sentimentally significant artifacts, Colson noted that he did have insurance on the home. The fire departments also helped him remove some of his treasured items from the home.
“The firemen did a hell of a job,” Colson said. “But the sad part is the history of the house.”
An intense salvage operation is in the future for Colson. He said he hopes to reclaim an original oak staircase. An $850 bicycle was one of the items that made it out of the burning home. It was significantly damaged, and it is currently being restored in a detail shop. Colson said he plans to ride the bike in the Fourth of July parade.
On the night the lightning struck, Colson said he was able to joke around and laugh with the firefighters trying to put out his burning house. He was able to do so, he said, because of an important motto that he often wears on a hat.
“Relax, God’s in control,” Colson said.
The old Collicott house, which was a dairy farm in the 1940s and then a motor scooter dealership, was destroyed. However, Colson remains upbeat considering the situation.
“This is basically the end of the story for the old house. I guess it’s ironic that I just love storms and one of them got me,” Colson said.
