MONROE - Jan. 11, 1945, stands out as a stormy, winter night like no other for Vera Zimmerman of Monroe.
"It was just like now," she said Wednesday afternoon. "All winter - till spring. We had a heck of a winter."
Zimmerman turned 89 last October and never believed she would live such a long life: On that snowy night in 1945, Zimmerman almost lost her life and the life of her baby.
"It was lucky we got to the hospital," Zimmerman said. "It was a very stormy night, and she wasn't going to wait."
Zimmerman's pregnancy had been difficult, but on that evening she started hemorrhaging.
Zimmerman's husband Glen; a neighbor boy, Irvin Moellenberndt; and a hired girl, Charlene Binger, braved the winter storm to get her to the hospital in Monroe, about eight miles away.
"Glen had chains on the tires," she said. "But by the time we got to the hospital, there was nothing left of those chains. He had to gun it (the car engine) so much. He took off the chains and threw them away, because they were no good."
Zimmerman said they left their home near Twin Grove around 8:30 or 9 p.m.
"By 10 p.m. it was all over, and they had me back in bed," she said.
The doctors had operated and delivered a little girl, weighing 3 pounds, 7 ounces. She was two months early.
Betty Jean, as they named her, grew up, graduated from Monroe High School and married Mike Yawn of New Glarus. They gave Zimmerman three grandchildren.
Yesterday, Zimmerman watched two cars get stuck in the deep snow in front of her house, and three men trying to open her neighbor's driveway. But she was staying home.
"We've had so much winter already," she said. "And we still have some to go."
"It was just like now," she said Wednesday afternoon. "All winter - till spring. We had a heck of a winter."
Zimmerman turned 89 last October and never believed she would live such a long life: On that snowy night in 1945, Zimmerman almost lost her life and the life of her baby.
"It was lucky we got to the hospital," Zimmerman said. "It was a very stormy night, and she wasn't going to wait."
Zimmerman's pregnancy had been difficult, but on that evening she started hemorrhaging.
Zimmerman's husband Glen; a neighbor boy, Irvin Moellenberndt; and a hired girl, Charlene Binger, braved the winter storm to get her to the hospital in Monroe, about eight miles away.
"Glen had chains on the tires," she said. "But by the time we got to the hospital, there was nothing left of those chains. He had to gun it (the car engine) so much. He took off the chains and threw them away, because they were no good."
Zimmerman said they left their home near Twin Grove around 8:30 or 9 p.m.
"By 10 p.m. it was all over, and they had me back in bed," she said.
The doctors had operated and delivered a little girl, weighing 3 pounds, 7 ounces. She was two months early.
Betty Jean, as they named her, grew up, graduated from Monroe High School and married Mike Yawn of New Glarus. They gave Zimmerman three grandchildren.
Yesterday, Zimmerman watched two cars get stuck in the deep snow in front of her house, and three men trying to open her neighbor's driveway. But she was staying home.
"We've had so much winter already," she said. "And we still have some to go."