‘Dad, I cut my hand’: A summer to remember in 1967

by Clyde Whitaker

My story this month should resonate with all of you who worked on the Krummrey Farm in Stockbridge at one time or another, while providing insight to others not familiar with life on a muck farm.

In the summer of 1967, I was 12 years old. Ever since I was 8 years old, I had worked with my dad on the Krummrey Farm, and the summer of ’67 was no different. Up at 6 a.m., ready to work on the farm by 7 a.m. All summer long.

On one particularly hot day in July of ’67, I was on my knees crawling in the burning black muck, topping onions into a crate. “Topping onions” was a process that involved pulling out a handful of onions, by their stems, from the muck. You’d then use sharp hand shears to cut the onion heads off the stems, letting the onions fall into a crate until it was full. The object was to fill as many crates as you could, as fast as you could; the more crates, the more money!

The year 1967 also was the year when The Doors released their hit song “Light my Fire.” It was this song that was blasting out of someone’s transistor radio that day while I was topping onions.

Then it happened. I was multi-tasking. I pulled up a big handful of onions from the muck, while at the same time, looking over at the girls in the next row. As I continued looking at the girls, I ran the sharp cutting shears through the onion stems.

My left hand started feeling warm. Looking down at my hand, it was no wonder. Blood was gushing from the whole side of my hand where I had run the sharp cutting shears right through it. Dropping the shears, I immediately ran over to my dad, holding my bloody left hand up in the air. Dad was shaken and instructed Don Krummrey to take me up to see Doctor Beckwith in town for stitches. With my hand wrapped up in my dad’s red handkerchief, uptown we went.

Doctor Beckwith cleaned out my wound then proceeded to numb my hand with a long needle inserted along the cut line. That brought tears to my eyes. Man, it hurt so bad! The good news was, it was worth it. When he stitched up my hand with a needle and thread, I didn’t feel a thing, lol. This whole event sidelined me for a bit, but I was eventually able to go back and finish out the summer.

Other items of note from 1967: The Apollo 1 fire disaster that killed astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. Major riots occurred in Detroit. Super Bowl I was played in L.A. And the first human heart transplant occurred in South Africa.

The Beatles 1967 album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” was released that year. Protests about the Vietnam War still persisted. On television, “The Andy Griffith Show” was the top-rated program. The movie “The Graduate” was released, and Rolling Stone magazine was launched. Last, but not least, gas was about 33 cents per gallon—wow!

Well, there you go my friends. A little of this and a little of that to see you through another month. Stay well.

Clyde Whitaker is a 1973 Stockbridge graduate. He and his wife, Mary, raised four children in Stockbridge, and they still reside in the Stockbridge area.