Clyde’s Corner — This and That. Lone tree still stands, years after tragedy
by Clyde Whitaker
A solitary tree stands on the south side of M-106, just past the curve leaving town. Drivers who travel on this road toward Munith may not even give the familiar tree a second glance. But once, that tree was the site of a tragedy, and it happened so long ago that many may not have heard the story.
Back on a Sunday night, Dec. 5, 1954, at about 6:30 p.m., a small plane struck the tree and fell with a fiery crash, killing three area men.
As reported the next day in the Jackson Citizen Patriot, the men were identified as Edward Gilmore, 38, of Gregory , who was the pilot and owner of the ill-fated plane, along with his passengers Thomas Whitaker, 23, of 6848 Coon Hill Road, and Royce Porath, 31, of 7555 Coon Hill Road.
Stockbridge resident Bernard Risner told me he was in town at the time and heard the sirens from the firetrucks. He saw them leaving town and followed them to see what was happening.
When Risner arrived at the scene, the plane was completely engulfed in flames. No one could get close to the airplane because the fire was too intense, RIsner described it as an awful scene, something that haunted him for years.
The Jackson Citizen Patriot also reported that Donald Krummrey, of Stockbridge, witnessed the crash. Krummrey was driving north on M-106 when the low-flying plane passed over his car before it struck the tree and crashed to the ground. The plane’s final resting place was about 75 yards north of that tree.
According to the newspaper report, Edward P. Reynolds, CAA facility chief in Jackson, Michigan, said his investigation of the crash led him to believe the plane may have been attempting to land. Reynolds said that the condition of the left wing of the plane led him to believe that it had struck the tree.
Now you know the story of that fateful night, 68 years ago, and the solitary tree that serves as a reminder, still standing after all these years.
The 1954 Jackson Citizen Patriot headline the day after the plane crashed in Stockbridge.
Three local men were killed in the 1954 plane crash. Article from the Jackson Citizen Patriot, Dec. 6, 1954
The remains of the plane that crashed in Stockbridge in 1954. Photo from the Jackson Citizen Patriot, Dec. 6, 1954
The tree that was likely involved still survives at the site of the 1954 plane crash. Photo credit Clyde Whitaker
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.
