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Bruce Klemm sports a hat with a photo of the trencher machine that almost took his life in October 2022 in a farm accident. The hat, given to him by some of his 48 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, says ‘Grandpa got ran over by a Trencher.’
Bruce Klemm rests in the hospital the day after he was run over by his trencher machine. He says, ‘I remember my wife and family holding hands in a circle around me as they prayed for me before I was loaded into the Flight for Life helicopter. Next thing I knew I was in the Emergency Room at Aurora Bay Care in Green Bay. I had four broken ribs, a cracked breast bone, stress cracks of my ribs along my spine, a crack in my skull from the bridge of my nose extending under the eye socket terminating at the temple, and a cracked cheek bone.’
Bruce Klemm’s granddaughter Lineah and her parents, John and Mandi Klemm, are the originators of a cap that he now wears – a cap that says ‘Grandpa got ran over by a Trencher.’
Bruce Klemm survives after his 12000 Vermeer Trencher-Backhoe runs over him as he was trenching a field in October 2022. He’s owned the machine for more than 10 years.
Virginia Clara Gollota and Bruce M. Klemm are married July 19, 1980, at the Rockwood Lutheran Church in the town of Kossuth in northern Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. Bruce Klemm, believing he was dying, called his wife after being run over by his trencher machine. ‘I was able to tell her I loved her before I passed out again,’ he says.
Cloverdale Farm sits along Meier Road in Kossuth Township between Manitowoc and Green Bay, Wisconsin. It’s been in the Klemm family for 56 years. A rainbow reflects Bruce Klemm’s miraclous survival.
A sign welcomes visitors to Bruce and Virginia Klemm’s Cloverdale Farm in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin.
WHITELAW, Wis. – Bruce Klemm rose one morning in October 2022 and sang a song to his wife, Virginia – as he had done every morning of the 42 years they’d been married. Little did he know that within a few hours he would be calling her to say goodbye.
John Sumwalt
John Sumwalt is a retired pastor and the author of “Shining Moments: Visions of the Holy in Ordinary Lives.” Email johnsumwalt@gmail.com or call 414-339-0676 to reach him.
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Bruce Klemm sports a hat with a photo of the trencher machine that almost took his life in October 2022 in a farm accident. The hat, given to him by some of his 48 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, says ‘Grandpa got ran over by a Trencher.’
Bruce Klemm rests in the hospital the day after he was run over by his trencher machine. He says, ‘I remember my wife and family holding hands in a circle around me as they prayed for me before I was loaded into the Flight for Life helicopter. Next thing I knew I was in the Emergency Room at Aurora Bay Care in Green Bay. I had four broken ribs, a cracked breast bone, stress cracks of my ribs along my spine, a crack in my skull from the bridge of my nose extending under the eye socket terminating at the temple, and a cracked cheek bone.’
Virginia Clara Gollota and Bruce M. Klemm are married July 19, 1980, at the Rockwood Lutheran Church in the town of Kossuth in northern Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. Bruce Klemm, believing he was dying, called his wife after being run over by his trencher machine. ‘I was able to tell her I loved her before I passed out again,’ he says.
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