While price this is not what drives how we operate our office, we know this is a huge factor when you consider what insurance to buy. Remember as you are looking at saving money that you are also looking at not cutting coverage, which is the driving force here at Harmon-McClintic Insurance.
Here are some thoughts on ways to cut your auto insurance costs:
• Let us show you multiple companies. Each company has its own pricing system. The best way to find good rates is to compare car insurance quotes among several companies. The best car insurance companies have good customer service at a good price. As an independent insurance agency we can do that for you in just one stop.
• Lower your deductible. You can save money by choosing a higher deductible. If you are a safe driver who avoids accidents, it’s not a bad idea to bet on yourself. Just be sure you can afford to pay your deductible amount out-of-pocket if you need to file a car insurance claim.
• Take a defensive driving course. A state-approved defensive driving course can benefit you in two ways. First, in some states it can help reduce any points you may have accumulated on your driving record for traffic citations, which can land you cheaper rates. Second, many insurance companies offer discounts to drivers who have completed a driving course, especially drivers age 55 and older.
• Ask for discounts. You might be eligible for car insurance discounts such as safe driver discounts, good student discounts, pay-in-full discounts, car safety feature discounts and multi-policy discounts. Ask your auto insurance agent for a review of potential discounts. Not only that keep us updated on changes that affect you and your policy.  We do not know when you get rid of a car or a child is removed from your policy which can save you $$$$.

Bottom line, reach out to us. Ask us questions. Insurance is not cut and dry there are many factors that come into play!

The post How to Save Money on Car Insurance appeared first on Harmon Insurance.

“Do I have Enough Insurance?”

To be honest, I don’t know if you have enough. I don’t even know if you are paying for more coverage than you need. But let’s ask ourselves a couple of questions before we dive deep into finding these answers.  I often hear people talk about ‘full coverage’; what does that mean to you? Do you assume it means that everything will be covered by your policy after an auto accident – – – no matter what?  Do you believe that your policy will pay for the other persons injury, no matter what the extent or length of time it takes for the other person to fully recover? Or does “full coverage” simply mean that your automobile has coverage for if, or when, it is damaged?

“Full coverage” is a term that I try to not use when discussing insurance with my clients.  It’s a widely used term yet, there is no set definition.  All to often people believe it means one thing just to find out later, it doesn’t. In order to address the question, “am I paying for too much insurance”, we actually need to focus on your liability insurance. The question now becomes, “how much liability insurance do I need”; and better yet, who decides what is ‘enough’ versus ‘too much?’

I sometimes suggest you buy as much as you can afford or as little as you can stand to lose. Simply put, ask yourself what is at risk if you do not have enough liability insurance to cover all the costs associated with an accident you are found to have caused. Nobody can predict how a major claim will turn out – but the very best you can do is protect yourself and your family by insuring for the worst-case scenario.  Isn’t that what insurance is for?

Back to the question:  How much liability insurance do I need?  Another way to think about it is to consider what you have.  Did you save up a nice nest egg? Do you have a steady income? How much equity have you built into your home? These considerations may help in deciding to keep or even increase your liability limits to prevent using these hard earned funds to pay off a liability to another. You can also consider what you want someday. Do you want to buy a home? Would you like a newer car? Do you hope to help your children with college costs or plan to retire soon? How would low liability limits on your auto policy, which did not satisfy an injured needs and then had to be paid out of your future savings, offset your dreams?

If nothing else, I hope this encourages you to review the limits on your policy. I also hope you see that there could be a real cost to not having enough liability insurance. People are often shocked to learn that increasing their liability coverage on their auto policy doesn’t increase the premium by only a mere few dollars. Give us a call for a quick review of what you have, or to learn what you don’t have, in your auto policy! Don’t wait to be surprised and find out it is too late to make a change.

The post Because You Asked: Do I have Enough Insurance? appeared first on Harmon Insurance.

“What Does That Mean?“

We are always here to answer insurance questions that come our way. We do not answer questions when we don’t know, with absolute certainty, that what we are sharing, is the truth. When asked about the specifics of a policy, Chris often says, “If we cannot put a highlighter to it, it might not be true”. When necessary he will ask an underwriter, a claims adjuster, or one of our company representatives to show us their answer by highlighting the policy language as validation that we can prove, or they can prove, what they are saying is correct. We can not leave to chance just “believing” something to be true. Maybe this is why we get calls from so many other people that are not just our clients asking for advice. Last weekend our pastor said that we should want to be called “Goody-Two-Shoes”. If you don’t know the story behind this expression, it is a Cinderella story that tells of a goodwife’s joy on merely getting two shoes. Because this goodwife held herself to a higher standard, and was overjoyed at receiving two shoes, “Goody, two shoes!” she would go around in joy telling all who would hear, people began saying, as we do today, she is “too good” or “too nice”, “too smart” or “too by the rules”. Doing things right is not always easy, but it is the right thing to do both in life and in business.

In this business being “close enough” is not good enough. Being close enough is not good enough when you have a fire and your home and your belongings must all be replaced. It is not good enough to be “close enough” when you lose your spouse and find out their life insurance will not cover the remaining debts or mortgage on your home. You may hear from our neighbors and family members about their perception of how insurance should work. All of us hear the commercials telling us this or that about insurance. Knowing the “words” within your insurance policy becomes very important when someone knowledgeable about a particular insurance policy is not there to help guide and advise you. I wonder when you have a tooth ache or get a letter from the IRS requesting audit information for your business, do you stop by your neighbor’s house for the answers, or do you wait for a comical commercial to tell you how things are going to work out? Please do yourself a favor and don’t let someone who is untrained take care of your dental, tax, or insurance needs.

Here is a list of basic insurance terms we think everyone should know. In our business these terms are widely used. But don’t stop here, keep going. Keep asking questions. Keep learning. I will end with a phrase that Thomas Jefferson liked to quote from the late 16th Century philosopher Francis Bacon, “Knowledge is Power”.

Insurance 101:

Risk:
   A “risk” is why a lot of us buy certain types of insurance such as home insurance; we do not want to carry the entire “risk” ourselves,               should  a loss occur. A risk is the possibility of losses, some  of which gets transferred from us, the insureds to the insurer (insurance               carriers like Auto Owners, Celina, Indiana Farmers, Pekin, Progressive, Safeco…) for a certain length of time; normally  either 1 year or 6-       month terms. Insurance companies then evaluate each risk individually and set a price based upon that specific risk.
Policy Declaration: or your declaration page(s), often referred to as “Dec Pages”
  Here you will find the following information:
     *Name and address of policyholder
     *Policy number, effective date, and expiration date
     *Name of the insurance company
     *The premium for each coverage part included in the policy
      **We advise all our clients to look over all the information on this document and carefully review it for correctness: check for misspellings          of name, incorrect address, inaccurate policyholders. It’s important to understand what and how much is covered, and what is                         excluded.   This is, however, only a snap shot of your policy.
Premium:
   This is the amount you, the insured, pays an insurance company in return for taking on a portion of the “risk”. The premium amount                 depends on different factors.  A couple factors include the coverage limits and deductibles you choose.
Deductible:
   This is the amount of “risk” you retained. It is the amount of money paid by you, the insured, when a loss occurs. The insurance company       pays the amount in excess of  your deductible. Your carrier will DEDUCT this amount from the total claim payment. As a heads up, policy       premiums and deductibles are conversely linked: higher deductible = lower premium, and vice versa.
Liability Coverage:
   Liability coverage offers you, the insured, protection against claims from injuries and damage to other people and/or their property.
Collision Coverage:
   Collison coverage protects your property when damage occurs when there has been a collision with another object no matter who caused      the accident. You do not have to carry collision coverage on your vehicles, this is optional.
Comprehensive Coverage: sometimes called “other than collision coverage”
   Comprehensive coverage protects your vehicle when there is damage from something “other than a collision” such as vandalism or a fire       or a tree falling on your car. This is coverage is also optional.
Peril:
    A peril is a specific cause of loss that puts an insured, their items, or property in danger of injury, damage, or loss. Only certain perils are        covered on policies! Know what perils are covered and what is not. The worst thing that can happen at a time of loss is hearing, “I’m sorry,      you are not covered for that”.
Claim:
    A claim is a statement or request from you the insured to the insurance company requesting compensation for “said” damages that                 occurred for a covered loss on your policy. Since you, the insured have just “claimed” that something has happened an adjuster will               confirm  the incident occurred and falls under the perils of your policy.
Adjuster:
   An insurance adjuster is trained and specially educated to examine a loss, determine coverage limits, and settle losses. An adjuster will be     a well versed and knowledgeable person to speak to after the claim has been filed.

Once again, these are just some basic terms; but, there are so many more. What about the terms Actual Cash Value verses Replacement Cost, or a named non-owner policy? And what is Medical Payments (med pay)? And do you know how much you have or what in the world is an Umbrella Policy? Would you be surprised to know that this type of policy could save you from financial ruin for less than 50Cents a day (now I sound like a commercial)!  There is so much to know and learn about in regard to insurance. We can help you feel secure and not leave things up to chance. We are here when you have questions, just ask.

The post BECAUSE YOU ASKED: “What does that mean?” appeared first on Harmon Insurance.

Auto Owners helped put together a wonderful synopsis of the basics of an Umbrella Policy. We are tackling this topic again because we realize not enough people know the value of an umbrella policy. Does your car have to have seat belts or air bags? Well no, but I would pay extra to get them and I would surely never pay less to go without these features. And, they can save your quality of life. A personal umbrella policy can also save your quality of life. An umbrella policy is an insurance policy with high liability limits designed to provide protection over other insurance policies like a homeowners and personal auto. A personal umbrella policy can provide coverage in excess of other policies limits, and in some cases if coverage is excluded on other policies the umbrella will “drop down” to cover the loss.

WHO NEEDS AN UMBRELLA POLICY:
Anyone who wants to protect their personal assets is a candidate for an umbrella policy. With the costs of lawsuits increasing, individuals need to protect their families as best they can. An umbrella is a perfect way to preserve current assets as well as future earnings so you can maintain your livelihood and lifestyle in the event you have a loss and are sued. Consider the following statements to determine if you’re a good candidate for an umbrella policy:
You own a home You own a recreational vehicle You have significant assets
You have children You own a swimming pool You own a snowmobile
You own a dog or other animals You own a boat or jet ski You provide alcohol to guests
You own a motorcycle You have playground equipment You own a car
*If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then you have a good reason to at least consider an umbrella policy
for yourself.

CLAIMS EXAMPLES:
-An insured was driving their boat. An occupant on the boat was standing on the front of the boat while it was moving. The occupant fell in the water and sustained injuries as a result. The occupant has sued for limits above the watercraft liability policy.
-An insureds dog jumped up at a neighbor. The neighbor fell to the ground and caused injury to their vertebrae. The neighbor sued for limits above the homeowners policy.
-An insureds son was operating an ATV while two friends were riding on the back. While going down a dirt trail too fast they hit a stump and crashed. The friends were severely injured and sued the insured for limits above the recreational vehicle liability limit.

We would venture to say that we seem to live in what often feel likes a “sue-happy” everyone out to get “what I am entitled to” society where most of us could use an umbrella policy. These policies are fairly inexpensive for the coverage you are afforded. Give us a call or shoot us an email to set up a time to come in and talk over something that could honestly, one day, protect your way of life, your savings, and maybe even your future earnings.

The post Because you Asked: “Why would I ever want or need an Umbrella Policy?” appeared first on Harmon Insurance.

The post Harmon-McClintic Insurance | Servings Others Since 1963 appeared first on Harmon Insurance.

I turned off the valve coming into the house but still heard it. I went outside and checked the meter; it was still spinning although no water was being used. I then turned off the main valve and called a plumber.

Sure enough, there was a break in the waterline where it connected to the house. Our home was only 13 years old at the time. It was thought the contactor may have over-grouted the connection so there wasn’t enough give, but it was well beyond the time to go after the contractor.

Then it dawned on me, I had helped add the Underground Service Line coverage to the Indiana Farmers Insurance homeowners product but had failed to add it to my own policy! I would have had $10,000 in coverage with a $500 deductible for less than $20 with the Underground Service Line coverage. Instead, I spent $5,000 and two very hot weekends putting the lawn back together.

I refuse to be embarrassed twice. So, when my wife and I built a new home last year, I made sure to add the Underground Service Line coverage. I also opted for the HO-5 instead of the HO-3 for maximum protection for the largest property asset we own.”

Be sure to discuss the Underground Service Line coverage with your clients. They will be much better protected, and you won’t be put in a tough position when this coverage is needed! To learn more about the Underground Service Line coverage view the Homeowners Optional Coverages flyer or the HOM 1016 endorsement.

The post BECAUSE YOU ASKED: PERSONAL UNDERGROUND SERVICE LINE COVERAGE appeared first on Harmon Insurance.

During this more than unique year, Chris took on the role of President of the PIA-the Professional Insurance Agents of Indiana. There are many things that our insureds don’t know about Chris.  He has four children, he is ½ Hispanic, he loves the outdoors unless he has to be outside when it’s raining, he eats, sleeps, and studies Jiu-Jitsu. Another thing about Chris that is known by only a few, is his great depth of information and knowledge regarding insurance. He learned a lot of his knowledge by wanting and pushing himself to learn as much as he could, while working under his father-in-law who was 40+ years in the insurance business. Chris took on this challenge after stepping away the career he loved and hoped to have for life.

Most of you know Chris as the guy who is always dressed nicely, someone who is all business. It is true while in the office with our insureds.  His number one priority is the well-being of each of you- the agency’s insureds, keeping on the lights, and providing a paycheck for those who work here.  It is a fine line, and sometimes misunderstood by others, his want and need and intense feeling of obligation to these entities.  Being asked to be the President of PIA only increased his wherewithal to serve others to an even higher level. His ability to think as if there is no box is intimidating, eye-opening, and a wonderfully fresh take on insurance and life.  He does not think of himself first, but how, and in what way, he can be the best for others. Just yesterday I heard a speaker use the phrase, “It is not that I was not moved, it was that I didn’t move enough”. Chris is not just a person to be moved, but moves.

For those who only see within the box, they find it hard to understand or see the blank canvas of what if’s-again seeing Chris only for his strong business sense. Chris helped to lead the PIA with just this mindset.  His take is always one of  “it  is not about me, or this group or that group, but for the best for everyone, fairly (even though fair does not always mean equal)”.  I can only bet that the staff of the PIA (Scott, Libby, Laura, Bill) never knew what Chris was going to bring to the table. I think they would whole heartedly agrees with me that his professionalism does not interrupt his ability to have fun: sorry Libby (and maybe Laura too) for the few heart-attacks he gave you! Chris is the first one to want to have fun once the work is done, and done correctly.

Chris’s presidency was one for the books just because it occurred during the worst times of COVID. I don’t even think that our staff has an idea of the time he invested, nor the esteem and respect others have for Chris across the state of Indiana.  Chris would humbly would say that he was the one who has benefitted from being a part of the PIA, being on the board of directors, and then the President. He holds in his heart the need to serve others in all capacities of life. Those on the PIA he knows share that same mindset- to help other independent insurance agents and their clients. “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have”, “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth”.

Congratulations Chris. We are so proud of you.

The post AGENCY SPOTLIGHT: Chris Venters appeared first on Harmon Insurance.

Is your phones ever our of your reach? This makes it one of the best tools we all have for quickly responding to an emergency. This  increases the chance of a more positive outcome. So, how does a person prepare their your phone for an emergency?

In most emergency situations, you would be the one to contact someone for help. It’s therefore important to take a few minutes  save important emergency contact numbers in your phone so you can make the call immediately to get help faster.

What are main emergency phone numbers to save in your phone?

• Your emergency contact, such as a parent, spouse or close friend
• Police, 911
• Poison Control Center
• State Highway Patrol
• Fire department (for non-emergencies)

• Your doctor, pediatrician and/or veterinarian
• Your pharmacy
• Home health aides(if you or loved on has this assistance)
• Your insurance company
• Your roadside assistance provider
• Your employer
• Your child’s school or caregiver
• A nearby relative or friend
• An out-of-town relative or friend

There are also some emergency situations, like a bad fall or car accident, where you might not be able to communicate with first responders. For this reason, it’s important to take these two steps:

1. Add an emergency contact in your phone, such as a parent, spouse or close friend who can come to your aid.
2. If your phone locks, set up a lock screen message to communicate helpful information to first responders, like your emergency contact, blood type, allergies and medications.

Depending on the type of phone you’re using, there are different ways to add a lock screen message.

iPhone users can use the Health app on their phones to add their basic personal information, important medical details and emergency contact numbers within the Medical ID tab and make them accessible from their lock screen. Make sure you select “Show When Locked” and test it out after you’ve finished setting it up.

Android users can set up their lock screen message by going into their Settings, Users & Accounts, and then Emergency Information. Enter your medical information and emergency contact. Then test it out by locking your phone, swiping up and tapping “Emergency” to find the information you entered. Android also lets you put any message you want on your locked screen. Open your Settings, go to Security & Location and next to the Screen Lock tab hit Settings. Then, tap Lock Screen Message. Here, you can enter your primary emergency contact or important medication information so that it always displays on your locked phone screen.

Because it’s difficult to predict when or where an emergency will happen, it is a smart idea to update your phone now so that you’re prepared to handle any situation that comes your way in the future. Set a reminder to update your information every 6 months as a precaution.  Be Safe Everyone!

The post How to prepare your phone in the case of an emergency appeared first on Harmon Insurance.

The post Cigar Story! appeared first on Harmon Insurance.

She was born Ludmila Dubovsky on May 5, 1944, in a Nazi labor camp in Poland.

Her conception, birth, and early childhood, against all odds, took place amidst the atrocities of the deadliest theater of war in history, during the height of the Holocaust.

By her 16th birthday party, in 1960, she was a typical American teenager in Lincoln, Neb., who wanted to listen to the Everly Brothers instead of her father’s Russian polkas, to Elvis instead of her mother’s “war stories.”

But at age 64, Lucy realizes that her parents’ struggles, their sacrifices – and their ultimate survival – are testaments to freedom, faith, and the strength of the human spirit.

Her parents, both originally from the Eastern European country of Belarus, met during the summer of 1943, after tragic circumstances found them both prisoners of war in a Nazi labor camp in Poland, near the border of their home country.

In the chaotic place and times of the Eastern Front of World War II, while the German Reich and the Soviet Union desecrated central and Eastern Europe, both had lost their spouse.

Both had lost their children.

Both had lost their country.

But neither had lost hope.

“My mother appeared in this camp,” Lucy said. “My father learned she was a fellow country person and he told her, ‘We need to be together, and somehow we need to get out of this.'”

Prior to the war, and prior to meeting each other, Lucy’s mother had been a dental surgeon, her father a math teacher.

Both raised Catholic, they had grown up in Belarus prior to World War II, under the communist rule of the Soviet Union, during a time when their families prayed secretly, when villagers’ livestock was taken from them and placed in community farms.

“They would go to the individual farms and take their cows, pigs, chickens,” she says of the Soviet soldiers. “It was their livelihood, their cheese, milk, butter, eggs.

“The women would go and steal their cows back at night – they knew which ones were their cows – and then the soldiers would come and take the cows back and tell them, ‘if you take your cow, we’re going to come and take your husband and you’ll never see him again.’ It was a way to put fear into people.

“They have been under somebody’s thumb for centuries and centuries,” Lucy says of the Belorussians.

Prior to the 1917 Russian Revolution, Belorussia fell under the reign of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. Following the abdication and execution of the tsar and his family, the Romanovs, Vladimir Lenin gained control of what would become the Soviet Union, and Belorussia became the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.

“My father used to say, ‘The czar wasn’t the greatest, but at least we could have our own cow,'” Lucy says.

Following Lenin’s death in 1924, Joseph Stalin gradually consolidated power and became dictator of the Soviet Union.

It was during this era, the mid 1930s, when Lucy’s parents, Bronislav and Maria, who did not yet know each other, began the separate journeys that led to their fateful union.

Lucy’s father taught sixth-grade math in a school where Stalin’s portrait hung in every room, during a time when Bronislav refused to join the communist party.

“Somebody defaced one of the pictures,” Lucy says. “My father was blamed for it, and he was arrested. They interrogated him for 10 days trying to get him, through sleep deprivation, to sign a confession.”

He wouldn’t sign a confession, nor would he join the communist party – nor take the bait of a revolver left on a desk within his reach – so he was exiled, put on a train and sent more than 700 miles away to work long hours and hard labor in a brick factory. A year later, his wife and their two children were allowed to join him.

He was soon drafted into the Russian army and sent to Spaask, on the Sea of Japan, where he spent three months training as a surveyor. In March of 1941, after returning and serving on the front lines of the European theater of World War II, he was captured by the Germans. He never saw his wife and children again.

“He had to walk 60 miles, with no food, no water,” Lucy says. “The women would put water out for the soldiers and the Nazis would kick the buckets over.

“He was in prison for quite a while, in a cell with 15 men. They all had lice. There was only a bucket to urinate and eliminate in. They slept on the floor, and if one man turned, everyone had to turn. It was that cramped.

“My father was a wonderful baritone, and he used to sing old Russian folk songs,” Lucy says. “The commander heard him singing and asked the guards, ‘Who’s singing?’ The guards told him it was ‘one of those Russians.’

“The German commander loved Russian music, and he told my father, ‘I’ll give you some food if you’ll come sing and translate for me.’

“There was this mass of people from all of these different countries, and my father spoke Russian, German, Polish, Belorussian, Czechoslovakian and Ukrainian.

“Music was something that saved my father’s life, music and the fact that he was bilingual. I think it was God’s way of saving my father.

“Music is a huge part of my life,” Lucy says. “During hard times, I sit at the piano and pound out a song and cry. It gives me solace.

Lucy’s mother, Maria, was educated in Minsk as a dental surgeon. She married in 1937 and worked in a clinic. Then the war broke out and she was drafted into the Russian Army, as was her husband.

In 1939, two hours late reporting for duty because he was telling his pregnant wife goodbye, her husband was arrested for being late and was sent to Siberia.

“She never saw him again,” Lucy says.

“Siberia covers a large part of Russia. The winters are very cold, and they did very long, hard labor in the camps,” she said. “Most people sent to Siberia died there. If they didn’t die, they either came back insane or very, very ill.”

In December 1939, while World War II raged around her, Lucy’s mother gave birth to a son in a hospital in the Minsk area of Belarus.

“The hospital was bombed as she was giving birth,” Lucy says. “They lost electricity, and they couldn’t keep the baby warm. He got pneumonia and died.

“At that point, my mother wanted to die. She felt absolutely, totally hopeless. She had lost her husband. She had lost her child.

“She went to her father, and he told her, ‘You cannot give up hope. No matter how bad things get, God is still in control.’

“His faith was still there. They never stopped praying. God was still central in their lives.

“He told her not to lose hope. That was the only thing left, hope.”

After her husband’s exile and her newborn son’s death, Maria returned to duty with the Russian army. In 1943, she was captured by the Germans and taken to the same Nazi labor camp where Bronislav was being fed just enough to stay alive in exchange for his singing and translating.

“The camp they were in wasn’t far from the camp were the Jews were held,” Lucy says. “They could smell the incinerators when they were burning bodies.”

Unable to officially marry in the Nazi labor camp, Maria and Bronislav vowed upon their own common law marriage. Shortly after Lucy’s birth, the Russian army came into the labor camp, and they were released.

“They hid and lived in the woods,” Lucy says. “They hid from the Russians and the Germans both. At this point, they had no country. The Russians now considered my father a traitor because he had ‘worked’ for the Germans.

“There were about 16 people living together in the woods,” she says.

“They lived on berries, mushrooms, roots. My mother said she stole two eggs one time and split them between 16 people.

“They lived in the woods for three months during the summer of 1944 in western Poland.

“They got hold of a wagon, and they got hold of a horse. They figured their best chance was to get to Berlin, so they headed west by the sun.”

At one point, Lucy says, both of her parents thought the other had put baby Lucy in the wagon, only to realize in a panic that she had been left behind about 30 minutes earlier.

“They had to turn around and go back,” Lucy says. “I was still lying in the woods.”

Sometime during this chaotic time, Lucy says, her parents were on a train with other prisoners being transported.

She and her mother were in one car with women and children, her father in another car with men.

“The train was being attacked,” Lucy says. “The doors were locked from the outside. My mother took her boots off and broke out a window. She wrapped me in a blanket and tied her belt around me. The train was moving very slowly by that point, so she used the belt to lower me so I didn’t fall too far, and she threw me out the window.

“She jumped out the window, ran back, picked me up, and ran into the woods.

When Maria looked back at the train, it was burning.

Lucy’s father and the men in his car had broken out a window also, and the reunited family finally made it to Berlin in November 1944, when Lucy was six months old.

In Berlin, they pretended to be German. Bronislav spoke German. Maria did not speak.

“Her accent would have given her away,” Lucy says.

They lived in bombed out buildings and ran for the subway when the bomb sirens went off.

“When the sirens would go off, my mother would tie me to her waist and run,” Lucy says.

“One day there had been six raids. My mother was so tired. She got to the subway, and there was no Lucy. She had lost me between the bombed building and the subway. ”

Frantic and crying, Maria tried to leave the subway to go back for Lucy, but the soldiers, who said the baby had most likely been trampled, wouldn’t let her leave.

“Then the door opened and a German soldier walked in. He was carrying me. Mother knew at that moment that she was going to survive the war.”

The soldier had found Lucy in a three-foot snow bank after hearing her crying, cold and wet, but alive.

Maria’s faith did not fail her. The war did end, and she and her second family did survive.

They found an abandoned home in the Alps in southern Germany and they made their plan.

“When the war ended, all of the refugees were being moved out of Berlin,” she says. “They came looking for the Russians. They were going to send them back to be repatriated.” But the Polish, she says, they left alone.

So they became Polish.

They changed their names and, tutored by a Polish friend, they learned about a village in Poland: the names of the schools, the layout of the village.

“They made fake birth certificates and made seals out of cheese,” Lucy says.

They ended up in a camp outside of Munich with 5,000 other refugees. It is there that Lucy’s earliest memories begin.

“They found out my mother was a dentist and asked her if she would like some equipment. They tested her knowledge, and they got her a drill and chair and all she needed to do dental work. She taught my dad how to make false teeth.

“I would sit and watch her,” Lucy says.

“She would stick one knee on somebody’s lap and be yanking that tooth out. There was no Novocain, and people would be screaming.

“If you think about all she had to deal with: these people had had no medical or dental care for years. ”

Meanwhile, Lucy had not learned to walk. She cried all of the time, and Maria and Bronislav learned that she had a dislocated hip.

“I don’t know if it happened when I was thrown off the train, dropped in the snow bank, or whether it happened during childbirth,” she says.

The surgeries began at age 4, and she spent three years in and out of hospitals, in body casts and braces. “They were told it was possible I might not survive, but they took a chance and trusted God.” Lucy survived and learned to walk.

In 1950, her brother was born. In December of 1951, after years of applying for and being denied immigration, the family made the two-week trip across the Atlantic and arrived safely in New York City just days before Christmas.

Their yearning for countryside, for a garden, led them to Nebraska, where her father found work with a railroad and her mother did odd jobs.

“My father didn’t care that he had to go into a freight car and strip it and sand it in the 105-degree heat because he knew that when he walked out of there he could speak his mind. He could read the bible.

“He knew how important freedom was because he had it taken away.”

By Sue Erb

Nov 23, 2008

*Article written by Sue and printed in the Herald Journal Newspaper

The post White County’s Living History: A miracle of faith appeared first on Harmon Insurance.