As told by Sue Hummel

Looking at the picture above, it's hard to believe how the impossible could be possible. The Hummel family was leaving town before 6:00 A.M. in their van to participate in the Bay to Breakers run in San Francisco in 1985. In the van were Monte, Sue, Matt, a seventh grader, and Kipp, a fifth grader. They were going about 60 miles per hour west on Highway 12 and another car going about 70 miles per hour north on Davis Road hit them right in the middle of the van. The car went 36 inches into the van right where the two boys were sitting. Matt was reaching down looking for the strap so he could put on his seat belt. Both boys would have been severed if they had had their seat belts attached Matt, who was sitting right behind the driver's seat, went out the right side of the car where the sliding door had been and landed with the seat on top of his legs. His legs were broken in several places. With strength that Sue normally didn't have, she lifted the bench off of Matt and pulled him away from a vehicle she thought might catch on fire. The night before the impact a farmer had plowed the field. Kipp had been sitting behind Sue and went out the hole the car had made. His head had gotten caught on the jagged metal which ripped the top part of his scalp. He landed 30 feet from the van in the just plowed earth and the dirt landed on top of him. Monte, severely injured, with all the ribs on his left side broken, his spleen in many parts, and collapsed lungs, was frantically trying to find Kipp who had disappeared. At this time Sue felt the presence of God calming her. She finally found a pool of blood in the field and under it was Kipp. Luckily his injuries were not as severe as they could have been. In what seemed as a blink of time two ambulances showed up. They put Sue and her two sons in one ambulance and Monte and the driver of the car in the other. Monte did not want her in that vehicle because he was so upset and angry. She had been drinking all night long at the frog jumping contest, just had a fight with her boyfriend, and had an open container of whiskey in her car. With no seat belt attached, she had flipped to the back seat, ending up with a broken cheekbone. The four Highway Patrol officers on the scene of the collision could not believe that the Hummel family didn't die. They said that they were a miracle family and that there is a reason why they were still alive.
After the accident, Monte wanted to find out what that the reason was. He spent more time in church and changed from writing songs about birthday parties to writing Christian music. Matt and his wife are teaching and they have two children. Kipp works for a company that does printing or stitching on uniforms. He is married with one child. Sue feels her faith has gotten stronger after surviving the accident. She has felt the presence of God during the birth of her children and at the accident. If either car or van had been traveling just a Moment faster or slower, there would have been no collision.
Recently Sue was asked by one of her parents how she ended up at Vinewood to teach kindergarten. She remembered a Mr. Fore coming to the hospital after the accident and asking Monte if he could help in any way. Monte, lying there with tubes going in and out of his body, asked if Mr. Fore could get his wife a job in town because he didn't want her driving in the fog out to her school. Mr. Fore told him that it's a done deal, but she would have to interview. Sue showed up at the interview the next day with Monte and her two sons still in the hospital. Wearing dark glasses covering her swollen eye, she said that her dress matched the colors on her face. Sue got the job!
Monte has become part of a singing group called Tapestry which specializes in three part vocal harmonies and live performance. He has made it possible to hear, completely free, one of the songs he has written and performed called "Save Me Some Time."