Bangor, Mich. – (February 14, 2013) The Hensley family is working to save a number of items from the Lariat Lanes Bowling Alley in Bangor following a roof collapse Friday morning.
Dick Hensley has owned the bowling alley in Bangor for around 32 years.
Friday morning, the heavy snow on the roof has reduced three-fourths of the building to a pile of rubble.
The son’s owner, Dan Hensley, says there are a number of items inside of the crumpled building that are sentimental to the family.
He says the bowling alley was constructed in 1956 and his father, Dick Hensley, bought the building in 1982.
Since Dick was an active wood-carver, he had placed a lot of those items he had carved in the bowling alley as decoration.
They are working to get some of those mementos and other personal and more valuable items out of the damaged building Friday.
The family said it was a “packed house” Thursday night because there were a number of bowling league teams in the building.
Dan says the family is grateful the roof didn’t come down while people were in the building.
While the wall over the restaurant area held up, the wall and roof that was over the 8 lanes has come down nearly to the floor.
Dan also estimates that the roof came down fast because some of the insulation from the building was blown around 200 feet away into the lawns of the houses next door.
The family is still trying to decide if they will rebuild.
Although the roof wasn’t flat and had a peak to it, they said the snow was just too wet and heavy and eventually brought the building down.
