Woman Injured in Hostyn Church Explosion Remains in ICU

The woman injured in the explosion at Queen of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Hostyn last Thursday remains in critical condition this week.

Her son told the Record on Monday that she remained hospitalized in the intensive care unit at Dell Seton Hospital in Austin.

“She is still in critical condition and remains in the ICU,” he said. “(She is) undergoing many surgeries and has a long road ahead.”

The explosion that destroyed the church last Thursday morning, June 2, is believed to have been caused by a natural gas leak. The woman who was injured had arrived early for 7 a.m. Mass that day. Father Feliz Twumasi, the parochial administrator at Hostyn, urged the community to offer prayers for the injured woman.

“For now, my major concern is the one who sustained injuries,” Twumasi said in a message from the parish on Monday. “I would like to invite all God’s people to unite with us in prayer for this lady.”

The Diocese of Victoria declined to comment on the ex plosion pending the outcome of the investigation. La Grange Fire Chief Frank Menefee said investigators from the State Fire Marshal’s Office have not yet determined the official cause. Menefee said there were no signs of anything suspicious related to the explosion. The church was insured.

The Man Who Helped Build the Church

“It was a heartbreaker to see it go like that,” said Donald Grohmann, who helped build the church during the summer of 1966 when he was 18 years old.

Grohmann’s father, Wilbur Grohmann, was the general contractor. Donald Grohmann, who went on to become a general contractor himself, discovered several documents from the time of the church’s construction in his father’s old business files.

According to those documents, Wilbur Grohmann and four other general contractors bid for the job. The Archdiocese of San Antonio awarded construction to the Grohmann family business, A. Grohmann and Son. Their bid, the lowest one submitted, was for $128,444.

“Look at it in today’s dollars and it seems like a bargain,” Donald Grohmann said.

Grohmann estimated that it would cost at least $2 million to build the same church today. And that’s using today’s tools such as air-powered nailers and cordless electric drills.

“We didn’t have lifts,” Grohmann said. “Those laminated beams that were in the ceiling, those 2x12s, that’s what we had to lift up there by hand.

“It was a lot of labor,” Grohmann added. “It was hard work. People don’t work like that now with the equipment you have. Everything was hand nailed. It was done all by hand.”

Grohmann said the Wick brothers of Weimar performed all of the brickwork on the building. He said they constructed the walls by building a layer of exterior brickwork and a layer of interior brickwork, leaving a cavity in between. They then tilled the cavity with rebar and concrete.

“I went out there Friday and could still see that,” Grohmann said. “The walls were still standing until they pushed them down.”

He recalled another story about the church’s brickwork.

“They were working on the bell tower and Bobby Wick was up there with his uncle Joe,” Grohmann said. “Joe dropped his trowel. It fell between the walls and he lost it. In between those bell tower walls, there’s still a trowel in there.”

The church is collecting donations that will go toward rebuilding the church. You can donate online at https://hostynplumcatholic.org/rebuildingchurch or by visiting the Parish Office.