Today is the 50th anniversary of the tornado which struck Emporia, Kansas. And today’s “find” is a combination of photos from the extra edition of he Emporia Gazette along with memories of myself and my brother.
My Memories
This is one of those ‘Where were you when moments.’
On June 8th, Mike and I had been married for about 3 weeks. We had a 2nd floor apartment on 5th Avenue just East of Rural Street in Emporia. Mike’s brother, Gene, was visiting Emporia to pre-enroll and was spending the night with us. I was just finishing preparations for supper when I heard a loud noise. A couple of minutes later, the tornado sirens went off. We proceeded toward our landlords basement. I don’t believe Mike ever made it to the basement. Instead, he was on the front porch trying to figure out where the tornado was. Unlike today’s reliance on cell phones and the Internet for news, our main source of information was KVOE, the local radio station. Thus, we had the radio tuned in to find out what was going on. That’s when we heard that the tornado had hit the shopping center. Thinking that the tornado likely continued to the northeast, I was concerned about mom and dad’s home on 21st street West of Prairie street. Since mom and dad were at Lake Reading for the weekend, I wasn’t exactly sure who would be home but figured Dave and Kathy may have been at the house.
At the time, I was working as a ward clerk (glorified secretarial aide) at St. Mary’s Hospital. Part of staff training was the expectation that staff would report during a disaster. Thus, Mike dropped me off at the hospital while he and his brother, Gene, went to check on my parent’s house. My parents lived about three blocks away from 15th and Prairie. Mike then proceeded to 21st Avenue by going through the park. They found the worst damage at the east end of 21st Avenue. A house on the corner had been imploded. Another house had been lifted off its foundation with a car dropped into the basement. A house on the cul-de-sac at the bottom of the hill had a 2×4 going through the corner of the bedroom. While walking into the neighborhood, they found Dave and Kathy. The four of them continued walking into the neighborhood to check on the neighbors. They helped put a tarp on the roof of an Emporia State University professor’s house. He lived close to the 21st and Prairie area. My husband remembers putting his foot through one of the ceilings of a bathroom as they struggled to get the tarp on the roof.
Sometime that evening, mom and dad were able to make it home. I remember dad saying that he helped the placement director move stuff out of her home that night. Mike remembers dad telling of his overnight security detail where he turned governor away from the neighborhood.
My Brother’s Memories
I lived on 21st street and my fiancee and I were the only ones home at the time. We did not hear any siren but when the electricity went off my fiancee (wife) looked out the window and said she thought it was a tornado. I can’t say I saw a funnel but it was the blackest cloud I had ever seen. We took the dog and cat to the basement. We could hear some glass breaking and when we decided it was OK to leave the basement I went down my driveway in bare feet and started visiting with a neighbor from across the street. I hadn’t looked up at the until he said something and I couldn’t believe what I saw – a few houses east and there was major damage. I went back inside and got some shoes on and started walking around the neighborhood. A sheriffs deputy stopped me and asked if I had a crescent wrench, which I did. He instructed me to go around the neighborhood and shut off the gas lines.
Extra Edition of the Emporia Gazette
