1974 Tornados

From the Star City Sesquicentennial Book, 2009

PHOTO: WTHR

April of 1974 brought one of the nation’s worst tornado outbreaks through the southern part of Pulaski County, including Van Buren Township. Traveling in a path that never lifted off the ground from west of Monticello, the tornado hit the Thornhope area and then traveled north and east to strike Rochester. It just kept going in a one-mile-wide path of destruction.

In Thornhope, a trucker was reported to be stopped at the rest park. He held onto a tree or pole while many of the trees in the park sustained damage or were destroyed. The home and farm of Bill and Barbara Thompson near the park suffered a major hit with the home and all farm buildings destroyed.

Editorial insert: Bill was the brother of my father, so I know a bit about this situation. They believe the tornado struck from two directions. Bill and his daughter Linda were cooking supper and both were in the kitchen when it struck without warning. The blast sent Bill to the floor and Linda into a near-by closet. After the first pass, which came from the west, carrying debris from Farmers Grain and Supply, they ran to the basement. They were struck again, this time from the east. The second floor of the near-century-old home was removed, exposing the first floor, and a beam from the barn (to the east of the house) was lodged in the closet where Linda first sought shelter. They were certain the tornado came back to make sure it got everything.

PHOTO: WDRB WeatherBlog

Just north of the Thompson home and on the south edge of Thornhope, the home and farm of Gene and Margery Penn also sustained extensive damage. At their home, over 100 oak trees in their large yard were completely destroyed along with several outbuildings. The home sustained broken windows and damage to the chimney, and insulation was sucked out of the home. All of the empty grain bins on their farm to the west of the home were destroyed, along with the grain dryer, a grain leg, and a fine old barn, which collapsed on a new tractor.

A Thornhope family who lived in a house trailer just north of the Penn farm suffered some injuries when their home was turned completely over. They had sought refuge in the trailer’s bathroom. The Tom and Genny Skillen home was also considered a total loss in the storm.

Traveling east, the tornado hit the home of Sam and Lillian Haselby, blowing out windows and taking down trees, and trees were toppled at the Bucks home just to the east. The home of Jim and Shirley Carpenter was completely destroyed along with their vehicles and a large outbuilding. When the storm struck, the family was unable to make it to their basement. The family made it through the storm without injuries, but with a loss of most of their possessions.

 Editorial insert: Shirley told me the story of that day. They were at the supper table when the storm struck without warning. Jim grabbed one child and ran to one side of the house; Shirley grabbed the other child and headed in the opposite direction. She said no thought was given to it; they just ran to a child and kept going in the same direction. All were trapped where they had sheltered and were unable to emerge. Each fearing the other half of their family did not live, they were trapped until they heard Roy and Sammy Jones outside the house, calling their names. Roy and Sammy were overjoyed to find all four. Trapped, but safe.

New homes were built by the Thompson, Skillen and Carpenter families. The Thompson family rebuilt on the same location. The Skillen family built a new home in a location north and east of their destroyed home, and the Carpenter family rebuilt a new home a year later at the site of their previous home. The Carpenters learned that their destroyed home had been built nearly a century before as a result of a tornado that had destroyed the existing home at that time.

Although numerous deaths resulted from the outbreak of tornados throughout the Midwest on April 3, 1974, no one in Pulaski County suffered severe injuries or loss of life.

Editorial insert: This storm, called the 1974 Super Outbreak, was – at the time – the most violent tornado outbreak ever recorded, with 30 F4/F5 tornados confirmed. From April 3 to 4, 1974, 148 tornados were confirmed in 13 US States and the Canadian province of Ontario. It was the first tornado outbreak in recorded history to produce more than 100 tornados in under a 24-hour period, a feat that was not repeated globally until the 1981 United Kingdom tornado outbreak and in the 2011 Super Outbreak in the United States.

This is included as a post because it is of historic interest. However, truth-telling, the home and farm of Bill and Barbara Thompson listed below is the first house, first farm, first homestead of my father’s family as they moved from Ohio in 1888. It was built by my great-great grandfather, Adam William Thompson, who did not make the move. Instead, his son, William Henry Thompson, moved with his young family. They called the farm “Rosedale.”

 The home of Gene and Margery Penn, at the time of the tornado, was built by William Henry Thompson. He moved with his wife and “maiden” adult daughter to this Sears home, they called it a “bungalow,” to allow my grandfather to raise his own family at the homestead.

 On the day of this tornado, I was a student at Manchester College (now University). A classmate and I had just finished leading a class for junior high school students in Wabash. We, being idiots, drove back to North Manchester in driving rain, high winds, thunder and lightning. As we entered the dormitory, students were just emerging from the tornado safety areas. We soon learned of devastation in the hometowns of many classmates from Xenia, Ohio and Monticello. We didn’t hear about Thornhope.

 Being close to Easter, I went home just a few days later. The closer I got, the more evidence I saw of the tornado’s destruction, especially at the corner where I left the highway and hit the road my home was on, about five miles away. After that corner, everything was clear. I entered the house to find stacks of boxes, furniture, clothing, “stuff,” everywhere. I kept going through the hoarder’s nightmare until I found my mother and asked, “What gives?” “Well, this is from Bill and Barb.” “What?” “Their house is gone.” “What?” “I thought you knew….”

 And is this is the curious way in which my family communicates. Mom, Dad and brother Jim were informed that the homestead had been taken out by a neighbor. He stopped in to ask about Uncle Bill and found them calmly eating supper. They didn’t know. Of course, they jumped from the table and drove to Thornhope. Telephone communication was difficult. One sister, living in Connecticut, was finally able to get through to an aunt who lived in Winamac. She called the other sister, living in another state. Everyone assumed that I, living less than an hour and a half from home, “would have known.” Sigh.

 We make history, and we live in mystery.