Guthrie County, Iowa
May 10, 1959
The Mother’s Day tornado of 1959 is the first one I remember watching. We were at Grandma Leora’s. Her mother, Laura Goff who lived with her, had been in the Guthrie Center hospital since the day before. Two of Leora’s brothers, Merl and Willis Goff, came from Omaha with their families. Also, “Warrens & Darlene came to hospital in P.M. to see Mother.”
“hail at 1:30 P.M. Tornados between 2 and 3 P.M. – went out to where one tornado was. bad. Willis got movies of it.”
My sister Gloria and I remember the tornado skirting Guthrie Center on the north. Before heading home, we drove north out of town to check damage. A barn had been hit, hay strewn all over, and hogs acted dazed.
Driving home from Grandma’s
The only other tornado I’ve watched was also during the 1950s, also in Guthrie County. We were headed home from Grandma’s, having turned east onto White Pole Road from Highway 25. A tornado north of us traveled east parallel to our car, but we didn’t witness any damage.
Dallas County, Iowa
This tornado story is even better!
The day cousin Judith Neal was born, May 21, 1945, a tornado knocked out electricity to the town of Dexter, Iowa. The hospital had its own generator so didn’t lose power.
Judy’s dad, Willis “Bill” Neal, was serving overseas as the pilot of a C-47 flying missions over “the Hump.” Her mother Helen had been staying with her folks. When Bill got back to the States three months later, he called from New York, not knowing whether he was the father of a son or daughter. At first Helen thought he was kidding, but none of the Red Cross telegrams had reached him.
Judy said “Grandpa Cook always teased me about coming in on the tail of a tornado on May 21st, 1945.”
The story about Bill not knowing the gender of his child for three months is quite a story. Having lived in the Dakotas for nine years, we had our fair share of tornado warnings. I remember gathering in the basement with my family, listening to the reports on the radio of tornados touching down in nearby towns. I’ve seen funnel clouds but thankfully never been in a tornado. I’ve lived in California the past 47 years, and now it’s earthquakes, one that took down a local bridge.
I’ve hunkered in the basement more than once, but usually am on the porch watching storms arrive. When Bosnian refugees first came to Iowa, they were so afraid of tornadoes! But they’re still here two dozen years later and have probably never seen one. I told them I’d rather take my chances in Iowa rather than with places that have hurricanes or earthquakes!
Good story
When Bosnian refugees first came to Iowa, they were so afraid of tornadoes! But they’re still here two dozen years later and have probably never seen one.
I’m aware of only one tornado in my area. The destruction was in a relatively narrow area, but houses were destroyed and one person died when her house fell on her. I hope that’s the last tornado we get.
Same here! At least these days’ forecasting is much better, and we can even track storms on radar on our computers.
They must be terrifying to be near enough to see one!!
Fascinating, unless it’s headed straight at you!
Reading about the tornado tales people have experienced is like listening to ghost stories. Very interesting! 🙂
It does have that quality, doesn’t it? Thanks, Nancy!
Watching a tornado can be fascinating. I’ve only watched one, a tornado miles south of us. It was so huge it seemed to be a visual fantasy. The next day I read about all the damage it had caused.
One is enough. Thanks, Tim!
I’ve only heard about tornadoes, so living in California, we don’t get them, but they terrify me, Joy. And our daughter and son-in-law live in TN where they’ve had a few tornado watches. It’s all I can do to stay calm and not worry about them.
Thank you, Lauren. At least there are precautions we can take. I think hurricanes would be worse!