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.”