|
|
Clearwater, FL Tornado Hits School, May 1978
Posted February 1st, 2009 by Stu Beitler
"I STILL SEE WINDOWS COMING AT ME"
CLEARWATER SCHOOL HORROR LINGERS IN WAKE OF TWISTER KILLING 2; 95 HURT.
Clearwater, Fla. (UPI) -- MATTI RAMSEY had her bingo card almost full when the lights went out and she saw the shadow of the tornado zip past, hurling the top of an oak tree into her fifth grade classroom.
"Everything started coming in through the windows -- wind, rain, wood and stuff. The roof blew right off. It slung me up against the wall. I threw my arms up in front of my face," MATTI, 12, said, pointing to the rows of glass sliver cuts from her wrist to her shoulder.
Within 2 or 3 minutes at 11:40 a.m. Thursday, a howling tornado demolished High Point Elementary School, killing two children and injuring 95 other students and teachers.
The dead were identified as JOHN TIMOTHY DUVAL, JR., who was celebrating his sixth birthday, and 5-year-old GARY STALY.
(Transcriber's Note: Another child, SCOTTY WILMOT, aged 6, passed away in a hospital 9 days after the disaster.)
"The teacher told us to crouch down against the blackboard and keep our heads down. Everybody was hollering and you couldn't even hear with all the noise," she said.
"Wood and stuff was piled on me and I couldn't get out. It fell on my back," said MATTI, showing her bruised. "The walls were falling down, and rain and wind and wood was blowing in. Everybody was hollering for help. But nobody came."
"My best friend, DENISE RILEY, was trapped underneath all the wood. I crawled out, then tried to get her out. I tried pulling up on this big board, but everytime I lifted it up, it would slip back."
MATTI couldn't get her out. Later she learned DENISE had been rescued, treated for cuts and scratches and released.
"Kids were up in the air. Then, they were just laying on top. Most were cut up and hollering for help."
"Their heads were busted open, some had fingers cut off, even," she said. "Some got killed. They were stuck under the wood -- they couldn't get out. I couldn't get them out."
"I was crying and yelling for my momma, saying I wanted to go home," she said, "then something told me to run and get my little brother."
She ran into the glass littered hall where wooden rafters lay strewn catty-corner, almost blocking the passage. "The teachers were yelling, 'Walk, walk, you could hit something and make the roof cave in.' I said 'No' and just kept running."
MATTI found her 8-year-old brother, GEORGE HARPER, and they huddled together in the cafeteria until their aunt picked them up. GEORGE was X-rayed at Morton Plante Hospital and released.
After being treated for the cuts on her arm and bruises on her back and stomach, MATTI was also released.
"I can still see it," MATTI said with wide eyes. "I'll always remember it. I can still see the windows coming at me."
Both of the dead children were in the class of ELIZABETH LOVELY. Before the tornado struck, MRS. LOVELY said she tried singing as a distraction.
"We were singing like mad, songs about the rain and such. I had the record player going and everytime the lightning struck the children would holler. I would say, 'MRS LOVELY would take care of you.'"
"I don't know what I am going to do," said the 58-year-old teacher, who was hospitalized with leg and foot injuries. "I don't know why it couldn't have been me. I've lived my life."
Teachers ordered youngsters to lay on the floor to try to escape the twister's fury. Children wailed in panic.
When the whirlwind subsided, volunteers from a nearby vocational school rushed to the site and pulled bricks, tables and chairs off bleeding children.
Sobbing parents sprinted or drove to the school or hospitals and shelters hunting their children.
The REV. CARY HOWE was among the rescuers. He said he pulled the DUVAL boy and another 6 year-old from the rubble.
"I took the two that seemed the worst off and drove them myself to the hospital. Both children had been hit hard by the collapsing roof," he said.
Thursday was TIMMY DUVAL'S birthday. His mother SUSAN, 28 and four months pregnant, delivered the cookies to the school two hours before disaster struck. She planned to return later for a classroom party.
The banana-seat bicycle sat in a garage of the modest home where TIMMY lived with his mother and his father, MIMOTHY SR., a mailman.
The DUVALS went into seclusion but an aunt, JOAN DUVAL, said, "It's kind of hard to send your child to school one day then find out that he'll never be coming home again."
Chronicle Telegram Elyria Ohio 1978-05-05
__________________
Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!
Search for more information on this disaster and other train wrecks, fires, accidents, etc. in historical newspapers in the Newspaper Archive. Over one billion newspaper articles online!
Search for your ancestors among the billions of names at ancestry.com Find death records, census images, immigration lists and genealogy other databases for your surnames. Use this Free trial
to search for your ancestors.
Start Your Family Tree It's FREE and easy. Start with yourself, your parents, grandparents and you're on your way to building your family history! Get Started Now and build your family tree at ancestry.com. It's Free!
|
gendisasters.com is a genealogy site, compiling information on the historic disasters, events, and tragic accidents our ancestors endured, as well as, information about their life and death. Database and records searchable by surname. Compilation, design, artwork and concept covered by copyright. Copyright ©2006-2010, All rights reserved. Contact me. Privacy Policy. |
May 4, 1978 tornado that hit High Point Elementary
I was a 30 year old kindergarten teacher at High Point Elementary, and I will never forget that day. I was one of three teachers with our 75 students in the kindergarten pod, a separate building. We had returned from lunch and the children were having rest time. Most were sleeping. The force of the wind blew open a heavy locked door. I ran to put trash cans under leaks in the roof. Trees I had planted in the school yard bent to the ground. It was very dark when the lights went out at 11:47 a.m. Our pod had no windows - just glass doors. After what seemed like a long while a child covered in mud came to the front door and told us that a tornado had struck. Soon after the entire student body crowded into our dark building. Children were crying, but when parents arrived, the hysteria began. I lived just a block from the school. My house was undamaged. Directly across the street from the school was a trailer park where many trailers were completely destroyed. Jennifer, one of my students, had no home to return to that day. She had lived in the trailer park. I never saw her again after that day. Only the steps to her trailer remained. In the faculty parking lot cars were stacked on other cars. Teachers must be trained to know what to do and what to teach their students about tornado emergencies.
Carol Argence (formerly Carol Harris) Louisiana
thank you
thank you so much for sharing your experiences with us ..
__________________Stu
Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!
Highpoint tornado
I remember this day as though it were yesterday. I lived in the trailer park across the street from the school. I was in the forth grade at highpoint elementary during this tragedy. I clearly remember the windows in my classroom blowing in, and after the tornado being moved to the kindergarden building, and then being moved to the vocational school behind the elementary school until my father was finally able to locate me. I was so afraid that my parents had gotten killed in the devastation at the trailer park that all I could do was wonder around crying. I was delighted to see my father. As it turned out my trailer had been moved off of its foundation while the trailer directly across the street was lifted, spun, and set back down on top of two cars. The devastation to the trailer park as a whole was incredible many trailers were ripped to shreds some were just plain gone and the steel frame was the only thing left of them. The school was nothing less than a total disaster.
I will always remember that morning going to school at eight in the morning it was still dark out so that the street lights were still on. As the day progressed it got darker and darker just before noon when the tornado hit it was dark as night outside. All of my friends were talking about how wierd it was for it to be so dark during the day like it was. We u;timately found out why it was so dark. Ironically, immediately after the tornado hit it was light like a normal greyish rainy day again.
thank you
thank you so very much for sharing your stories and information with everyone
__________________Stu
Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!