Memories collected by the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library by CJ Media

Tornado Memories written by Deb Southerland In 1966, I was 19 In 1966, I lived at The 1300 block of SW Jackson, behind the Arab Temple which was then the Safeway store. Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there? I was alone in my little apartment preparing for a party I was having the next night. The sky became a pea-soup color and I noticed people gathering in the yards, so I went down to join them. Soon insulation and other unidentifiable pieces began to float lazily through the air. A strange noise began to build. At first we couldn't believe it, but as it quickly grew into a roar, there was no doubt it was a tornado. I raced up the back steps, grabbed my Siamese kitten and joined the people from my building (plus some others) down in the basement. I huddled tightly with people I'd never met. I could feel them screaming, but I couldn't hear them. I have never heard anything as loud again. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about? My apartment was filled with glass and asbestos and other trash. A board had come through the wall. There were two girls who lived in my building who worked at the Sunflower Ammunition Plant in DeSoto. They put me and my cat in their car, and we tried to make it to WREN Radio where I worked. Every street was blocked with trees and/or downed power lines. We got fairly close and I was going to walk from there, but the car was a two-door and they wouldn't let me out of the backseat. They were afraid I would be electrocuted. They spirited me away to Ottawa to the parents of one of them, and brought me back the following day when we could see better. They probably saved my life. What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath? I was reported missing by a co-worker, Steve Southerland. I hadn't liked Steve much when I first met him, but I thought it was really sweet that he and Dick Brewster, a newsman at the station, had tried to find me. I started looking at Steve a little differently. A lot differently, actually. We've been married for 36 years. We have four kids, and, at present, four grandkids. I guess you could say the tornado blew me into his arms. Don't ask him how HE feels about that. How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged? I moved in with an acquaintance from my hometown of Yates Center in a beautiful old four-plex out on the Menninger campus. Her husband was in the service and out of town, anyway, so it was a good situation for us both. I had to buy a car and so I bought an Olds Super 88 baby blue convertible. So the tornado brought me a boyfriend, and put me in a snazzy car, which, I must say, was a lot more exciting than sitting on my back stoop at 1310 SW Jackson watching the semis unload at Safeway!

Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you?

I still do as I have always done. I pay attention to the news, but I also pay attention to the sky, the feel of the air, and my instincts. I don't usually get alarmed, but I have a fear for my kids and grandkids. I want to know they are all right.

Tornado memories written by Bob Harder In 1966, I was 37 In 1966 I lived at 408 Leland

Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there?

How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged?

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Tornado memories written by Bob Harder In 1966, I was 37 In 1966 I lived at 408 Leland

Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you?

What good do you think might have come out of the tornado? Rebuilding, friendships, community, volunteers, or support?

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Tornado memories written by Bob Harder In 1966, I was 37 In 1966 I lived at 408 Leland

What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath?

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Tornado Memories written by Linda Sander Kentch In 1966, I was 15 In 1966, I lived at 403 Sumner Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there?

I was celebrating my 15th birthday. My family was driving across town from Oakland to Highland Park to go to my party at our friends' house. We stopped at Katz Drug Store on 29th street (now TeleTech) to pick up film. While there a TV was on and announcing the storm. We dash out and over to our friends on Adams Street. As we got out of the car we could see the funnel over Oakland. The sky was a eerie yellow. We headed down to the basement. The highlight was my boyfriend asked me to go steady. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about?

I was from Denver, CO but visited Topeka every summer. My parents got word from the Red Cross that I was okay. We drove downtown to make sure my friend's grandma was okay. She was okay. We just couldn't believe the devastation. The next day I went home in Oakland. We didn't have electricity. I can remember cleaning up the yards for a week and taking baths by lantern light. We grilled our food. The debris was piled at least 6 feet high along the streets. The National Guard would not let anyone through unless you had a pass. Finally after 2 weeks my new steady came and got me for our first date. What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath?

It was my birthday and somehow I was responsible for this. One of the most amazing things to me was the building at Tenth and Kansas Avenue was left standing but gutted and had the painted inscription about being a safety in times of storms. How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged?

Our house had the roof lifted about 6 inches and then it was set right back down. All our trees were completely uprooted out of the ground with the exception of a new little maple tree that was bent over double by another tree. It survived. Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you?

They are fascinating. I always get images of the devastation in Topeka when tornado season 1s upon us.

Tornado Memories written by Nancy In 1966, I was 13 In 1966, I lived at SW 33rd St. and Gage Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there?

We were just getting ready to go to the train station. My grandmother and I were going to visit my aunt in Texas. It was raining very hard, and was very dark. My mother looked out of the glass doors to the west and saw the tornado over Burnett's mound. About the same time the sirens began. We went downstairs to the basement. As soon as we all got under some piece of furniture, the windows in the basement imploded. There was a very loud roar - like a train going over your head, also a whistling wind sound. I remember it picked me up off the floor 2-3 inches as it passed over. My father was holding on to me. We could hear the boards in the house above snap and break. It was all so very loud. Then silence. It was over very quickly. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about? It was hot, muggy and cloudy all day that day. We found a portable radio after we

climbed out of the basement. We thought just our neighborhood was hit, but when we looked northeast, we could still see the tornado, and all the houses north of us had been destroyed. We could hear Bill Curtis on WIDW radio talking about the storm and the damage. People were already driving around our neighborhood checking on us. Mom and Dad were worried about looters. The next couple of days, we found people going through our property. The national guard had set up at the I-470 interchange to keep people from going north into town on Gage, but they could drive up 33rd to the top of the mound - in fact they were encouraged to this - to see the destruction. On the way up the mound, some people thought they would stop at our property and look for stuff -at least that is what they told my parents. Everything was covered with mud, cow manure, and broken glass. What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath?

Finding my dog alive in his doghouse about two blocks from our home. How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged?

We had to live with an Aunt here in town while the house was rebuilt. We were moved back in by the time school started again. There was a glass shortage, and we still had to replace a couple of windows, but the house was livable. Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you?

I do run for cover when the sirens are sounded. I do not collect a lot of breakable items. If I can't afford to replace it, I don't buy it. I had nightmares for years. My biggest fear is to be caught in the open road in one.

Tornado memories written by Carrol In 1966, I was 32 In 1966 I lived at 1622 S.W. Clay

Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there?

How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily

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Tornado memories written by Carrol In 1966, I was 32 In 1966 I lived at 1622 S.W. Clay

What good do you think might have come out of the tornado? Rebuilding, friendships, community, volunteers, or 路 support?

Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you?

Tornado memories written by Carrol In 1966, I was 32 In 1966 I lived at 1622 S.W. Clay

What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath?

Tornado memories written by Mabel C. Henderson In 1966, I was 49 In 1966 I lived at 9839 S.W. 89th, Auburn

Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, l 966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there?

How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged?

Tornado memories written by Mabel C. Henderson In 1966, I was 49 In 1966 I lived at 9839 S.W. 89th, Auburn

Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you?

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Tornado memories written by Mabel C. Henderson In 1966, I was 49 In 1966 I lived at 9839 S.W. 89th, Auburn

What is your most memorable moment of June 8, l 966 tornado and its aftermath?

Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about?

Tornado Memories written by Donald Daniels In 1966, I was 13 In 1966, I lived at 802 6th Ave, Leavenworth, Kansas Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there?

I was at home at Leavenworth watching the weather reports on TV since we were having heavy thunderstorms also. What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath?

My story is how the tragedy in Topeka extended to other communities. One of the people killed was a 5 year old boy whose name I do not recall. His family had just moved to Topeka from Leavenworth a few days before the tornado. He had been a student in my mother's kindergarten class at Third A venue School that year. His death extended the emotional impact of the storm to Leavenworth. The story that was told in Leavenworth was that his mother was carrying him and trying to get to shelter in the bathroom when the force of the storm hit their house.

Tornado Memories written by Marc Drayer In 1966, I was 12 In 1966, I lived at 1722 Grove Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there?

I was in the old Mac Vicar Chapel in Washburn University attending a recital where my brother was playing. The sirens sounded just as I and the rest of the family were entering the building. We went downstairs while my dad and brother went into the sanctuary to tell them of the tornado warning. Back then, it was said that the southwest comer was the best place to go. I looked over to where that was, and at the time, it looked like it was just a broom closet or something. We ended up in the room in the southeast comer because it was bigger and had a better piano. It was a good thing we were there, as it was the only room left after the tornado passed. The southwest room filled with tons of stone. As for how the tornado sounded when it was over us, it sounded like a giant vacuum cleaner. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about?

Yes. I remember one girl playing in the recital playing a tune called "Dorothy," which I thought was funny as we were under a tornado warning at the time. It was when my brother played his piece that I saw the tornado approaching. We kidded him later that his piece was what brought the house down. As for what I was thinking about, when it struck, we were hiding under the chairs. I looked up to see what would happen, a foolish thing to do as I later realized. I saw the east windows explode inwards and smash against the opposite wall. Then, for several seconds, there was an eerie silence. No wind, no sound, nothing. I think that was because we were right in the core of the funnel, and were experiencing what others do in the eye of a hurricane. That is, I think, why others say the tornado struck twice. It was just so big. I had a scalp wound in the end that bled like crazy. What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath?

When we arrived at the hospital, somebody took my picture, which not only ended up in the paper the next day, but in Life Magazine. I was the boy who had his shirt soaked with blood in that picture. I guess I was pretty much the "poster child" of the 1966 tornado. How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged?

For a while, it made me very nervous whenever a thunderstorm came through town. Of course, our home was well out of the path of the tornado. You might say we went to it. Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you?

I have learned great respect for those storms.

Tornado Memories written by Lynn Shirley In 1966, I was 6 In 1966, I lived at 1722 Grove Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there?

My parents and brothers and I were at Washburn University for a concert my brother was in. The sirens were blowing when we got on campus and after some discussion the concert was started in a basement room. At some point a man stood up and said "My God the tornado" and we all got down on the floor. My mother laid on top of me but I could feel things spinning around the room and hitting me on the leg. It didn't last too long and when we stood up the building was basically gone. I looked to the doorway we had come in and it was all packed with debris and I wondered how we would ever get out. We all crawled o'ut of a window well to get outside. We made our way to the parking lot and the destruction was shocking. Our car was where we left it, although may were damaged and gone, but all the windows were out and there were so many power lines down it was impossible to drive out. My brother was bleeding badly so we stood on the side of 17th street and some kind person picked us up and took us to the hospital. A picture of my dad and brother and a picture of my mother carrying me were in the extra section that the paper put out. The caption said that I was as afraid of what was about to come as what I had been through but I was never afraid that I can remember. The picture of my brother and dad was also in life magazine and I do have the magazine and extra from the paper. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about?

I was wondering if our house would be there when we got home. It was fine, in fact if we had been home we wouldn't have been effected at all as the tornado missed potwin. What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath?

Walking away from the building at Washburn and seeing the unbelievable destruction. I also remember that the man who picked us up had a white interior in his car and I thought it was strange that he would pick us up when we were so bloody. How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged?

The days after were like living in a fog. I think everyone was so shocked at what a tornado could do. At school it was all we talked about. I remember one of the teachers lost her home and we were worried she would move away. Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you?

I have alot of respect for the power of a tornado. I'm not afraid of storms although I was for a while afterwards, but you wouldn't have to convince me to take cover.

Lynn Shirley

Tornado Memories written by Judi (Lamb) Boland In 1966, I was 18 In 1966, I lived at 17th and Gage Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there?

I was at my first job at Smacks Hamburgers, which was located just south of White Lakes Mall. I was working on the west side of the restaurant and there were large windows where I could out see toward the west. I remember thinking about how blue the sky was, then the building of thunderheads that just seemed to keep get bigger and bigger. As I was watching, I could see the funnel form and I couldn't stop watching. It was so frightening because I knew of the destructive power and I had no way of warning people of what was happening. As the funnel first formed it was bright white and the closer it came it turned darker and darker. We decided to close the restaurant and run to the bank next door that had a basement but I did not want to go inside, I just wanted to watch. I never feared for my own safety .. .! am sure it was because at 18 you never believe that anything bad can happen to you. As it neared Topeka Blvd. the funnel was very dark and I remember how strange it was that birds would be flying around it. It wasn't until several hours later that I realized that those were not birds, but rather debris that had been sucked into the funnel. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about?

The tornado went between myself and my parents, brother and sister who were at home at the time. Later I had found out that they had gone into the basement. But for hours I had no way of knowing that they were safe. After the storm passed we listened to the radio and heard about all the damage and it was so frightening thinking that I might have lost all my family. What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath?

There were two memorable moments for me. The first was right after the storm passed, a friend of my came to Smacks to make sure I was ok before he went more into the storm area to help out with some of the rescue efforts. A year later we married, but we often talked that it was that night that we both realized that we cared about what happened to each other. The other most memorable moment occurred around midnight when my father was able to make h:s way to the store to check on me and to take me home. It had taken him several hours just to make the 15-minute trip under normal circumstances. It was such a feeling of relief to see him and for him to know I was safe. How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged?

Our home was not damaged and it did not change my daily routine that much. But it did give me a greater appreci~ltion for my family.

Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you?

Living the majority of my life in Oklahoma there have been many times I have come up close and personal tornados. I still refuse to go into a storm shelter, I would much rather watch the progress of the storm. As a writer for the Associated Press in Oklahoma I have covered tornados; just recently the two that want through Oklahoma City within 24 hours of each other. As I watched one of the TVs at work as the first one that went south along the same path it took in 1999 I had that same feeling of helplessness that I had in 1966, knowing the power and destruction this type of storm can generate. My first reaction was to get out there just to help ... not necessarily to report, but I had to stay in the office to collect information for the first stories that would go out on the wire. In talking to the others that I work with, I am the only one that has actually experienced that power and destruction such a storm can produce. I think that makes a difference in the way I write.

Tornado Memories written by Brad In 1966, I was 12 In 1966, I lived at 4307 Twilight Dr Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there?

We were at home, my father, mother 5-year-old brother and my self. My father was watching the weather while the rest of the family was in the basement. We had a small pica-noddle dog who was in the basement with us. The dog would run up the stairs, stand at the top of the stairs and bark. My father would carry the dog downstairs and then go back up and watch the weather. The dog would run back up the stairs and start to bark again, my father would then take her back down the stairs again. This happened 4 to 5 times before 7: lOpm. By this time the sky was getting real dark and we felt something was going to happen because the weather had been very humid and sticky all day. Around 7:13 a police car with its siren on went down the interstate right behind our house. This got our neighbors attention and since they did not have a basement, they came over to our house. At around 7:15 my father ask me if I wanted to see a tornado, I of course said yes and went up the stairs to look out the back door. It was on Bumetts Mound and moving towards our house. The remaining people up-stairs ran down-stairs to the basement and we huddled in the southwest comer of the basement. When the tornado hit it sounded like a big freight train going over the top of the house. It also sounded like a big grinder just grinding up wood, metal and glass. The sound was deafening and it seemed like it lasted forever. We it was gone we looked around and the floor was still over our heads. We could not go up the stairs out of the basement because it was filled with debris. The only way we could get out of the basement was through the window wells. My father and I went out first and what I remember first was that the sun was out, our house and the houses around us were completely gone and sightseers were already stopped on the interstate and looking at the damage. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about?

Several people died in our area, but the one that stands out in my mind is that a neighbor who had just moved into the house down the street from us a few days before had no where to go and did not know what to do. They had a small boy the same age as my brother and he died. What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath?

We later found out that we 4 houses from the eye of the tornado. Only the house directly across the street from us had any walls standing. You had to go 10-15 houses up the street from us to find any thing else standing. We found our stove 6 houses down the street in the neighbors living room with the clock stopped at 7: 16. Several weeks later we got a call from someone in Holton you had found my bowling shirt in their front yard.

How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged?

Our house was blow away along with many of our family's keepsakes, things that could not be replaced. The insurance company took us to the cleaners and my father told men it took many years to recover from that. We built back but a couple years later moved to the country. Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you?

If the weather starts to tum bad I have to go out and check the skies, but I am quick to take cover. Because we may have lost everything but we still had each other.

Tornado Memories written by Dianne (Hart) Schofield; granddaughter of Sam and Effie Hamilton In 1966, I was 11 In 1966, I lived at 728 Hancock (Grandparents lived there) Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there? I was watching the TV at home (Wichita, KS). I saw the scroll at the bottom of the screen saying, "a tornado had just hit Topeka." I told my mom, who said, "Don't joke like that." I made her come in and look at the TV screen when they rolled the information again. My mom went into a panic mode. My grandparents lived in Topeka, not far from the train depot. Mom tried calling from our house and the neighbor's house, and could not reach anyone. She tried reaching my aunt (who lived close to the airport), but could not get in touch with her either. It was early the next morning that my grandfather called us. He had been blown clear of the house, but was alright. My grandmother was admitted to the hospital after the rescuers dug her out from underneath the roof and three bedroom walls. My family went to Topeka to try to salvage anything that was left from my grandparent's house, which wasn't much. I turned 11 years old that day. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about? I remember looking at the lot where my grandparent's house used to be and thinking this was not real. Grandpa's old Nash was still sitting in the driveway, completely untouched. I also remember my mother still in a panic mode because Grandma's purse needed to be found. My grandparents had just made the final payment on their funeral arrangements that day, and all the paperwork was in grandma's purse. That was why grandma was underneath the roof and three bedroom walls; she had gone back to get her purse. Grandpa made it to the back door when the floor gave way and he was dropped into the basement. The gas line blew, and grandpa was thrown into the neighbor's yard (away from all the debris). The way that grandpa found grandma was her tapping on the wood. She had a small space where she put her hands, and she just kept on hitting the pile of wood around her until grandpa found her. Funny thing, the phone was just out of her reach. She could hear it ringing, but she just couldn't answer it. What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath? When my mom found grandma's purse, and when I finally got to see grandpa and grandma again. Grandma stayed in the hospital for thirty-five days. It was also very strange to realize that my brother and I would have been at my grandparent's house that day if we had not changed our routine (every year, for two weeks in June and two weeks in August, we visited our grandparents in Topeka. We rode the bus from Wichita to Topeka and back by ourselves). Grandma told us afterwards that she probably would have not been able to save us, because the storm came through so fast. They really did not have time to react themselves. How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged?

My grandparents relocated to another part of Topeka. Grandpa was never really the same after that. My grandparents lost everything but their lives that day. Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you?

I have a very healthy respect for tornados. I live in Alabama, where we go to the bathroom in bad weather. This is not what a girl from Kansas can get used to very easily.

Tornado Memories written by David Perkins In 1966, I was 26 In 1966, I lived at 3549 SW Twilight Drive, Topeka Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there?

I was a volunteer weather watcher. Our group dispersed and reported weather conditions many times, and because I lived only a mile from Burnets Mound, normally I was sent to Burnets Mound to radio weather reports to the U.S. weather station at Billard Airport but on that day I was assigned to operate the radio along side the weather radar scope at Billard Airport. When the phone rang I asked my wife if she wanted to stay home or drop me at the airport on her way to her mother's. She decided to drop me off. It was a good decision as the tornado ripped through the neighborhood we lived in. I was seated alongside the radar operator; I was taking reports over a CB radio and relaying them to the weather personnel and correlating them with images on the radar screen. The radar operator would scan and then stop on the fish hook image of the tornado and he said it's coming right down the line, referring to the line on the radar screen. Then he would scan again for other tornadoes and finding none would stop it again on the tornado we were getting reports on. "coming right down the line" he said again. Then all of a sudden he said a cuss word and I asked what was wrong. He said "it's coming right down the line and we are at the end of that line". At that time the weather station had no basement or storm shelter. The building was brick. As the tornado was roaring across Kansas Ave we ran outside to see it coming. Trash and lumber were suspended in the air around the tornado and we could hear it coming. We all dashed back inside and I got under a heavy metal desk inside the radar room. Still taking reports on the radio and yelling them to the weather people. Like others have reported it sounded like a freight train coming. Windows started breaking, the doors were banging. You could feel the pressure change as the tornado approached. No one was injured at the weather station. As soon as we thought it was past us we rushed back outside and saw things falling out of the sky. Planes were strewn about the runway and we watched the tornado change colors as it crossed the Kansas river. For a few seconds it changed from dirty black to bright white as it sucked the water out of the river. I don't remember who took me to where my wife was but I do remember the destruction we saw on the way. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about?

Tho it was scary, I wasn't worried about my safety even tho the tornado came only a few feet away from the building. My concern was for my wife and three children although I was pretty certain that the tornado would not reach their location. What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath?

My Grandmother was one of the fatalities of the tornado when it crossed 17th and

Washburn. Our group assisted the police in night patrols around the city. The destruction was unbelievable. Although houses in the block where we lived were leveled our house had no damage. Only leaves and mud splattered against the side of it. I and several others doing rescue and patrol work stayed up for 3 days and 3 nights with no sleep. How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged?

I went by our house on patrol to check for damage and was amazed at the destruction in the neighborhood. My wife and children stayed at my folks home for several weeks before we returned to the house on Twilight Drive. Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you?

I have a great respect for mother nature and her forces. I have seen a couple of other tornados but none even close to the one in 1966. Although I no longer am involved in weather watching, I have a great respect for those that do. It is their devotion under tremendously dangerous conditions that has saved many lives and I take their warnings seriously, and I thank them for the job they do.

Tornado Memories written by Jim Bridson In 1966, I was 20 In 1966, I lived at 37th and Auburn Road Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there?

I was working at the Topeka Capital-Journal at the time, and had just made the twenty minute drive to our rural home southwest of Topeka when we (Mom, Dad, and brother) were able to witness the tornado moving across the southern sky from the west to east. It had already killed two people by the time we saw it, though we didn't know that until later. Oddly enough, we thought, the tornado appeared white--that is until it hit town just after Burnett's mound. Then it turned dark and angry -looking with flashes of light as it hit power lines. We were rushing back and forth between the TV (I well remember Bill Curtis's "For God's sake, take cover.") and outside, but we never did go to the basement. I learned later that the tornado went right over the C-J building where I had been at work a half hour before. The next day the paper put out a four-page issue! I worked a twelve-hour day. My job was in the advertising department to take proofs of ads to the stores for their approval. That day, instead of going to the stores--Crosby's, Pelletier's, Wards, Sears, etc., I had to take the proofs to the advertising peoples' homes! I have to admit it was rather exciting to be able to go through police barricades to get to some of the people because I was on "official business." It was all very memorable too. The destruction was a sight to see. I'll never forget it. I remember seeing a Volkswagen on the second floor of some apartments near 29th and Gage. Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you?

A life-long Kansan, that was the only time I've seen a tornado.

Tornado Memories written by Tim Lyle In 1966, I was 28 In 1966, I lived at 1041 Orleans Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there?

I was working on the 2nd shift in the old Santa Fe office bldg., now the Landon state office bldg. We were just leaving to go eat dinner at the pennant cafeteria when the security guard at the front door told us a tornado had been spotted southwest of topeka and to go to the basement. We got on the elevator and went to the lOth floor, southwest comer of the bldg. and saw the tornado as it came over Burnett's mound. The funnel was discernible at that time but as it hit the houses and apts. North of i-470, it just became a massive, black, debris filled cloud snaking its way across topeka. You could see the explosions each time it hit a power transformer. As it got closer to downtown it sounded like a thousand Santa Fe freight trains. We watched as it hit the old state printer bldg. at lOth and Jackson. At that time we took cover in the inside stairwell. We felt the vacuum the storm created as the storm passed just to the south of us. We then ran over to the east side of the lOth floor and watched as the tornado was just hitting the homes in the 900 blk. of Madison. It looked like bombs were being dropped on them as they simply just exploded. We continued watching as it went through Oakland and then receded back into the sky around billard airport. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about?

I was watching the storm with a friend who just recently returned to Topeka after serving in the army for two years. He had married a girl from the Washington de area and they had a 3 month old baby girl. They were living in an apartment directly across from central park. As we watched the storm we could tell his apartment was directly in the path of the storm. After the tornado had passed we ran outside to our cars. My friend had a huge tree on top of his car but mine was reasonably undamaged. We tried to drive as close as we could to central park but had to park and continue on foot for several blocks, jumping over live power lines, climbing over huge trees that had been blown down, etc. We finally got to central park and the old three story house his appt. was in was almost totally destroyed. It was an older home with an outside storm cellar entrance. As we got up to the house we could hear people calling for help from down in the basement. We managed to clear the doors of debris and as we opened the doors we found his wife standing at the bottom of the stairs with their little baby girl. I remember the fear in her eyes as she told her husband in no uncertain terms that she was going back home to washinton de. and what he could do with kansas and it's weather. They left three days later and have had a very successful life there. What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath?

Aside from finding my friends wife and baby safe, my most memorable moments would be just watching the tornado go completely through topeka. At the time, it seemed as though everything was moving in slow motion, it was almost surreal

How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged?

I continued working the Santa Fe Railroad and retired in 1999. My home was not damaged. Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you?

Needless to say, when storm warnings are issued, I pay close attention.

Tornado Memories written by Jack E. Koehlar In 1966, I was 35 In 1966, I lived at 17th and Lincoln Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there?

I was working as a flight instructor/charter pilot/ag pilot for Capitol air service. Since about 4 PM, while flying north of Billard Airport with student pilots, I had been watching a super cell cloud formation that had spawned a tornado in/near Manhattan move toward Topeka. About 5:30 I returned from flying a student pilot and suggested to my boss, Ernie Moser, that we should probably fly out to Mesa Verde airport, 5 miles NW of Topeka, and pick up his Stearman spray plane. We had left it there after finishing spraying ops that morning, with the hope of continuing spray ops that evening. But, the wind was up, so we needed to bring the plane to shelter it in its hanger at Billard Airport. After returning to Billard Airport, and returning the Stearman to its hanger, I drove to our Terminal Building office. On the way I turned on the radio and heard that there was a tornado on the ground at VA hospital. Getting out of my car, I took a portable radio into the office with me. As I stepped into the office the radio announced the tornado was ripping thru Washburn U. I let our company personnel and customers know of the approaching tornado, then I ran down the terminal hallway to the restaurant to warn the owner and his patrons. On the way I let airline personnel and passenger know of the danger, too. Than I ran back to our office. Just as I got there, I could see, thru the west glass terminal door, debris being swept before the tornado. I had intended to seek shelter in an office closet, but when I opened it, it was stacked with people. I heard my boss say, from the back of closet, "If that's you, Jack, sorry. We are full." I closed the door, and lay down on the floor. Almost immediately after I had laid down the freight train could be heard, and glass in the building started shattering. After about 15 seconds, it was quiet. I jumped to my feet and ran down the hall, again. This time I ran to the airline passenger ramp entrance on the south side of the building. The airplane tie-down ramp was littered with tom and broken light aircraft. The airline's APU was sitting a block away, burning. All the windows had been blown out of the terminal, and the control tower. Trees and homes west of the airport were gone. One brand new corporate turbo prop aircraft with just 9 hours total time on it that had been parked on the ramp was nowhere to be seen. The scene reminded me of a strafed airfield in a war zone. And, I watched the tornado from its backside as it hit the Kansas River and began to dissipate. After, making a quick survey of airport damage with my boss, I headed home. To what I did not know. I prayed for the best. My rented house, containing my wife and four children, sat 2 houses south of the intersection of 17th and Lincoln. Two block east of the intersection of 17th and Washburn where numerous dead and wounded where already being reported. The phone to my house was dead. I could only hope and pray my family wasn't.

Weaving my way around unbelievable tornado damage, I finally parked my car at 17th and Plass, as close as I could get to my house, and walked home from there. We were lucky. The tornado had moved the house about 6" off its foundation, and we had no lights, or phone. But my family was uninjured. But, less than 300 feet away homes were gone, or had been lifted of their foundations, and sat back down on their foundations UPSIDE-DOWN! I spent most of that night as a volunteer guard and traffic cop at my intersection. In the rain, listening to all the horrible details of the day's disaster unfold in reports from portable radio. Around midnight, a National Guardsman relieved me as our neighborhood's guard and traffic cop, and the Mennonites were already cutting up fallen trees with their power saws. Hours after the tornado, Topekans were already rebuilding their town, with the help of many, many generous volunteers from out of town like the Mennonites. God bless them, everyone! Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you?

I lived and worked in Dallas, TX from 1956 -1961, after I married a Dallas girl. In '60' or '61, a Dallas tornado missed the place that I worked in by about 600 feet. Topeka's June 8th, '66 tornado missed me, and my family, by about 300 feet. That is as close as I hope one ever gets to me and/or any of my family, again.

Tornado Memories written by Brent Smith In 1966, I was 7 In 1966, I lived at 21 & Kansas ave Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there? I Personally was with my Grandparents in Frankfort, Ks. It was a stormy night there as

well. We were at my Great Grandmothers house, watching channel 13. We were watching the weather reports Because Manhattan had just been hit with a strong thunderstorm, and as my Grandpa was a farmer he watched with interest about the direction of this storm, in fear of the hail and high winds reported to be associated with this system. About an hour or so afterward I recall the announcer say a Tornado is upon the Topeka vicinity, For God sakes take cover. I don't remember much from this point, but the ride home back to the Farm. This was around 9pm, and looking to the southeast remembering the lightning and wondering if my mother and three-year-old Brother were allright. I will always remember that evening, although I was not there, in alot of ways I was Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about?

Yes I have memories of that day, and the next several days afterward. After about two or three days later, we finally heard form my mother that they were all right. Mom said she was giving her friend "Alice Bracken" a hair cut when the sirens went off. She ran out into the yard and collected my little Brother Jay and then went two house's north to Bill & Patsy Gauls. They all went to the basement, with Bill & Patsy along with there four children, Rocky, Susan, Gregg & Dale. Mom says the sound was so loud from the tornado that they all sang home on the range as loud as they could to drown it out. As far as the Music is concerned The Beatles "Day tripper" was on the charts. And we had a German Sheperd named "Missy" What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath?

My most memorable Visually impact was a week later when my Grandparents brought me home, and we took a tour of Town. I vividly remember the 29th and Gage area, with the car in the third floor apartment building. Also Washburn University being totally upside down, The Capitol building Dome missing a huge chunk from it. And the Oakland area East Topeka being just devastated, and the National Guard being just everywhere. How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged?

I went to Quentin Heights elementary school. And the students from Central Park Elementary school had to stay in our gym because their school was devastated. Our home was not damaged and neither was our neighborhood.

Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you?

Ever since this tornado happened I've had dreams about Tornados. And also, after the Kansas Ave. Bridge collapsed I've had dreams about it and the Kansas river.

Tornado Memories written by Phil Grecian In 1966, I was 17 In 1966, I lived at 19th and Belle Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there?

There was, in those days, a local community theatre called Summer/Winter Theatre (A few years later it merged with Topeka Civic Theatre and it was the Summer/Winter people who brought Civic back from the financial brink). They had asked me to play the lead in a show called "Dark of the Moon." We were rehearsing that night. In the summer months the theatre company used an outdoor amphitheatre on the Menninger grounds, but on this night it was raining hard, and so we drove down the hill to our inclement weather rehearsal hall, St. David's church. We had just begun rehearsing when we heard the sirens. Topekans were pretty calm about sirens in those days .. .it seemed to us they blew them all the time over nothing, so we weren't terribly concerned. But then we heard what sounded like a freight train (Yes, I know--it's a trite comparison, but it's also true). Some of us stepped outside and there it was--a six block wide black wall coming, it appeared, straight for us. We could see debris flying through the air around it, and it grew progressively louder. We stood fascinated, watching the thing as it approached and finally one of our number, Rick Funk, said, calmly, "Um ... perhaps we should go to the basement." Reluctantly, we did. Several others joined us from the neighborhood and from passing automobiles. I remember one lady who was certain she was going to have her baby early. I found some blankets for her and began preparing people to deliver a baby (though I hadn't the foggiest idea of how to do that myself). Fortunately, it was false labor. The tornado passed us to the east by a few blocks. Chris Klink, one of our backstage technicians, was a member of Civil Defense and called for some of us to join him in a rescue squad. We rendezvoused with some other CD people, piled into a station wagon and headed for 29th and Gage. The police were already in evidence when we got there, patrolling and controlling. We drove up the hill on 29th and disembarked (They warned us to jump clear of the car and make sure we could see the ground clearly where we were to land, as there were live wires down). As I landed on the blacktop, I remember looking out over what appeared to be a blasted plain ... not a building standing ... a prairie of splintered lumber and shattered trees. I remember thinking, "This looks like a matte painting ... a movie special effect." I spent several hours in a group that moved rubble and shouldered open doors, checking for people who were trapped, wounded or dead. We found a few who were trapped or hiding; fortunately, we found no bodies. Because no one was ready for it, there weren't many flashlights among us. When we split up into groups, we took care to see that there was at least one flashlight in each group. The "torchbearers" became the leaders, warning us of what was ahead: "Power line down! Step clear!" No one was electrocuted (Kansas Power and Light had quickly shut down power to the area to prevent accidents), but one gentleman in our group was too impatient to wait

for word from the torchbearers. He went out of his way to step on down lines: "This one's okay. This one's fine." Were it not for KPL's actions, the guy would have been fried. We saw some bizarre things. I remember an apartment that was completely gone, save for a single standing wall. On the wall was a large painting. Against the wall was a couch with an end table and a coffee table. On the coffee table was a glass filled with soda and a plate with a sandwich. There was a notepad next to the plate and a pencil next to the notepad. The rest of the apartment was gone. I saw blades of grass driven through doors. I saw bathtubs suspended in the air, supported by their own plumbing. I saw cars smashed as if they'd been stepped on, and some that were stacked, two and three cars high. I saw houses that seemed to have imploded--pulling in upon themselves like so many clenched fists. How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged?

My girlfriend was a Washburn student. I remember, several days after the tornado, sitting with her and some friends in her apartment, and they were watching television footage of the campus, which was closed off from the public, staff and students. They were weeping for the loss of all the beautiful trees.

-A TORNADO REFLECTION Charles W. "Chuck" Wright was Topeka's Mayor when the June 8, 1966 tornado struck the city. This is his story. It was 5:30 p.m., Wednesday evening June 8, 1966. Still in my office at City Hall, I noticed the sky outside was pitch black. We had an early warning system in place, where the police dispatcher was to call me on the phone if and when a tornado was expected in the area, but I never received a call. Why, I do not know. So I called my wife at home and told her I would be home about 8 p.m. and that I was going to attend a meeting of the Tecumseh Kiwanis club, because I needed a makeup for my perfect attendance. Tecumseh is about 5 miles east of Topeka and I drove my city car to the meeting in the basement of the Tecumseh United Methodist church. About 6:50 p.m. as I was enjoying my evening dinner, a telephone call from one of the members' wives said that a tornado alert had been issued for Topeka. A few minutes after that, another telephone call announced that a tornado had just moved over Burnett's Mound striking 29th and Gage and was heading through Topeka. Hearing that, without thinking about finishing my dinner, I got in my car and headed west for Topeka. There were two radio frequencies in my city car, a standard band radio and a city band with the fire department. I turned the standard band radio on to WREN to hear what was going on. My fire department band was so crowded it was impossible for me to get on to it. Topeka's firemen on that band kept asking, "Where is the Mayor" and I was unable to respond to their pleas. Driving my city car west on US-40 highway, I could see the tornado as it rent its destruction on my beloved city. I needed to get to our Civil Defense facility in the sub.,.basement of the Courthouse. As I entered the city driving west on 6th street , I had to turn south on California avenue to get on I-70 because of trees blocking 6th street. When I reached the 8th street exit, it too was blocked by a downed utility pole. I had to park my car on the I-70 shoulder, run up the west embankment and vault the fence to reach the Civil Defense office. Bob Jones, our Civil Defense coordinator at the time, met me and gave me a brief appraisal of what was going on. He told me the tornado after it had cleared Burnett's Mound, had devastated the 29th and Gage area, Washburn University, lOth and Kansas avenue on into Oakland and over Billard airport before ending its destruction. He was concerned about looting and spectators in the tornado areas so I immediately asked all radio stations to put out the message that anyone suspected of looting was to be shot on site by our police. Meanwhile, Governor Avery had called in the "Red Dog" forces from Forbes Air Base to assist in maintaining order. To keep spectators out of the tornado areas, I ordered the use of driver licenses. If you did not have a license with an address in the areas, you were to be kept out. Since our telephone lines were out, I had to contact the hospitals by police radio, stationing a police car at each. Doctors and nurses from outside Topeka were coming into the CD facility to volunteer their help. They were assigned to where need was the greatest. About 9 p.m., my wife along with two of our children, Douglas and Catherine, met me in the CD shelter. Up until that time I had'nt given any thought to what might have happened to them. They told me our home at 1820 Mission

wasn't in the tornado's path and that they weren't either. My wife had found shelter in a neighbor's basement while the children watched the tornado from the Shawnee Country Club, where they were swimming. I informed them that I had . to stay in the CD shelter to direct activities and that I would be home later (I was a resident in the CD shelter for 2 weeks). There was so much going on in the shelter that it was utter confusion, but I knew it was my responsibility as Mayor to bring order out of chaos. Fortunately, my officer training in WWII with the U.S. Marines, gave me a quick perspective of what had to be done and who would do it. I called for all volunteer agencies to meet Thursday morning at 9 in the shelter with me and Bob Jones to coordinate rescue and cleanup activity . At 10 p.m. Police Chief Dana Hummer asked me to accompany him on a brief tour of the city, which I did. He was driving an unmarked car and as we approached the 29th and Gage area, we were stopped by a Red Dog soldier with his rifle at the ready. Chief rolled down his window and announced that he was Police Chief Dana Hummer and I was the Mayor, and we would like to tour the area. The soldier asked for our driver licenses; he was carrying out an order I had previously given. Neither of us of course could obey his order since neither of us lived in the area. Before we returned to the CD office, we drove around as best we could. We noticed there were lights on in the Maude Bishop elementary school. That was unusual because all electric power in that area was out. There we found a portable generator from Bern, Kansas, indicating that we were not in this situation without tremendous help from our nearby neighbors. When we returned to the CD headquarters I asked the Air National Guard to fly me over the area at 6 a.m. the next morning, which they did. Flying in the helicopter I was stunned at what I saw below! It was so awesome I am not ashamed to say that I cried. It looked like someone had taken a huge lawnmower 6 blocks wide and driven it right through the city. The Santa Fe rail yards were filled with overturned and demolished freight cars. After completing my aerial inspection, I met with the volunteer agencies so all efforts could be coordinated. As the meeting started, Bob Jones interrupted to tell me that President Johnson from Washington was on the telephone and wanted to speak to me. At first I thought he was kidding but then I excused myself from the meeting to speak to the President. After verifying to three different telephone operators that I was Mayor Charles Wright in Topeka, Kansas, the President greeted me by saying, "Mayor Wright, I want to express my sincere sorrow at the destruction rent on your fine city last night, and I want you to know that we are ready to assist in any way possible." I thanked the President for his kind words and informed him that as soon as we could get efforts organized and know what we needed, I would get back to him. He said Ferris Bryant, former Governor of Florida, who was head of the Office of Emergency Planning in Washington, was the person I should contact. I again thanked the President for his concern and his call. The basement of the City building was turned over to the Red Cross, who brought in a host of people to assist. The Salvation Army, Boy and Girl Scouts along with many other volunteer groups were on hand to do whatever could be done. The Menonites from Newton brought a contingent of their members and gear, and the entire Park Department from Kansas City, :Missouri, men, trucks and equipment arrived. They were housed and fed for over a month in the Topeka High School gymnasium. Heavy equipment contractors volunteered their machines to clear wreckage, and the Shawnee County garage at 21st and Kansas avenue was geared to repair tires flattened by thousands of nails strewn everywhere. (I learned later that more than 1,500 tires were repaired there).

The City Commission met every morning at 9 for two weeks and I was given their complete cooperation on everything we needed in our reconstruction effort. This was probably the first time in history that the five City leaders were in total agreement on every City of Topeka matter. Our bus barn at 11th and Jackson was destroyed, along with most of their busses. But owner AI Moore pledged to get the busses running again, which he did. One of my concerns was that the State's Board of Health had their laboratories in the building at lOth and Kansas avenue. In it were disease cultures and specimens that were blown away in the storm. Fortunately, to my knowledge nothing ever happened. The fire department spent many hours touring the tornado areas, searching for residents. In one home in Oakland they found an elderly woman, alive but scared to death, in her basement. The daily newspaper ran a column for several days listing missing persons, to help those who might be looking for lost loved ones. To house residents whose homes had been destroyed, we requested mobile homes from OEP and they were placed at Billard airport after all utilities lines had been installed and paid for by Federal funds. Since I was a member of the Washburn Board of Regents, I als() had a responsibility there. Three months before the tornado, the Board had reinsured every building on the campus. When the tornado destroyed 5 of the 8 classroom buildings, financially the University did very well. I remember that Rice Hall was insured for $300,000, and it was completely destroyed in the tornado. OEP met our request for mobile classrooms, which were set up on the east side of the University. On one of my frequest trips to Washington, Washburn President John Henderson asked me to check with OEP to see if we could get air conditioning units for the mobile classrooms. When I met with OEP's head man, Ferris Bryant, he asked me how our recovery was going. I assured him it was going very well and that we thanked him and his agency for all of their assistance. Then I said, "Governor, I do have one request". What's that, he asked, and I said, "we need air conditioning units for the mobile classrooms. He said, "Well .Mayor, you will just have to park the classrooms under trees, to which I quickly replied, "but Governor, the tornado took out all of our trees." We got the air conditioning units! The General Electric Company gave Washburn University free lighting fixtures for Moore Bowl and around the campus, and there were other contributions also made to Washburn. Reflecting back on that fatefull evening in 1966, I was amazed at the tremendous assiatnce Topeka received from many, many companies and people. Southwestern Bell set up free pay phones in the tornado areas, and had to ship in more than 600 new telephone poles to replace poles that were destroyed. They brought in repair crews from several states. Later when I thanked the company for all of their help, I was informed that with the break up of the company now, if we had another tornado they would not be able to do such a fine job. One positive thing came out of the tornado. Above ground telephone lines used by City Hall, the Police and Fire departments that were destroyed in the tornado won't be a problem in the future. These telephone lines are now below ground.

Tornado memories written by Carolyn In 1966, I was 53 In 1966 I lived at 5044 Indian Creek Road

Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there?

How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged?

Tornado memories written by Carolyn In 1966, I was 53 In 1966 I lived at 5044 Indian Creek Road

What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath?

Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about?

Tornado memories written by Carolyn In 1966, I was 53 In 1966 I lived at 5044 Indian Creek Road

Song Contest To HouseWife Mrs. Carolyn Hilbbs, 53, 5044 Indian Creek Rd., ·a housewife, was narrned winner of a contest for song l;rrics aooutmeJ'iiiili frorn~, RiC!iard L. Gray, secrefar"J-treasurer of the Topeka Folksingers dub announced today. Fifty-three song lyrics, mostYy by Tope'kams., · were entered , in the contest. (/'~ .·. Mrs. Hibbs song, "A ·Giant ' Can~e from out the West,'~ was composed to the time of . "Bar:b'ry Allen," a well-known English folk song. Her lyric, along wibh 14 other prizecwin- , ning songs, IWill be presented 1 in a benefit show :for Washburn University. Date of .the performance will lbe annoUnced later, Gray said. ' · Mayor .a J:udge .. ? . . .Fudges in the cont~t 'were Charles W. Wright Jr., Ijlayor . )<,. · of Topeka, Everett Fetter,. head ., s of the Washburn music depart- -1 sa~:S.~te.Histori'G~.,~ ment, and Edgar·Langsdorf, _il~- ··-'~;1VIr~'::;?l!iJji)g.\~;H;'~ef~~~5 .A· ·!Jiant: ·came' trom•;:out·.:•ot · across our Ia IId; ·· ·' ·· · Lighfni!P;J walked .:beside _INm ,:: · . And, ;;death ..was Jn ~.Ills ... hand. , . He :~omped aru:1 ·raged wltll· fury As , he · ·strode •across :•our town•... · · He rageil against the helpless And •blew •·the houses· down' · ·' . He spent hlil anger on this place; This thing from out· the sky,. · Every·. soul· .was shaken And. some were ·macle ·.hJ dla.:· And· when bis. fury .was .air ·spent He'd .choose· another site.· . · · · · He pulled the. winds. about 111m An ·.vanished. Jn tile ·night, · ;. . · A giant ca'nia from .out the West And· ·bniught us :death ·and tears, And none wnr. e'er· for!let him Though.· .we Jive. for' ·many )'itars, , · :And:· •ra9ed

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Tornado Memories written by Kendra Glass In 1966, I was 10 In 1966, I lived at Pauline, Kansas Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there?

My mom, Dad, sister and I where at Meadow Lanes on the Blvd. I heard what sounded like someone knocking on the side door and told my parents about it. They said I was hearing things and didn't look in to it. Then my mom got a phone call from one of my other sisters that was at home. My sister said to my mom "We are ok mom the tornado didn't hit our house!" My mom said what tornado? The guy behind the desk said oh there's a tornado in Topeka, but not close to here, so I wasn't going to tell anyone. You can't go down in the basement here anyway because of the heavy equipment above. So my family went out the side door that I was hearing sounds on and we watched the tornado hit west Topeka and downtown and then we couldn't see it anymore. It was the first tornado I had seen and it was so big and black and I have seen one other one since then and it was just a small one that hit around Jostens area. The June 8th will always be remembered as the worst tornado I have ever seen!

Tornado Memories written by Larry Chabira In 1966, I was 14 In 1966, I lived at 1231 N Jackson St Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there?

I was visiting my friend Bungy Foster and he was at Grandma and Grandpa Espinosa's house. They lived on Lake Street in Oakland behind the Mexican restaurant. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about?

I remember we were listing to KEWI and although warnings had been sounded they were still playing music. When the tornado came through Sam thru Sham and the Pharaohs were playing "Little red riding hood". I could not call home to tell my mom I was ok. But at 14 I was much too caught up in the moment to worry about anything else. What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath?

After the tornado pasted we all rushed out side. Though the grandparents' house was not damaged we went a couple of blocks over to see the results. Climbing over a roof blocking the street I ran a nail through my US Keds and in to my foot and had to be taken to the doctor for a tetanus shot. How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged?

I don't recall it having much affect other than the nail causing me to have a really sore foot. Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you?

I still have dreams about Tornados, I think they represent in my psyche turmoil and loss of control.

Tornado memories written by Wanda Idlet Bulmer In 1966, I was 14 In 1966 I lived at 500 block of Winfield St.

Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there?

How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged?

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Tornado memories written by Wanda Idlet Bulmer In 1966, I was 14 In 1966 I lived at 500 block of Winfield St.

What good do you think might have come out of the tornado? Rebuilding, friendships, community, volunteers, or support?

Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you?

Tornado memories written by Wanda Idlet Bulmer In 1966, I was 14 In 1966 I lived at 500 block of Winfield St.

What is your most memorable moment of June 8, l 966 tornado and its aftermath?

Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about?

Tornado memories written by John P. Hastings In 1966, I was 21 In 1966 I lived at 4825 W. 20th Terrace

Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there?

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Tornado memories written by Virginia Feelg In 1966, I was 55 In 1966 I lived at 1334 Campbell

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How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged?

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Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about?

What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath?

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Tornado memories written by Ruth Irish In 1966, I was 44 In 1966 I lived at 3535 Fairlawn Road

Tornado memories written by Ruth Criss In 1966, I was 49 In 1966 I lived at 2218 Prairie Road

Tornado memories written by Sandra Logan In 1966, I was 21 In 1966 I lived at 29th and Atwood

Tornado memories written by Freida In 1966, I was 34 In 1966 I lived at 8th and Medford

Tornado memories written by Robert Kearns In 1966, I was In 1966 I lived at 1118 Arter

Tornado memories written by Jeannine In 1966, I was 32 In 1966 I lived at 20001 N.W. Lane

Tornado memories written by Mary In 1966, I was 43 In 1966 I lived at 414 N.E. Lime St.

Tornado memories written by Cindy Leggitt In 1966, I was 5 In 1966 I lived at 25th and Virginia

Tornado memories written by Betty In 1966, I was 52 In 1966 I lived at 21st and Sims

Tornado memories written by In 1966, I was In 1966 I lived at

Tornado memories written by Lois In 1966, I was 56 In 1966 I lived at Washburn University campus

Tornado memories written by Sheila L (Spring) Polter In 1966, I was 8 In 1966 I lived at 5236 S.W. 27th

Tornado memories written by Larry In 1966, I was 18 In 1966 I lived at Madison, Kan.

Tornado memories written by Lawrence "Corey" In 1966, I was 6 In 1966 I lived at 1400 Washburn

Tornado memories written by Wilma Kizer In 1966, I was 42 In 1966 I lived at 1135 Jewell St.

Name: Connie Lowrey Age: 14 Address: 21st and Adams Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there? I was with my older brother (17) and younger brother (4) at our home when the sirens sounded. We drove to my sisters house at 8th and Madison, just barely making it to the basement when the Tornado hit downtown Topeka. If we had stayed home we would have been safe, but of course you have no idea where or what the Tornado will hit. I remember looking out the basement window and seeing darkness and hearing the roaring sound that I will never forget. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about? I was worried about another sister and brother and my Mother as they were not with us. It was much later before we learned my immediate family as well as my extended family were all safe. What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath? I would have to say touring the damaged areas and seeing all the destruction, feeling so lucky to be alive and feeling so sorry for the families that lost family members and their homes. The damage to Washburn University will be in my mind forever. How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged? We were fortunate that our home was not damaged. I had a respect for the weather afterwards that continues to this day. Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you? To this day I pay very close attention to the weather, especially during the Tornado season, I have passed this on to my children. Years later finding out that by observing footage and pictures of the Tornado, the authorities rated it as a FS, the sirens sounding when they did gave people the time needed to seek shelter or more would have lost their life.

Name: Mary Elaine Mallory Hurlburt Age: 10 1/2 Address: 505 se gray Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there? My grandmothers basement at 910 SE Golden. My Mom,2younger sisters and an older brother. Also my Step-Father. Like they say---A very loud and long train going overhead. Radio and Television. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about? My dog disappered,The clothes my mother had hung out were on the ground and scattered everywhere. Trees and power lines were down all over town. I was just very scared!!! What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath? Going into Oakland with my family to help Salvation Army and other emergency organizations. I was helping my mom serve beverages and food to the workers and the families that were without homes. How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged? It really didn't as young as I was. We I think it helped us appreciate our families a lot more. Our home had only minor damage, But I have a half sister that lived in Oakland and they lost everything.All that was left of there home was a concrete slab. Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you? When I hear the sirens I get Scared to death. I also call my children and beg them to get to safety. I pray I never have to go through another tornado like that again!

Name: Debbie Lang Age: 13 Address: 22nd and college Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there? I was watching Batman on TV, I was with my parents and 1 year old twin brothers in our home. We had a concrete cellar, all our neighbors had joined us when the sirens sounded. It sounded like a large train running over the top of us. After the tornado hit I and the other neighbor children ran out to Stout school yard accross the street. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about? I remmber seeing articles of clothing, furniture, car parts and all kinds of household idems all over the school grounds. We saw what we thought was an animal on the ground, found it was a old fur coat. The electricity was off for several days after the tornado.My father cooked on a bbq and made fires in the fireplace for meals. What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath? How it changed our lives so drasically, schools were closed my father a mailman went to his carried route and helped people instead of delivering mail. How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged? Home only minor damage, I am very freightened of tornados Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you? Mone others like the 66.

Name: Esther Sutter Age: 29 Address: 1545 SW Randolph Question l: I rode out the tornado in an upstairs apartment. I had just moved from 1505 SW 15th 2 weeks earlier which was in the path of the tornado. So I was lucky I moved. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about? What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath? How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged? I was working at the VA hospital. Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you?

Name: Carmen Duran-Martinez Age: 23 Address: 1401 E. Atchison (Intersection of Atchison - at one time the street was named Crane - and Scotland) Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there? I was at my mother-in law's-(to be)house (330 Califorinia) with my fiance,Pablo Sr., his mother,Virginia, sister, Priscilla, and brother Dan. We were out on the porch facing West and could see the huge cloud coming and some debris encircling within. The sirens were blarring and Pablo and Dan headed us toward the basement. They were going to stay and watch but as soon as it got too close they also retreated to the basement. After the tornado passed by we came up and it was very, very calm and bright outside. We could see destruction everywhere, trees uprooted, houses without roofs, and cars overturned. Pablo, Priscilla and I walked over to the corner of Atchison and Woodruff to see how my father-in-law was doing. This, of course, was dumb to do, we came across some live fallen wires. He was fine but he told us that he was standing at his back door and saw his garage just lift up and placed on the street a few feet away. He had just been built it and was not insured. Our wedding date was June 25th. We had planned to have our wedding dinner at the Guadalupe Hall in Oakland with all our friends and relatives. The Tornado had different plans for us, it took the Hall and we ended up having a smaller dinner at my mother-in-law's house. We were truly blessed that no one in our family was hurt.

Name: Steven Odell Age: 10 YEARS OLD Address: 1716 s.w. Buchanan Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there? Sitting in our family station wagon in front of duskwall's in holiday square shopping center.My older sister& mother were in the store, while I ,my twin sister & younger brother were sitting in our family station wagon waiting.The sirens went off (our family always ignored the sirens), other shoppers were going into Ed Marling's to go Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about? down into the basement. finally the clerk in duckwall's shoved my mom& sister out the door. We drove down Washburn home, off to the west the sky was very gray, we got home , Iwent upstairs & closed one of my west facing windows& went back downstairs. Mom turned on the tv and just at the moment Bill Curtis said" If you live in northeast Shawnee county take immediate cover" my mom & I went out the frontdoor & looked west there was a vacant lot across the What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath? street just then we could hear & see the tornado over on Washburn campus. We ran back inside & yelled at my other siblings & all 5 of us crammed into a closet under the stairs the house shook & I thought we were all going to die!! How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged? I at the time was going to Central Park Grade School which was damaged enough to be declared unsafe to use (it was later razed) I ende up going to polk grade school for part of the taer then back to mobile homes for classrooms where my school use to sit, our house only sustained 1 broken window Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you? For about 2 years after the '66 tornado i'll admit i was scared every time the sirens sounded. Since then when every time the sirens sound i go outside to see if i can spot the twister.

Name: Janda Campbell Age: second grade Address: Larned Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there? We were driving home at night from visiting friends Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about? We could tell the weather was getting stormy. What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath? Visiting a farmhouse that had damage and we saw a straw was stuck in a tree. We also came to Topeka to visit our family here. How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged? Our home was not damaged. Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you? They have caused me to pray and turn to God.

Name: Trish Kennedy Pickard Age: 23 Address: Embassy Apartments, 29th and Gage Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there? MEMORIES OF THE TOPEKA TORNADO (June 8, 1966) --by Trish Kennedy Pickard 6/8/06 I had returned to Topeka, the town I was born and lived until I was married, when my husband was sent to Viet Nam in the late summer of 1965. I lived in an apartment at the foot of Burnett's Mound. My parents, Karl & Gladys Kennedy, lived in an apartment in the complex next to mine. Our first child, Stacia, was born November 22, 1965. Then January 12, 1966 my father died suddenly of a massive heart attack. On June 8, 1966 my mother and I made plans to have dinner with Jean Stitcher and her daughter Janie Stitcher Davis. Jean's son had been killed in Viet Nam in December of 1965. We had all gathered at my mother's apartment on June 8th. A baby sitter was there to take care of Stacia. It was raining so hard, we waited and we talked about not going out. Janie said she heard a siren, the rest of us listened but could not hear one. My mother opened the door to listen and sure enough the sirens were sounding. We turned on the television and listened to the weather report. We decide it sounded serious enough that we should go to shelter. In the rear of the apartment complex was a storage building with a basement. About 50 of us gathered there. People said, "Here is comes." They could hear a noise like a freight train. I could not hear the noise but it felt like my head was going to explode. I remember wrapping my body around my baby trying to protect her (I later learned I was standing directly below the hot water storage for the whole complex) . When the tornado passed the man who was the builder of the apartments announced the building had been damaged and we must evacuate. I was at the rear of the room so it took awhile for everyone to get out. No one panicked and we left in an orderly fashion. I could hear the people ahead of me exclaim that the cars were destroyed. Little did we realize how serious it was. The backside of the apartments did not look badly damaged. As we walked around the corner though, I felt like I walked into a scene from WW2. The apartment complex next to ours looked like a pile of bricks. Someone had a radio and it was announced another tornado was spotted and to take cover. We were in a dilemma, do we go back into a damaged building or stay out in the open. I decided to go back into the building. That tornado never materialized! oui party and some other friends gathered in one of the apartments that had not been badly damaged. It was decided that Janie and I, along with Stacia, would try to find a car and contact my sister-in-law, Mary Kennedy. My brother, Mike Kennedy, was out of town on business and Mother knew Mary would be worried. Mother and Jean would stay at the site. As we walked down Gage Blvd., I felt like a refugee that you saw in war torn countries. We had all been in the rain and looked pretty tattered. Janie must of said my name because I heard a man yelling, "Trish, Trish where is Trish?" Lawyer Dave Fisher, a father of one of my good friends and a friend of our family grabbed my arm. He had heard on the news that our apartments had been destroyed and was sure we were probably dead. But, he had come to look for us.

my mother was and left to get her. house out in the country. I told him of our plans to find Mary. He asked where Janie and I found a car and drove to my brother's There was no one at his house so we returned to town and went to my sister-in-law's best friend's house. Mary had taken her two children there. When the storm had moved through, her electricity had gone out so she had packed her two children, age 2 and 3, and had come to my mother's apartment to spend路the night. She arrived just minutes after the tornado had hit. She frantically looked for us and asked everyone, "had they seen us?" Some one had told her as they ran by, "Well, she is OK." Mary thought, from that comment, that my mother was dead. She had taken her children to her friends and went to the hospitals searching for us. I decided to stay at the friend's house until Mary returned. I was trying to make a phone call but the line was dead. I was holding the phone to my ear and without it ringing, I heard someone on the other end. It was Mary. I said, "Mary, we are all fine!" She said "Don't leave there until I get there. I will not believe you are alive until I can see you." I think it was much harder for Mary, than for us who had gone through the tornado. My brother, who was in Wichita, had heard about the tornado and that our apartments were destroyed. He started speeding home on the turnpike. He said a highway patrolman started chasing him but he kept going. When the patrol car got close enough to see his license plates and realized where he was from, he stopped pursuing him. Everyone told me I should ask for an emergency leave from Viet Nam, for my husband, Earl. The next morning Stacia and I went to the Red Cross. I was concerned if I requested Earl to come home and he was not issued the emergency leave, that he would be so worried. I stressed to the Red Cross to make sure he knew we were OK. I found out later the telegram they sent him said, "Wife and baby in tornado but all are doing well now." To me and to Earl it sounded like we had been hurt but we were going to survive. They told me to go home and wait and call them each day to see if the leave was approved. The next day we were at the apartments trying to salvage whatever we could. Most of my things, with the exception of my car, were in fairly good shape. I was on the first floor and my apartment was in tact, but the one above me was gone. My mother's was totally destroyed. When I saw the broken crib that had been in my Mom's apartment, I cried. Had we gone to dinner as planned, Stacia would have been in that crib and the baby sitter probably would not have heard the sirens? I don't think she would have survived. Two people across the street were killed. The Air Force had a medical team of doctors at the apartment complex. They were looking for bodies and injured people. My brother explained to the Air Force team that my husband was in the Army in Viet Nam. So, when they were not needed, they helped me pack my things. The Colonel of the team told me I should not have to face this alone and when he got back to the Forbes Air force Base, he was calling directly to VietNam to my husband's unit and requesting an emergency leave. The next day he called my brother's home and said that Earl's unit was preparing for a hugh battle and they could not get him out. He explained the leave had been approved but it would be several week before he could come because of the fierce fighting. When my Mom heard the news, she immediately called Senator Frank Carlson's office. Senator Carlson personally knew Earl, as they were both from Concordia, KS. Earl mowed

the Senator's yard as a boy. Senator Carlson had given Earl his West Point appointment. Senator Carlson told my Mom, "Don't worry, I will get that boy home." Saturday Morning Senator Carlson called and told me, "I am so sorry, I can not get that boy home. He is in the middle of a fierce battle. As soon as it is over, we will get him home." Of course, none of us felt very comfortable knowing where Earl was. That night we were all at my brother's home. I was dressed for bed in a short nightgown. The phone rang, my brother answered it and said, "WHERE ARE YOU?" He turned and gave the phone to me saying, "It is Earl!" Everyone was so excited and started yelling that I couldn't hear him. Finally I was able to hear and he told me he was at the Topeka Airport. Stunned, I told him I would be right there to get him. My brother handed me his keys, I handed them back to him and told him I was too excited to drive, he would have to drive me. Mike sped me through Topeka. I had to tell him to slow down, that if the police stopped us, they would never believe that I was his sister, as I was still in my shorty nightgown. Mike pulled up to the curb at the airport; I jumped out of the car excitedly and raced inside. I grabbed the first man I saw in uniform and fortunately it was Earl. We have laughed many times about this over the years. How many men coming home from Viet Nam have had a wife meet them at the airport in a nightgown? Earl had received the first emergency leave request from the Red Cross just as he was going to battle. He was able to leave but had to hitchhike from airplane to airplane in Viet Nam until he was finally able to get out of the country. Because he was due to getting out of the army that summer, he did not have to return to Viet Nam. I feel the tornado saved his life. A year later to the day (a Wednesday), not the date, another tornado warning was issued and we were told it was taking the same path. My mother, Stacia, and our 2 week-old daughter Jana, and I were on the road returning from Lincoln, Nebraska. Earl, I and now our two daughters, were in the process of moving back to Topeka from Lincoln. We went back to the same shelter, along with about 50 others that had been in the first tornado. With so many people crammed into the shelter and the tension was very HIGH, we were afraid there would not be enough oxygen for a two-week old baby. My mother kept taking Jana to the door so she could get fresh air. That tornado never materialized, but the all-clear was not sounded for several hours. For several years after the tornado, if the wind started blowing hard, I took the children and went to the basement. Now, I just listen to the weather reports. We currently live out in the country where there are not sirens. One of the first things we bought, though, was a weather alert radio. Earl & I, along with our youngest grandson, will return to Topeka on June 8, 2006. We are meeting friends to pray in Topeka. We plan to go on top of Burnett's Mound to give THANKS to the Lord for life, for these 40 years and for the next generation. We, too, will climb the 296 steps to the top of the State Capitol Building. Not only will we remember the 40th anniversary but we will celebrate Earl's 65th birthday. Yes, the tornado happened on his 25th birthday!

Name: Kent Williams Age: 8 Address: 725 SW Lincoln Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there? I was with my grandparents in Frankfort, KS. We were watching the weather on WIBW while the tornado was going through Topeka. My family was at home, and I was terribly frightened for them. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about? I sat helpless, quiet in front of the TV. They said the word "Lincoln" and I screamed out, "That's our street!" Poppy told me to be quiet so we could hear the exact location. I was very worried for my dad, who was on the 7th floor of Stormont-Vail. I found out later that he was unable to be moved from his hospital room, and that his mom (my other grandma) stayed with him, with a pillow over his head. What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath? Getting the phone call the next day that everyone was alright. How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged? We were very fortunate that our home and family were kept out of harm's way. I remember going on a car ride by my friend's house that was flattened by the tornado, and that they had to move to a different house. Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you? Tornadoes are not as frightening to me as other weather-related events, but I have a great deal of respect for them. I insist on a basement in my home.

Name: Mischele Brisco Age: 3 Address: Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there? Under a table in our house. My parents, and it seems like there were some other people there as well. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about? I remember my mom being very upset, concerned and us going into our basement. I was under a table, in the basement looking at birthday cards I had just recieved that week for my 3rd birthday. I was eating salty potato chips and some kind of sour cream dip! It was kind of fun. What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath? My mom. She was very upset, worried, concerned. I remember the stairs going down to the basement of our house and I think it was noisy outside. No other memories of the aftermath. How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged? Not sure -- two houses down were destroyed, ours only had minor damage. Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you? It's always been a high stress, takecover situation. Though as I have gotten older, a real fasination about them, even dreams about running from them as they chase me. 1

Name: Therese F. Solis Age: 11 years old. Address: I actually in Manhattan, Kansas 66502 Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there? Even in Manhattan,Ks.,we felt the effects of the storm.I was eating dinner with my family when the lights went out and I distinctly remember the curtains in the kitchen blowing at a complete straight angle. It distroyed alot of property in Manhattan also. I remember Bill Kurtis on the radio to take cover. We lost all television coverage almost immediately and lost WIBW-TV station on the old black and white tv. We didn't realize how extensive damage was and how bad it had been in Topeka, until the next day. But it will forever stay in my mind, even as far as Manhattan, we could fell the effects of the storm and the strong winds. The tornado changed the coverage of such storms and how families began to thing differently about the seriousness of the danger and the damage. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about? I had on what we then called pedal-pushers shorts and it had been a hot and windy day. All the neighborhood children had gone to the local Manhattan City Park Swimming Pool for entertainment as we often did in that day. The music we listened to was "The Monkees," and "Batman," was very popular on TV. All the neighborhood children played together in the streets in the summer time, unfortuneately we could not do this today. What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath? The lights going out and the strong wind coming up. How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged? We had no television for several days, it must have hit WIBW-TV stations. Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you? I learned at an early age in Kansas to take these storms very seriously and to heed their warnings and watches.

Name: brenda cook johns Age: 8 years old Address: on washburn street Questionl: i was at my babysitter's when the siren went off. the wind was blowing and it was an eerie color outside. i could sense the fear and started crying. it was extremely windy but nothing much happened there where we were. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about? after it was over, my mom called to check on me, and the babysitter wouldn't let her talk to me "until i stopped crying!" Needless to say my mom came and got me and i never had to go back. What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath? When we went home we found that my dog had had her puppies on the porch through the storm! The next mornig we saw a huge oak tree down in the front yard. It had clipped the roof a bit, right over the porch where the dog had her puppies. seeing that giant of a tree down made me realize the power of tornados. How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged? I had to go to a different school on double shifts. it was weird getting out after dark. but kids are flexible. it wasn't until i was a bit older that i realized the extent of the damage and what it meant to be declared "a national disaster". we moved to the apartments on burnett's mound where the statue is with names of people who died during that tornado. that was eyeopening to a young mind. later i saw pictures of the devastation throughout the city. apparently i had been protected from all of it before. Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you? I have a deep respect for tornados and know what they can do, and quickly!

Name: Denise Fouraker Age: 6 Address: lOth and east of the I70 over pass Questionl: i was a smallchild waiting for Charlie Brown special come TV. My mother who was alone with three small children age, 6,5 and 3yrs. We lived were the red carpet in is located, across from the I-H harvester truck repair. All Irememeber was the rain, and going to the basement. I was a loud sound like a freight train. My eyes were gettingdustin them becuase our house was shaking. We were trapped for -, timein the basement,because a tree fell between the two houses. the people who work at .he printing company came and got us out. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about? I was barefooted and in shorts.My brave mother took us of the basement. After it was all over I remember the sky being a very still and quite. There was a tree that covered our yard. All Someone cared me because I had no shoes to our freind who lived railroad tracks. It was dark in the house, they had flash lights. much damage. What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath? The strange silence and no air curculating. out side to the entrance strange yellow and so our toys were distroyed. on lOth street by the Thier house did not get How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged? So how we stayed with freinds,and finally went to stay with my grandparents. We did not lose anything in the house except my things were full of dirt and glass. I know my father stayed in the house til we could get our belongings out. Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you? I now know to watch the weather and the clouds. I listen to weather reports. I have lived in Kentucky which they did not seem to take the warnings very seriously.

Name: Lana Rings Age: 18 Address: 431 Lane Street Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there? I was at home on that day. My brother was working at Ryder's Drive In on Sixth Street. I remember during tornado warnings we would always go to the basement during tornado warnings. Often there would be a stillness and a strange color to the atmosphere. It may have been that way on that day. On June 8 my grandmother grabbed her purse, I am sure, as usual, when we went to the basement, after hearing the tornado warning siren. My mother and my aunt probably did the same. My sister and four cousins were probably there as well. We waited out the tornado and did not hear anything. But I think my brother may have heard something. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about? I do remember that at the time I worked a summer job in the Registrar's office at Washburn University. A student there, I was most probably on work study. I remember that the next evening would have been summer registration and I would have been working there. Fortunately the tornado struck the day before, and I was safe at home. I'm sure we were worried about my brother. What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath? I remember that we did not go to look at the damage, and my folks probably criticized the looky-loos who did right away after the storm, when the worker crews were trying to work in the areas of destruction. How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged? Of course my life as a student was changed forever. I remember before the tornado, when I worked in the Registrar's office at Washburn before my freshman year, I would walk around the campus after work while waiting for my mother to pick my up when she got off work at Topeka High School. I remember how you could not see from one building to the other because of all the trees that blocked the views. I remember the beautiful old buildings like Boswell and MacVicar. After the tornado all that was changed, and it was so very sad. After that I continued and finished my studies of French and German at what we affectionately called "Trailer Tech." Fortunately Morgan Hall and several of the other buildings were still in use during my time at Washburn. Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you? I saved the pictures from the tornado sections of a Washburn University bulletin and from the newspaper. Here in Texas we have tornadoes as well, but I have not, thank goodness, been directly affected. I remember we had a fairly bad one several years ago in Fort Worth that damaged a number of buildings, including a couple of highrises downtown.

Name: patricia benton Age: 15 Address: 4th and lime Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there? My family stayed in a nice community filled with children to play with plus their was an community center across the street with two pools. The day of the 1966 Tornado my family of 12 were in our basement. One of my older brothers was up stairs playing the drums when my father told him to come on down these stairs don't you here them sirens!!! He barely made it the basement! The sound of that tornado was like millions of trains on top of us in that small like cellar of abasement, but it saved all our live and changed it too. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about? I can recall the sky yellow and smelled funny. The only thing i was worried tbout was my family making it out alive! What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath? coming out of our house (was our home) alive and all the destruction it made on my block and all around us! How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged? The tornado destroyed alot of small business on the 4th street of east topeka. community center, homes, schools, a lively area. Today the interstate runs threw that area, homes were never rebuild. in it's place they made complexes instead of homes were some hard working people could start over ... but the city never did. The house were I grew up in was leveled to the ground!!! Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you? Just this one!!

Name: Sherrie Roberts Patching Age: 18 Address: Fillmore Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there? A few friends and myself were on our way downtown to stop by the Jayhawk Theatre where( until graduating from Topeka High School the week before I had worked after school) I was going to pick up my free pass from Mr. Crump, our manager. The rain was beating down as I pulled in to park and hearing the sirens we piled out to run into the building thinking we would be safe since the theatre was located inside the block of buildings. Like Lot's wife, I turned around to see a grey twisting funnel, which to me looked like an elephant's trunk, pull a section out of the dome of the Capital building. I will never forget that scene. In the hall, a small group of people were gathered for safety including my sister, Lynn who had taken my job behind the candy counter after I left at graduation. A transister radio was playing as we heard a shrill roar pass all around us. To me it will always sound like a jetliner rather than a train as I've heard others describe the sound. The radio announced that Washburn University had been badly hit and once I heard that, I had but one mission which was to get to my grandparents who owned a big, old Victorian a block from the University on Mulvane St. We girls and my sister ran out onto the street as soon as we heard the volumne lower and jumped into the car. It all happened so fast! What was an orderly scene now looked like a scene from THE TWILIGHT ZONE. Brick buildings half gone, debris everywhere, trees shorn clean of limbs. My mother's car was okay miraculously and we drove toward the sound of the tornado - crazy but we just HAD to see it. I will never forget that scene as well. Now on the ground, it was this huge monster, dirty-white from blowing out all the debris it had picked up I suppose. Now I have always been confused about something. I understand that the tornadoe plowed clear through Topeka from Barnett's Mound past downtown. But if that's the case, how is it that I saw it pick up the section of the dome? Was there 2? To this day, I do not remember how in the heck I got those girls delivered safely to their homes and get back to Fillmore to pick up our mother, Helen Orem. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about? With my mother in tow, I drove her car as close to Mulvane as I could where, by now (which seemed like minutes) the armed soldiers stationed to keep people out of the damaged Washburn area. But all I could think of was that my Grandpa and Grandma Kerber were in there and they could be hurt. In those days, my Summer uniform was cut-off jeans and bear feet. I didn't even consider downed power lines in standing water, glass or any safety issues- I had to get to our family. So I took my sister's hand, she took my mother's hand and we walked as fast as we could until a soldier tried to stop us. I remember telling him that my Grandparents, Aunt and Cousin Les was in there and he would just have to shoot me because I was going in â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and I did, dragging the others behind me. Our angels must have been with us, is all I can say. My Grandparents lived downstairs and rented rooms upstairs to college students, working people, airmen. We learned that the guys upstairs had, had to pick Grandpa up and carry him down to the basement where he watched the twister pick up his garage and set it on it's roof. Grandpa was an old German farmer and evidently had been through many storms and all he said was, "I'll be damned. It took my garage." More angry than afraid. I just remember both of them being very calm, although we all feared for our only missing family member - my cousin, Les Kerber who was out riding his motorcyle. Les finally made it in very late in the night. He told us that he jumped off the bike and

locked his body around a pole of some kind. The force of the wind had pulled his sweatshirt neck down to navel yet his bike stood on the kickstand!!! What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath? I had been raised by my father in St. Joseph, my sister by our mother in Topeka. It hurt me forever after that he never called to see if I was dead or alive, although we repaired our relationship. How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged? In the Mid-West, you grow up going through drills and running to the basement hearing TV or radio reports or sirens, so people take them for granted and don't always take cover. That's how it was the week BEFORE the tornado. The week AFTER I was driving downtown and the sirens went off and the streets cleared within minutes! I also remember going back to the Jayhawk to get my last check from Mr. Crump. When he handed me some keys, I asked him what they were for. He told me that he had heard that things were being found as far as St. Joseph, MO so if any of my family found it they could have the keys. hahaha Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you? I married a salesman in 1967 and lived in Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. I was terrified for years. And then the craziest thing happened when we moved to Texas in January of 1990. Our kids were grown so my husband, Jim and I were living in an upstairs apartment. One night after he had gone to sleep, the sirens went off but I completely lost my fear. I reasoned that there were no basements in East Texas to run to for safety. After seeing what a twister will do to a brick building, going to a hall seems like a waste of time. So I realized that a person living down here had better know where they are going to wake up when their "number is up" because ain't nothin going to save you from a tornado down here.

Name: Jack Bender, III Age: 22 Address: 1710 Washburn Questionl: I was in my home at 1710 Washburn,having just graduated three days before from Washburn University and I was awaiting the start of law school in about two weeks. We were watching a baseball game on television. After the warning was received I was in the basement of the duplex with my wife Donna Bender and the other couple who were living in the duplex, Jerry and Janet McElroy. We had plenty of warning. Bill Kurtis had told us take cover. He was broadcasting on Channel 13. The birds quit flying, there were no cars on the street and then you could hear what sounded like a freight train. The wind kept opening the pull to window like they have in schools, this was a window in the basement. It would open it and shut it. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about? My cat Phoushka somehow lost his voice that day. He never regained it in his long life. I remember a woman coming to our home and proclaiming that there was a Senior Recital that was being performed at McVicar Chapel and that everyone had gone to the basement but the building had fallen into the basement. I ran over there to help. People had gone to the southeast corner instead of the southwest corner which would have been the normal practice.Luckily for them the building fell into the southwest corner. There were injuries but no fatalities and Kansas Univesity did a study as a result of this incident and it is no longer the wisdom to go to the southwest corner. I left McVicar and went to the corner of 17th and Washburn and helped extracate Bertha Mae Whitney from the stairs of her basement. A chimney had fallen on her. It took a good long while to dig her out. I rode with her in the back of a station wagon owned by some physician. We carried her to the station wagon on a door to the basement. I rode with her to St. Francis Hospital. There were injured everywhere. She was put into a room, she was conscious. We talked. I held her hand. She told me I should go home and be with my family. I asked if she was sure and she said yes. I left and worked with the Red Cross the rest of the night. I did not go home. The next morning I picked up the newspaper and discovered that Mrs. Whitney had died during the night. What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath? I went outside afterthe tornado had passed and looked north. I saw a house turned upside down withthe roof pointing into the basement. It fell over as I watched and then things started falling out the sky and I decided to go back inside. I noticed a vw bus siting on top of my car. I remember being greatful that my wife and I and our neighbors were still alive. How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged? I worked with the Red Cross that night and met the director a Mr. Southall. He asked me and my wife to move into the ARC Building at 925 Western and become Emergency

Workers for the ARC which we for the time I was in law school. The home was damaged. Roof and windows repaired and sticks stuck into the sides of the home. Law school exams were found in the yard and returned to the school. I helped move he law library to the basement of the Topeka and Shawnee County Library. 1 Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you? We always remember June 8. The day I reported for military duty in Orlando Florida there was a tornado at the south end of McCoy AFB where I was assigned. In fact my wife and mother in law and my three daughters were in another tornado on June 8, 1974 in Emporia,Kansas. Luckily they were not injured. They got caught on the turnpike just west of Emporia and the tornado crossed over in front of them. I try to ensure I live in a home with a shelter or a basement. Also the tornado that went through Hesston a few years ago came pretty close to my home which is now in Halstead. My wife was the school social worker and was involved with families affected by that tornado. Then we had a tornado in Wichita and Andover. I was part of the search team. When crossing a field I found two sheets of paper, nothing else present. This was two pages from the Bible. The headnote said "Whirlwind of the Lord". The verse from Deuteronomy said "I will bring the whirldwind of the Lord on the Heads of the Wicked."

Name: leslie vega Age: 10 Address: 524 S.E. Lafayette Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there? I was at my house watchin the news. I was with my family. It sounded like alot of firecrackers exploding at once. The tornad destroyed my house. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about? I lost sheltee, clothes,and music. No i wasn't seperated from my family. I was worried about alot of things like what happens if we die? What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath? When weal went to the basement and heard the tornado destroying our house. How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged? I got scared every time it rained and thundered really hard. My home was damaged . Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you? I get scare every time it rains and it thunders really hard.

Name: Sherrie Roberts Patching Age: 18 Address: Fillmore Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there? A few friends and myself were on our way downtown to stop by the Jayhawk Theatre where(until graduating from Topeka High School the week before I had worked after school) I was going to pick up my free pass from Mr. Crump, our manager. The rain was beating down as I pulled in to park and hearing the sirens we piled out to run into the building thinking we would be safe since the theatre was located inside the block of buildings. Like Lot's wife, I turned around to see a grey twisting funnel, which to me looked like an elephant's trunk, pull a section out of the dome of the Capital building. I will never forget that scene. In the hall, a small group of people were gathered for safety including my sister, Lynn who had taken my job behind the candy counter after I left at graduation. A transister radio was playing as we heard a shrill roar pass all around us. To me it will always sound like a jetliner rather than a train as I've heard others describe the sound. The radio announced that Washburn University had been badly hit and once I heard that, I had but one mission which was to get to my grandparents who owned a big, old Victorian a block from the University on Mulvane St. We girls and my sister ran out onto the street as soon as we heard the volumne lower and jumped into the car. It all happened so fast! What was an orderly scene now looked like a scene from THE TWILIGHT ZONE. Brick buildings half gone, debris everywhere, trees shorn clean of limbs. My mother's car was okay miraculously and we drove toward the sound of the tornado - crazy but we just HAD to see it. I will never forget that scene as well. Now on the ground, it was this huge monster, dirty-white from blowing out all the debris it had picked up I suppose. Now I have always been confused about something. I understand that the tornadoe plowed clear through Topeka from Barnett's Mound past downtown. But if that's the case, how is it that I saw it pick up the section of the dome? Was there 2? To this day, I do not remember how in the heck I got those girls delivered safely to their homes and get back to Fillmore to pick up our mother, Helen Orem. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about? With my mother in tow, I drove her car as close to Mulvane as I could where, by now (which seemed like minutes) the armed soldiers stationed to keep people out of the damaged Washburn area. But all I could think of was that my Grandpa and Grandma Kerber were in there and they could be hurt. In those days, my Summer uniform was cut-off jeans and bear feet. I didn't even consider downed power lines in standing water, glass or any safety issues - I had to get to our family. So I took my sister's hand, she took my mother's hand and we walked as

fast as we could until a soldier tried to stop us. I remember telling him that my Grandparents, Aunt and Cousin Les was in there and he would just have to shoot me because I was going in -- and I did, dragging the others behind me. Our angels must have been with us, is all I can say. My Grandparents lived downstairs and rented rooms upstairs to college students, working people, airmen. We learned that the guys upstairs had, had to pick Grandpa up and carry him down to the basement where he watched the twister pick up his garage and set it on it's roof. Grandpa was an old German farmer and evidently had been through many storms and all he said was, "I'll be damned. It took my garage." More angry than afraid. I just remember both of them being very calm, although we all feared for our only missing family member my cousin, Les Kerber who was out riding his motorcyle. Les finally made it in very late in the night. He told us that he jumped off the bike and locked his body around a pole of some kind. The force of the wind had pulled his sweatshirt neck down to navel yet his bike stood on the kickstand!!! What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath? I had been raised by my father in St. Joseph, my sister by our mother in Topeka. It hurt me forever after that he never called to see if I was dead or alive, although we repaired our relationship. How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged? In the Mid-West, you grow up going through drills and running to the basement hearing TV or radio reports or sirens, so people take them for granted and don't always take cover. That's how it was the week BEFORE the tornado. The week AFTER I was driving downtown and the sirens went off and the streets cleared within minutes! I also remember going back to the Jayhawk to get my last check from Mr. Crump. When he handed me some keys, I asked him what they were for. He told me that he had heard that things were being found as far as St. Joseph, MO so if any of my family found it they could have the keys. hahaha Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you? I married a salesman in 1967 and lived in Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. I was terrified for years. And then the craziest thing happened when we moved to Texas in January of 1990. Our kids were grown so my husband, Jim and I were living in an upstairs apartment. One night after he had gone to sleep, the sirens went off but I completely lost my fear. I reasoned that there were no basements in East Texas to run to for safety. After seeing what a twister will do to a brick building, going to a hall seems like a waste of time. So I realized that a person living down here had better know where they are going to wake up when thier "number is up" because ain't nothin going to save you from a tornado down here.

Name: Ann Dunhaupt Birney Age: 16 Address: 23rd & Gage Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there? We had one of few basements, so it was always a convivial time when neighbors came over to hunker down with us. We had just finished supper, though, and my strongest memory was that Mother insisted on washing the dishes in spite of the threat--and Dad wen1 outside to watch. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about? What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath? I have vague memories of helping distribute sandwiches as a Girl Scout in west Topeka witl the Red Cross, I believe. What was most memorable was an awareness of my whiteness that received from helping clean up after a church in north Topeka was destroyed. I believe that it was my youth group, Koinonia at First Congregational with Mr. Gregg, that led me to be there. We were doing heavy labor, moving debris. By afternoon there was only one other member of the group there, and possibly he left before I did, because I remember going into the bathroom after a very long time in the sun, seeing my face in the mirror over the sink, and being repulsed. Now, admittedly, I had gotten sunburned. And maybe m] years of reading about white violence in the South had biased me, and I was no beauty to begin with, but I was ug-ly. Everyone else was considerably darker skinned, and I had become aesthetically biased in that direction during our convivial laboring--it's what I saw. I(a-hem) lightened up on myself later, but that really is my most significant lesson from the tornado--dark skin is prettier. How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged? Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you? I have respect, but not great fear. Almost exactly twenty years later an unreported tornado went over the farm house I was renting near Volland. The glass in the windows of the kitchen seemed to turn to cellaphane--it moved in that way. Roofs were taken from outbuildings, 2 X 4's thrust into corral ground, and I found wicker furniture that was on the front porch on the west side of the house in fields to the north and south.

Name: Marketta Pruitt Age: 25 Address: 2025 N. Quincy St. Questionl: I don't remember the address where I lived but I was at my Grandmother's at 2025 N. Quincy. The siren was next to her house in the school yard. We went to the basement. My children Gayla and Ellis Pruitt Jr. were with me. As soon as it was over I drove as close as I could get to downtown and walked Kansas Avenue 6th to lOth and back again. There was looting going on. It was like I was having a bad nightmare. I just wanted to see everything before they started cleaning it up. I was there before any emergency crews arrived. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about? I was worried about friends. What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath? A very close friend of mine's Grandmother was killed when the tornado hit her home in East Topeka. How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged? None of my immediate family's or my home was damaged. All I remember is that there were detours on West 29th in the Brookwood area. Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you? 1

Name: margie obourn Age : 12 yr. ' s Address: 2228 llandovery lane- west ridge just west of 21st and Wanamaker Questionl: At home with mom dad and 3sibs. WE WERE BARELY starting supper when it sound as they were moving fighter planes this was fairly regular sense opens was not yet deactivated. the military also used al's air port for training. to watch them i was amazed more did not end up intagled in the lines or in the slush pounds for subdavesion. at that time there were more then enough fileds to end up in. the end of topeka's city limets was consedr fairlawn and city buses only went that far. mom was a bit relived it had not happend as every was on the way home from work ,collage or school. the reason being mac had to walk west up 21st,susi drove from high school and mom picked me in town. there was no waring what so ever that i recall. mr. schidler[the man ] lived not to far down wanamaker from us and had become friends with mac.]they saw oneother when he would do programs for wanmaker graded school. the waring we had was when when we all steped out on the east faceing porch. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about? JUST HOW ATERLY startled dad was and mom trying to get as all inside and down stairs. throw with the basement open to the back yard south west Conner of the store room was the best we had. if i recall right we were to have had mom's "down home" hamburgers,vegs,milk. Kim our poodle had just had 2 puppies not to long before . so the puppies end up being named disaster judge and puddle clouds. thoughts were to fast to hold on. the hugely-huge tornado was past before we had time to make it down stairs. I NO sure if this was the storm hidy refused to get out of the shower because she had a date that eve. or if that occurred when wee tornado came in from the NORTH- EAST and rolled our up as if a jellyroll against the chimney-,west across the st messed up nabors ornamental olive trees.,,then turn and hit Allen's airport and totally mangled the put-put and a bit of damage to diary queen. then was back in the clouds not unlike it's June 8,1966 conterpart.most likely i'd changed in to jeans. at that time we still had sricked dress codes so whats now called amost dress-was daily atirer. i belive susi had her hair roller up on orange juice cans.some how with i always think of the night drove the dixy down[it i am not sure it the time for the song]. the others are mis es macarty and evlis ]yish]. after watching go thew town and saw it what was the airay for embasee aprtements and how ginny zunachak was.{she made it thew setting in the bath tub supposedly with a martiny and a matters overher and thats was about that was left of her apartment on 2nd floor.susi had a friend right smack- dap in the middle of homes chewed up and spit out . even with no from mom and dad and chanle 13 telling everone to stay put and out of the areas hit. susi hiar unrolled took out to find her fined . susi lockated her in the familys basment betheah a matters -shook yet ok and so was her faimly. My thoght was geeish we have lived least then a year nothing like this happened in eureka--sure once a caught in dust strom not even al/2 block from home that chocked and hurt my eyes and made that snipit of a walk from aunt llida& pop' like fell as if was the 8 miles in frpm reese ks. What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966 tornado and its aftermath?

we were the last call out so family knew we were OK and not hit. the tornado missed us by just 3miles and i have never seen such a pristine--eerily glowing white funalas it leaped over burnens mound--------pounced on to some what unexpecting town and watching it turn gr aer-to muddy--a black that might of even scared the raven out Poe's writing or added depth to Hickok's the birds. the other is the unreal non brownies induced colors after the storm that filled the eastern sky-the like of witch I've nver seen aging. the 4 police at 21st and Wanamaker running in to one other backing up -this happened about 4 times before they got by each other. hidy being upset about wash-burns saroaty row being wiped out and having move home the next year. [still is] lastly the women mom and i saw when we went to look at Topeka thew the tornadoes [eyes] not a thing standing -she stood holding a red sweater ring mud out of it;. i rember mom saying even with washing the glass probably won't come out. what happened after that i know not throw i know mom and even if were tight and had some cash i expect it was given to her a new red swaeter thwo the twister minus rubby slipers took the sweater and why it just so spealcia-pehaphs because that is they found of their home. what would happen today with all the new growth long the path hugely-huge tornado took. tears when i finaly saw wasburne relife HELEN P. who lived at mount vernen apartments was ok to and family housing was spared. How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged? no as said earlier we were 3 miles from the touch down points life was most upset do her being in colleg.made getting round tad difficult. throw Topeka's road work planes and round about are a close 2nd. Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you? I am just more a ware tad uneasy sky chartreuse and clouds are cotten-and all pin drop still! !1 then I GO ON WITH LIFE. though I DO GET CAT CARRYERS OUT HARNES FOR T.C. AND PANA , MED BOX ,HIKING BOOTS PERSONAL PHONE BOOK AND SOLAR RADIO JUST IN CASE WE NEED TO HEAD TO BASESMENT CLOSET.

Name: Leslie Vega Age: 10 Address: 524 S.E. Laffayatte Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened? What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there? I was at school. I was wit my class. I got scared. It sounded like construction. The teacher said that there was a tornado warning. Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about? Me and my family lost clothes and food. No I wasn't seprated from my family. I was worried and thinking about if something happend to my family. __..,,1estion3: That me and my sisters were crying. How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged? My family and me had to move to another city because our home was damaged real bad. Throughout your life, how have tornados affected you? Evey time it rains and it thunders real hard I get scared because I think that there is going to be another tornado.

Submitted by: Elan Torrence (Age 89) 1301 SW Fillmore, Apt. 15 785-233-0252 etorrence@networksplus. net

A Remembrance of the 1966 Topeka Tornado On June 8, 1966, I was in my 19th year as a member of a two-man Associated Press staff in the capital city of Kansas. On that fateful day, I was working alone. The other AP staffer was on vacation. He and his family were in Levelland, Texas, visiting relatives. Normally I would have worked until about 6:30p.m. But the U.S. Weather Service had issued a tornado watch for northeast Kansas and it seemed prudent to stay on the job in case something developed. The AP office was a small room to the north of the Topeka CapitalJournal news room. On the east side of the news room was a row of teletype machines, most of them bringing in news and features. One, however, was connected to the Weather Service office at Topeka's Billard airport. These teletypes were equipped with bells that would signal important news, or in the case of the weather teletype, possible severe weather developments. A jangle from the weather teletype just after 7 p.m. signaled an urgent message. I rushed to the machine and read that a tornado had entered the southwest side of Topeka, in the area of Burnett's mound. Immediately, I sped back to the AP office and filed a bulletin on our teletype to get the news to the outside world.

Several Capital-Journal employees were standing at the windows on the south side to view the storm. Suddenly, they let out a cry, "Here it comes." We all made a dash to the basement level. In almost no time the storm was whirling by. Doors - and it seemed that even the building shook. Then it was quiet with a rather eerie twilight outside. On return to the AP office, I found there was no telephone service, no electricity. A trip outside revealed some damage to the Capital-Journal building, but it was obvious that the worst of the storm had been a few yards to the south. Nevertheless, several of the cars in the Capital-Journal parking lot, including mine, had received a buffeting. My car was a small coupe. All of the windows and the windshield had been blown out. Small bits of glass covered the seats and the floor. Every inch of the white paint exterior looked as if it had been pockmarked by shotgun pellets. I did not linger. All signs indicated Topeka had suffered a major catastrophe. My immediate, overriding thought was to find some place where I could be assured of telephone service - to collect all the information possible and to be able to relay that information to the Associated Press bureau in Kansas City for dissemination to the nation and the world. With that in mind, I walked across the Sixth Street bridge over Interstate 70 and proceeded south on Quincy Street to the building housing the Kansas area offices of Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. All along the way heavy damage could be sighted a short distance to the south.

I was able to reach Bill Bailey, the Southwestern Bell public relations representative for Kansas. He agreed to let me use his office and telephone. The windows in his office had been blown out by winds swirling on the edges of the actual funnel path. And although it got rather chilly in that office in the wee hours of the morning, it was evident I had figured correctly. If I could be assured of telephone service, it would be in that office. For the rest of that night and much of the next day I stayed there gathering information by phone from city officials, police, Washburn University officials, Topeka hospitals, funeral homes, and other sources. As circumstances warranted, this information was relayed by telephone to the Associated Press office in Kansas City. There it was put in story form and send out to newspapers, radio and television stations all across the nation, and even the world. I think it is fair to say this was a major link that Wednesday night and the next day between Topeka and the outside world. This was confirmed later when the Topeka AP bureau received front pages from major newspapers all across the country headlining the Associated Press story on this monster storm. I did find time to check on my family. Our residence was well away from the tornado path, but we had a daughter working as an aide at the Kansas Neurological Institute. Her place of work was a wooden structure which had been built as an army hospital ward during World War II. I was relieved to find she was safe although the tornado had cut across the grounds of the Institute. I worked without sleep through all of Wednesday night and Thursday, although the AP sent in some reinforcements from Kansas City and Wichita. As things began settling down, we determined that an AP teletype in a press room at the Kansas Statehouse was still operational.

The AP advised me it wanted me to do a follow-up story for Sunday newspapers. I did some interviewing on Friday, got a little sleep that night and on Saturday morning started writing. This story was told mainly through the experiences, actions and reactions of a four individuals who were intimately involved with the storm. Two of them were Mrs. Pearl Miller and Mrs. Louis Heil, who rode out the fury of the storm under a table in Mrs. Miller's home in the Embassy Apartments just below Burnett's mound - a complex badly wrecked by the storm .. Also featured was David Hathaway, Topeka policeman, who was posted to the Burnett Mound area just before the tornado moved in .. And then there was P.N. Eland, of the Topeka office of the Weather Service, who issued the warning and eventually had to take cover under a desk at the weather service office at Billard Airport when the funnel passed only yards away. As I wrote, each finished page was ripped from the typewriter and handed it to a teletype operator who sent it unedited to the Kansas City AP bureau where the story was relayed across the nation.

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By ELON TORRENCE . ./ TOPEKA, Kan. (AP)-Tornadoes battered wide1_ cattered sections· of ~astern Kansas last night inclucling-the·state's·capital city where it gouged· a 15mile path of destruction. The storms left at least 13 dead, nearly 600 injured, and damage in the millions. ' Topeka, the state capital, was hardest hit, with 12 dead. An estimated 450 persons were tre'~ted

for various injuries. At'Jeast 50 were hospitalized. Police and volunteer workers- .dug through r u b b 1 e throughout the night seeking trapped and injured r e s i d e n t s. About 4,500 were left hnmel•'''~. l\'Ianhattan, home of Kansas State University, 60 miles west of To p e It a, suffered heavy property damage. About 65 persons were injured. Tornadoes also caused damage &t Wolcott, Jarbalo, Basehor and Lansing. M.A.J. GE.t"'j; ..Joe. Nickeil,. adjutant general of the ,:£\ansas National Guard, said. the fun~ nel appeared · to· J:ioL~ce .. off Bumett's Mound ·<a lll.:vJrilark· in the southwe~t seCtion of Topeka, then droppea .into a heavily populated residential area. It then raked Washburn University, causing extensive damage to almost every building on the 160-acre campus. The funnel, loaded with debris and mo~ing ponderously, next hit near the statehouse on the fringe of the downtown area, knocking out.windows in all the major buildings and blistering the streets with rubble. It continued moving northeastward, diagonally across the city,. striking an urban renewal section called Garden Park and slamming into the municipal airport, damaging planes, the tower, terminal building, hangars and other facilities. Gov. William Avery was at th? scene of some of the worst damage· soon after the tornado struck. He called out the National Guard and requested assistance from personnel at nearby Forbes Air Force Base.

THE REAVlEST damage appeared to be in a residential ' area in the southwest section of the city where an estimated 75 to 100 residences, including single dwellings, duplexes, and apartment buildings, were smashed. The top two floors of two three-story apartment buildings, the Embassy and the Huntington, were destroyed. The statehouse s u f f e r e d minor damage to the roof of the capital dome. Windows in the building were blown out and trees on the ground were shredded or blown down. The. state printing plant, just south: of the statehouse grounds, was'· badly damaged. · ; The National .Reserve Life; Insurance ,Co. building, a 10story structure in the down-· town area, was roped off for'. fear portions . of ,it · would crumble. . Police Lt. Fred :F~aker said the building's in~: . terior was gutted · and . thlr' structure \Vas· ·leaning; . 1

.TliE ENTRANCE to the( Capi~~J our n a 1 p.ewspaper·f ~lllldi~g, wa~_ blown out, . and\ across' the street; a· truck ter;: _! minal was wrecked aiid se'mi~.l trailers . were uperided like:. match boxes thrown 'iri 'the wind. . ..· Mayor Charles • W.' Wrtghf . h ~st~~ated dainage in the 'j multimillion dollars; Two. thousand homes were ·extensively damaged or destroyed, he . said.

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-AP WIREPHOTO.

MR. AND MRS. M. L. M'COY sit dejectedly in front of their demolished home in Topeka, Kan., after a tornado destroyed it last night. McCoy was the manager of the Embassy apartment complex, totally destroyed in the storm.

TOPEKA, Kwn., June 14 (AP) Wednesday, June 8, cool and cloudy in the · Kaooas capital. . P. N. Eland had driven through sprinkles of rain to the Weather Bureau where Ire ·took charge and found. 11he severe weabhea- forecast ceti~er in Kansas City had issuied il "JOinaoo wacch fur OO'!;tern-Ka.ooas>: •. Eight miles sOOtn.west ,·Mrs. · ·Pearl ·Miller· had lett her 'luxury . aJP311'lnnent-ilhe , Embas&yand gone to her jaib as secretary to Ju:stiiae John Fontron of 1lhe Kansas Supreme Coll1111:. Slhe· was Iook>ing fO'l'lirard to her fuV'OI1ite d-ivemitlll that' night - conl!ract . bridge. . . ·. In aoot'her part of' the :-9ity slept Davoid Hathaway. He would arise alfter noon amd go to his job as a policeman on thre 3-10 · p.m. shift. · · . It was an ordinary spring dlay OOt: befure it wa& over it ww!d forge the three into- a: massive drama of man and t1ature. In a dozen hours they· ..\vW[d' ·.live 11hrOI.!gh. a 'llor.ilado thai: claJimed _17 Mvtes; injured 535 pe~ !!nd_ orea-ted one of 11he grea-test property lns5'eS ever caused by a twister. Mrs. Miller had lunch 1n the Statle OfH-ce Buildi~g • • • · Ha11haway awakened · · and .headed for his patrol ai-ea in southwes-t Thpeka •••.. At 1ihe Weather Bureau; Eland )te:pt a sharp eye on a strong thunderstorm .development ; .- • Mrs. Miller, .her day's ·wo~k done, was in a hurry to get · home. Mrs. Louis Heil was to. stop by at 6:45 o'clock. They had a common interest-bridge .•• "When 1 it:a:me tO, I llaJW lillY HATIM.WAY was hoping for a rollllih1maJ~looi. .It .wam't 11eees· quiet day. Tuesday he had dlis- mry. The'Welalllhe~ Bureau hl'id '""'' tqqed lllP 'Wlith .~wo o;r . ;it ori iilidia2'-~ . ·-. !il!ree others'; • ~ . a1"!ned a· woman ·miintal patient ''Thenttt11~ e11111ire croud d'l'll!PPedl . "The frrSJt 1libJinlg I ·~t!ii IWiliiS go·. who had a cocked and lOa.ded pistol. Tuesday roght, the·poil1ce- oown it stayed o.n. the, jo tihe neiall'6Sit IJause am hellp man he 'l'\liOrk,s with had given !a grOILmd." At_lthe Wewt!her Bureau g,et the :petoip~e out. A boy was . young man a traff:ic · ili.cket and E!'8!11rl ord.~red ~i~rems . S'OO)lded .. bu-~t. He died later. . l-ess than two blours later 11he and put thiS .stiatement ~:;the ': ''I wa'llit m ··110 cillllpie Or yooth had jumped from the teletype ail:. 7: &3 :p.m.: .,: 'if,:,,: ·i ot!her houses; The peop~e ;,veq,e Kansas river bridge io his "A lt~amad.o llial9 been repoited. · -m t!he !basement .anld I oowldn't death. to the sou~sltpllllitio~ c:i~'~e,, getro itihem buit.j(hey siliid they "All I hope is throt we doo't Top e'k:a -.~_rea e.t;::B~etts ;:.were ,lllll[ !l'lght,:.. The. :weather have the · trouble we've been having," Hathaway said. At the Weather Bureau EJ·am:J watalied thunda-st.orm. ceiis to the sooth int1lnsi.fy quickly. Mrs. Heill arrived at Mrs. Mil- apwrtment ¢fie two womrep hear~, ''''\Weckaige Jto i!fle ihogpriball•' o;,;•.,; . ' ler's apartment at 6:45 p.m. about 11he time tihe Weather Bureau wilre re:parted "hewvy thun· del"Sii:orms ace movoing in.lx> the western edg~e of Topeka: They will Jiikely contadn l!ard ~rain. The :IJ.'at!J~ strooger cells possibly will pro- over. Jl,wrnet!tis, M ! .Mrs? duce hllli! ood may cont~ quite nat Jiniier &v~i'. g~< Apal!lb . . " go . ·strong winds.';._· ·· · , Topeilia pollee sent paJ!Jrolmen to pre<armJl'ged jltmlia~Po... waJtch t .poin¢s. .f!a$aY!lly. we!ilt: ro. liis . posit m Burnett's Moond;· · a · Mldlier-~ ~,;Hei~:l!~~ed .. prominence ove·rloolmng the. othe~.~. . . . ', '),.' .. ~ . ~ ':'•· ~'-;. '· ':u· . :>; .\. Southwest edge of the -~=~· There is a legend tbat Bm- ta?~~y,di~~ .~~<l~>yf~ On BUrnett's!:MOOnd; Hiuttia," nebt's Moond kept tomadoes frGm ltltting Topeka. Aotuafoly waY wa:llcih~d ' 1Jh~: :c!o ,_ ... the s-toTms that OOd hit Topeka proac:h.. ...Lt df had caused Ilibtle damage. On Blll!lllett's Mound, Hadla- dng very he seild·•<i'-Yi W'-3Y saw sometJ:ding like a black filnlger dip fmm a cloud. It puh!ed .back up, ·<lipped e~ain ar.d pulled back a secood and · thlrd Uime. "As I!1GIOO as I sa-w <ilba.t finger di'p the first time," HruUhaway saiid, "it was confi-nma-tioo as far as I w<ts conce~ned. B11t an:l:Gag·e. :Mltar.tt_hrat e~cylll_lijmig I'm new to Kansas and I start· went dlrurk I don't remember .ed to. radio someom else fm a Jot.

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I REMEMBER THE TOPEKA TORNADO

Laura Dalrymple 95 SW SW Pepper Tree Lane Topeka, KS 66611 785-266-8022 Your Age in 1966: 20 Address or intersection where you lived in June, 1966: Washburn University, Married Student Housing Question Number One: Where were you during the Topeka Tornado of June 8, 1966? Who were you with? What happened What did it sound like? What kind of warnings were there? The day of the Topeka Tornado I worked a split shift at Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, located at 8th and Jackson, in downtown Topeka. I begun the second half of my shift, as a telephone operator, at 5:00P.M. When I went inside the building to work, the evening sky was stormy. There was, as yet, no rain. I worked in a windowless room. As operators, we worked under strict rules. While we worked, we could not speak to each other, and, for consistency, we could only use one of seven prescribed sentences to answer incoming calls. We sat at individual work stations along one of two low continuous desks running along opposite sides of the room. Each work station had eight cords, each with a jack on the end, which we had to plug into the telephone board in front of us. An incoming call caused a red light to flash on the board in front of us. When the red light flashed we were to quickly take one of our cords and plug it into the board below the flashing red light and say "Operator". If no one replied, this line would then be considered a dead circuit which we to were report to the supervisor as "trouble on the line". We then had to keep the dead circuit plugged in to enable the repair department to trace the problem. On the night of the Topeka Tornado, at about 7pm, I had an incoming call flash red on the board in front of me. I plugged the cord into the board underneath the red light. No one answered. I kept the cord attached to the board so the dead line . could be traced. I had another incoming call, and another dead line. Before, I had never had two consecutive dead line calls. I thought, "This is strange". Calls kept coming in and each call was on a dead line. I soon had the problem of not having enough cords on my board for incoming calls. I looked at the operators on each side of me and both of them had the same problem. I leaned back in my chair and was shocked to see this had happened to every operator. On my side of the room there were over twenty-five operators, all with a board full of dead lines. At that moment an operator who had been on a break ran into the room and screamed " It's coming! It's coming!" Two men ran to her, grabbed her by the arms and removed her from the room. The telephone company was preventing her from telling us about the tornado coming toward us! Suddenly, I felt the room become extremely hot. Then I felt the air pressure in the room change as the tornado passed over the building. My body felt like liquid. One shoulder seemed to rise, then the other, then the sensation was gone. All the lines on my board flashed red. Through the red lights and dead lines on my board, I had watched Topeka Tornado rip across the city.

Question Number Two: How did the tornado and the destruction it caused affect your life in Topeka? Employment, school, family, daily routine? Was your home damaged? At 9pm, after the Topeka Tornado, I left work. A light rain was falling. Downtown Topeka had been closed to auto traffic. The electricity was out. The telephones were out. It was extremely dark. It was so dark as I left the telephone company building that I could not see the dome of the capital dome across the street, with the new hole in it. As I left the building and began walking I could see debris on the street. I walked past a stone church on a corner that had been destroyed. I saw mannequins from Pelletier's Department Store lying in the street, like so many dead bodies. As I left the building I joined a group of other workers. We were met by volunteers with flashlights who guided us downtown. On one corner stood a fireman with a flashlight who informed us that several damaged buildings on Kansas Avenue were about to collapse and requested us to take another route. We then walked to the area of the downtown city bus station which had been leveled, and were prevented from walking further in that direction because of the destruction. There were live power lines on the gound everywhere. We had walked from the telephone company to the old Safeway, now the Masonic Lodge, at 11th and Kansas. Here, my husband had parked our car, and was waiting for me. I got into our car and we headed home to the former married student housing on the campus of Washburn University. Tree limbs, leaves, mud, and rubble were every where. Broken trees looked like large ghostly stumps. Uprooted trees were massive barriers across the streets. Other trees had fallen and crushed the roofs of buildings. Some homes were lying next to their foundations, where they had been blown, others were piles of rubble. Glass crunched along the whole route as our car passed over it. Debris could be seen everywhere. What were once valued items such as pictures, kitchen dishes, lawn furniture, and cars were now just heaps of rubble. Stoplights had been blown away. The National Guard had been mobilized and were helping the police in assisting the shocked community. At the entrance to Washburn University a National Guardsman stopped every one as they entered the campus, requesting identification. The campus looked like what I imagined a war zone to be. As I entered the campus, the first building I saw was Stoffer Hall, the Science building. The windows had been blown out and Venetian blinds were dangling outside the windows. Before the tornado hit the campus people had driven to this building for shelter. Rice Hall had been totally destroyed. It had been one of the oldest buildings on campus. Before the tornado, Washburn University had debated for months on what to do with this historic structure. The tornado solved the problem, it was never rebuilt. Our housing in the former military barracks looked like a wood pile. Each end of our building had been crushed and a large tree blown through the center unit. Our apartment, next to the center unit, was all right, but without utilities. The unit facing ours no longer had a front or roof, it had been peeled open. It looked like a life-size version of a child's dollhouse with soaked furniture and water draining from inside a brand new piano. Because our unit was not damaged, after the tornado we stayed in our unit for two weeks, until the whole complex was torn down.

Question Number Three What good do you think might have come out of the tornado? Rebuilding, friendships, community, volunteers, or support? The people of Topeka came together to help each other. Assistance and needed supplies and volunteers came from all parts of our country. I saw this where I was working and at home. Telephone workers in trucks came in convoys from all directions. As telephone operators we worked long hours to keep communications going. After the tornado the telephone company building no longer had air conditioning. The building operated solely on auxiliary power since the electric lines were down. The room we worked in was extremely hot. Not only was there no air conditioning, but in order to handle the increased volume of calls, our equipment was overworked and overheating. Fans and fire extinguishers were placed throughout the room. Fans were placed to blow air on the back of our boards to cool the equipment because of the fire danger. The operators could sweat, but not the equipment. At home in our student housing, none of the students and their families had utilities. Our food was beginning to spoil so we had potluck dinners cooked on our grills and Coleman stoves. We cooked every thing we had and shared it. One morning before going to work, I made two boxes of Bisquick pancakes for my neighbors. I had only one bottle of syrup, but in just a few moments syrup appeared from all those who wanted pancakes. Bill Curtis was one member of the student group that ate my pancakes. Bill and his wife were also living in married student housing. At the moment the tornado hit Topeka he was being televised on television. He warned the Topeka residents to take cover and continued to report the tornado aftermath. How he did his job impressed me. I have followed his career on television in various areas of the country and to Chicago where he worked for years. I am very proud to have known him. I still think of him as my neighbor and I am positive I am not alone. I was an interviewee for a Bill Curtis television special on the Topeka Tornado of 1966. I was very proud to be included in the show that aired in 2000.

Question Number Four Throughout your life, how have tornadoes affected you? I tell everyone to take cover. I teach art and photography classes at Allen County College in Burlingame, Kansas and several of my students have been tornado chasers. They bring me their videos and photos exclaim how close they were to the action. I tell them, "Man can not control nature."

Question Number Five What is your most memorable moment of June 8, 1966? One of the students in our student housing complex at Washburn University had an uncle who had designed the Houston, Texas, Astrodome. After the tornado his uncle flew from Texas to Billard Airport in a vintage Fairchild airplane. From there he flew me and many of our neighbors over the city of Topeka to check out the view. We were shocked and amazed to see the wide path of utter destruction from the air. Another story is about my father, Hugh Dalrymple. On the day of the tornado he had been operated on for kidney stones at St. Francis Hospital. As the sirens signaled the tornado, my mother, Laura De Long Dalrymple, realized she had to get home to my sister, Janet, and brother, David, who were both teenagers. Mother left my Dad in the recovery room at the hospital. She ran to her car and sped home with the wind, rain, and blowing sirens. She arrived in time to see that the tornado was headed for downtown and that her children were safe in a basement across the street. Meanwhile, my unconscious father had been covered from head to toe with a blanket for his protection and then taken to a protected area of the hospital. My Dad awoke with the blanket over his head and immediately assumed the hospital thought he was dead. He began to yell and scream. The nurses had to run over and calm him down.

Question Number Six Do you have specific memories of that day? Clothing, pets, music, television, food? Were you separated from your family or friends? What were you worried or thinking about? First, I knew my family was okay. Later we had to find another place on campus to live. A unit became available when a student and his wife packed up and left Topeka for Chicago, Illinois. The couple did not want to live in a place where there were tornados. Two weeks later we learned that a tornado had struck in the Chicago area.

Theodore R. Mize 1020 SW .8th Ave. Topeka, KS 66606

1VIY LONGEST NIGHT June 8, 1966 'Yvas u rhy H:.e all. others until that afternoon. Our thoughts vvere more on th.e cold \>Var v;,ith Russia a.11d what kind of a future we \vould have, We had prepared for the ~vorst by both tra:inin;:: ourselves for survival and preparing a shelter with 12 inch thick walls and ceiling, '\Ve had food. water, an air system, radiation equipment w·here we could live protected from the outside world. The thought of a tornado \vas the last thought of our minds. My Family consisted of my \>Vife, three children, my father, and me. We lived on the 3800 block of east Si:-rrh street. We \Vatched the Tomado come towards us ready to take shelter but soon realized it was in Oakland and dissipating. I dcided that my bmily was safe with my father and my shelter so I had a decision to make. I was a uniformed Special Deputy with the Sheriffs Departments. I tried to call them for in~tructions. but it was impossible. · I left home 1...'1. uniform proceeding west on 6 th street to the 6 th and 10 sth street junction. I could see fi th street blocked and so I \'Vent \>·vest on 10 to Madison \Vhich V•.:as clear to the 6 th street bridge.and west to the basement parking lot of the Court House. The pm:king lot and the entrance to the Sheriff.'l V\'r!S a bedlam ofpeople.

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The flrst t...hi11g .. I heard was two men yelling a Sheriff Chafee that the people could die out there unless he sent otll.cers vv·ith L.'l.e:rn, They had ah·eady be~n robbed of their billfolds at 11 th and Quincy where there \Vere men trapped in a collapsed house. The Sheriff sent to regtllar officers with them .and they left. Sheriff Chaffeee saw me and ask ifi had my shot gun and ammunition with me.? (I was ;,;veari11g a standard uniform with 3 57 Magnum side ann, the shotgun \-Vas in the car ] The Sheriff said Ted "you aright as well walk and you have from Adams to Madison and from 6th to lOth .. \Ve will try to check on you later if, we CaTI 11 • I checked cars as I ¥Vent south on Madison and discovered that they were locked and vvere probably from a parking lot. At 10 th & rv:Ion.roe there was a Liquor store on the south side of 10 t.~ and people vvere emptying it by the arm and box full. A citizen ask me it'Vhy I didn't"t do anything about it and I ask hi'll did he want me to kill 30 people. It got dark and qlJ.iet but there was still activity which disappeared when I discharged both my flreann.s in the air. The shot gun made the most impression. An Officer fosund me in the middle of the night asking about the firearms noise. I explained and he infonned me that Marshall law had been declared and the shoot to kill order was L'1 effect. The word must have got around for I \Vas the only one around for the rest of the night, As li2:J.~t was break.h""lli I was called bv"" a little black \Voman to her house on east 8 th Street. ; The house was not damaged but there was a television sitting on the front porch, She asked me to take it ill the house and I asked what it "\.Vas doi.fig there. She said after the ~

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tornado had past she came out of the basement and found a gentleman carrying out her rele\i<Jion. She told me she beats him with her broom and he put it down, A brave lady. The National Guard arrived soon and I l;<Yas released by the sheriff's office to go home.

Theodore R. Mize 1020 SW 8th Ave. Topeka, KS 66606

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The story. of tbi<:: tragec..lv, ... that vvas avoided, has been allmved to die 'iVith the v-vitnesses. I believe it shonid be toid in that a :few people held the population ofT opeka in t.J,eir hands, vvith neither the autholity nor the irust of the people. The coverage of the Jur1e 8 tomado has been complete both in the printed news and television,. It has included both stories heroism and dedication of people helping then· .

neighbor. Can you imagine people in panic and mass hysteria if the real situation had bcon

known by the general public? They could not have been allovved to leave for they could have carried the danger with them. A..l.-tter 50 years I will tell you the story now

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The 10 story buildi.11g at 10th & Kansas Avenue~ Pictured on page i B of The Capitol Journal Thmsday June 8 , 2006 has a sign stating "is a refuge in t:ime of storrn". It was, to some of the most deadly bac-teria and vims in. the world. The top floor was th~ home of the Kansas State Health Laboratory who receive medical samples to evaluate for health departments around Kansas. It is necessary to culture ( Grmv into larger amounts ) t.-,ese samples for identification purposes. In the nonnal process there is still a ·very small amount grown. No\-Y, isolate this bb 10 stories in the air -vvith no power nor elevator. Have a tornado destroy this laborator:r' equipment. Ho,.v do you go up there to see? Even in an isolation suit, with an air pack, hm\· do you know wlk1t equipment has leaked'? P.•.re the airborne material already blowi•·1g over the people of Topeka and should '\-Ye tell them?. Who wants to go??? \A/hat do we do now???

The containers_, or culture equipment look like large re:tl:i.gerator with glass window doors. Thev have seals around the doors \V'bich may or may not be ·violated. Before muving, these seals must be secured and the door must be secured. First secure the door with two steel bands so it can1'10t be opened. Second fill the opening around the door with a caulki.'l'lg compound to the level of the frame and cover ¥Vith furnace tape . The outside of the containers, the man in the suit and the area of the lab mugt be decontamirwted. At ti.is point I enter the picture as a man that can get done what needs to be done. I was presented with the problem of bringing these items down ±rom the 10 th floor of the buildit"lg, trans_porti.11.g them to the east part of Billiard Airport in Oakland. and urJoading them into a large hole. It was unpressed, upon me, that if an}thing -vvent wrong I could jeopan..iize the lives of a large number of people. I used a elevator platfotm that could be lifted by my cr:.me and anached to the building on the top :t1oor.

};o Pandora's box. It all \Vorked safely. \Ve are at the la1·ge hole at the city dump. The teclli-rici.:1n was dressed again and he went into the hole. cu~ the bands ope:iied the containers covered everythlng with gasoli.-'1e, the suited person was decontaminated, gas was used and a fltlTe gun from a distance created a spectac-ular. end to the story.