Favorites
By Glenda Shepard
I'm Glenda Shepard from Yucca Corners farm in rural Stanton County KS. I belong to a book club. We meet the last Wednesday of the month at whatever location works best for our members. Part of our discussion always includes "What was your favorite part of the book?"
So that's how I'll organize this Radio Readers BookByte for And Hell Followed With It: Life And Death in a Kansas Tornado by Bonar Menninger.
First, the personal stories. Menninger develops people you identify with as they are caught up in the EF5 tornado on June 8th, 1966. The book begins with Glenn Nicely and his family's survival where the tornado began its path near Auburn, a farm town southwest of Topeka.
As the tornado churns on, you meet Jim Ward, who used his movie camera to shoot the scene. Jim became hypnotized and only snapped out of the trance when his wife screamed "God Damn it, Jim! We've got to get back to the children! Let's GO!". Jim was momentarily stunned. He thought 'I don't believe I've ever heard Carolyn use language like that in all the years I've known her.' He ran for the basement."
Next, the tornado aimed for the Washburn campus. In MacVicar chapel Jean Tarnower's piano recital gets interrupted as the group moves to the southwest corner of the basement. Then after finishing dinner at the Coffee Cup Cafe located in the 900 block of Kansas Avenue, Dorothy Decker tells her husband "Pick me up at the corner. I don't want to get my shoes wet. The gutter is flowing like a river." The tornado picked Dorothy up before her husband could. When she arrived at the hospital, she wasn't expected to survive.
Near 11th and Quincy, Catherine Sommers, after making sure her family was safe, retreated to the Assumption Church where she told Father Moriarty, " Father, what I've been through is just this side of hell.". Father Moriarty turned to his assistant, "Quickly, my son, bring the alter wine. Lord knows, she needs it!"
Over in east Topeka, 8-year-old Dominic Gutierrez bicycles to the corner store for batteries for his mother's transistor radio and flashlight. With "the sirens goin' off Dominic pedaled standing up with the bag of batteries tightly beneath his fingers. He was home in a flash. His mother hugged him and they ran for the basement."
By the time the tornado reached the Weather Bureau office on the edge of Billiard Airport, Dave Perkins, a volunteer spotter, had taken shelter in the building. He "watched in astonishment as the entire funnel--from earth to sky--suddenly changed color from black to white. And then it started to lift."
I liked the stories of the everyday people surviving "just this side of hell", but I admired the heroes. I'm sure many heroes evolved that day, but I liked the stories of five: Richard Albert Garrett, Rick Douglass, Bill Kurtis, Dave Hathaway, and Tom Noack.
Garrett's heroic acts took place months before the tornado began. As the meteorologist-in-charge of the Topeka office of the U.S. Weather Bureau, Garrett's foresight had "Topeka far better equipped to deal with tornadoes than most other communities across the plains." His behind-the-scenes determination to prepare Topeka for any tornado must be partially responsible for the low death toll of only 16.
On the other hand, Rick Douglass, a disc jockey for WREN radio, asked if he had time "to grab a sandwich" before jumping into the WREN-mobile to cover the storm's progress as it rolled over Burnett's Mound. Douglass went live broadcasting, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is Rick Douglass, and I'm driving like mad down Burnett's Mound. Tornadic winds are just behind me. It's coming over the mound right now. If you're anywhere in the southwest part of the city, you need to take cover immediately. This thing is gigantic!"
The storm catches the WREN-MOBILE and separates Douglass from it. When he couldn't find the car, Douglass thinks, "They'll fire me if I lost that car." He didn't get fired.
Bill Kurtis was a 25-year-old part-time news anchor for WIBW Channel 13 Topeka's only TV station. He agreed to fill in for another "broadcaster who wanted to get out of town for a vacation a day early. When Kurtis was handed a note in front of the TV camera, he realized the tornado was taking aim at his home in student housing on the Washburn campus. He couldn't get away to warn his wife to take cover. Literally thinking on his feet, Kurtis told of the tornado's path and "just blurted it out: "For God's sake, take cover!"
With those 5 words, it was as if Kurtis reached through the TV screen and grabbed viewers by the lapels. No one doubted how serious the situation was. People like the Olson's and the Steuri's lived that day because Kurtis said, "For God's sake, take cover!"
Tom Noack, an electrician, was a hero because he smelled gas and knew how to turn off gas meters. After he climbed the stairs out of his basement, he smelled gas. He grabbed wrenches. He and a neighbor started trotting down the ruined block, shutting off as many main gas valves as they could.
Officer Dave Hathaway of the Topeka police department responded to an assignment to Burnett's Mound at 7:55 pm, 5 minutes after the tornado touched down. He left the mound with his radio crackling from a lightning flash. He moved to Gage Boulevard where he flagged down southbound traffic. He "would run to the driver's side, saying, "There's a tornado coming on the other side of the mound! You need to turn around or get under cover! You can't go south. Go!'"
Hathaway doesn't show up in the book again until page 25 of the pictures section. The photo is captioned "An unconscious Dave Hathaway arrives at the hospital."
I'm Glenda Shepard. Thanks for listening to my Rado Readers BookByte for And Hell Followed With It Life And Death in a Kansas Tornado by Bonar Menninger.
