When I heard the tornado siren blow, I ran in the house and grabbed Glider (my dog) and Farmer (my cat). I put my Amelia (my rabbit) in her carrier. I brought my goats in and closed them up in a kitchen closet. Then I got in my downstairs closet which was not very big. I had Glider, Farmer, and Amelia with me. I also had my transistor radio. I worried about Sugar and my pony Lightning, but there was nothing I could do. I remember sitting on the floor, hearing noises, roaring and wind whistling, and just static from the radio. I don’t know how long it lasted, but it seemed like a long time. Finally every stopped. I opened the door and there was no power and it was hailing. I looked out my back door to check on Sugar. Thank goodness, she was all right although very freaked out and galloping around.
When the wind died down and the rain stopped,, I came out of the closet and put the goats and rabbit outside. Then I heard other noises, sirens and horns, a lot of sirens and horns.
I went upstairs to our balcony and looked out and all I could see were dark clouds swarming overhead, and car after car flying down Wilbarger headed out of town. It was really dark, they had their lights on, and they were flashing their lights. There were ambulances and pickups, and there were 2 hearses.
That's when I started getting scared. The radio had quit, but then it came back on, and I heard that the Sands Motel and the Canton Cafe had been hit, that a tornado had touched down. and that it was very bad. That was right down the street from me. I ran next door to the La Fonda Motel, but they didn’t’ know any more than I did.
I went back home and then Jim came home. I don’t remember much after that. We listened to the radio. This was around 3 pm. This tornado hit the west side of town, hit the Sands, the Canton, the 4-H arena. and beyond.
When I first got Sugar, I kept her at my friend Judy's house. I brought Sugar home about 2 weeks before the tornado. Judy and her husband Max had a palomino. Max was in the Santa Rosa Palomino Club. Judy had a horse, and their daughter Kimberly had a beautiful buckskin named Beeline. Kim was very competitive in barrel racing competitions all over the state, and Beeline was a champ. They also had a little pony Trixie, who had belonged to Kim as a little kid.
Judy was a school teacher and had come home early that day because Kim was sick. They heard the siren and they got into their bathtub with a mattress on top of them. The tornado went right over their neighborhood.
When it was over and Judy and Kim came out of the tub, the only things left of the house were the bathroom walls. The rest of the house was totally gone. Trixie was dead and Beeline was gone, just gone. Trixie was in the stall where Sugar had lived 2 weeks before. They think Trixie had a heart attack. They found Beeline days later, out on the Waggoner Ranch about 30 miles away. He was never the same. He became an old horse overnight. His coat turned a strange gray and he lost all his spirit. They gave him to a friend who was afraid of horses, because the old Beeline became the new Beeline, a tired, aged horse, who loved to be petted but had no spark. I did not believe it until I saw him and it was true. Beeline was gone.
He actually had a few articles written about him. They think he was picked up and then dropped at the Waggoner Ranch. It took a long time for them to figure out who he was, and when they finally identified him by his registration tattoo, no one could believe it.
The house next to Judy’s belonged to Bobby Riggins. The roof had been picked up and turned around and dropped back on top. The house had a roof, but it was on backwards.
Where I rode Sugar behind the 4-H arena was an old neighborhood that I loved. There were old houses with a lot of trees, with people who had lived there forever. They had chickens and dogs, and the roads were dirt. I would ride Sugar up and down those dirt roads and got to know a lot of the people. They thought it was funny that I would prefer to ride a horse around then drive a car. There was one house that I particularly loved. It was a little Victorian-type house, run down, paint peeling, but with lilacs completely surrounding the house. I would ride Sugar there and then get off and sit under the lilacs and let her eat grass while I pretended this was my house. I imagined I lived out in the country with horses and dogs. The trees made it so private it was easy to imagine. That spring the lilacs were in full bloom.
I remember a few days before the tornado, I rode over there and a lady a few houses away stopped me. '"Going to your house?" she said. I laughed and said, "I guess so". Then she told me it was for sale, that it was part of an estate that had just been settled, and it would be going on the market in a few days. She told me if I an offer on it before that, i could probably get a good deal on it. I told her that I already had a house (and a husband) and she was shocked when I told her where I lived. She had known my grandparents. That day, though, I remember really living that dream, thinking "maybe...' I left that day knowing that the house would not be the same, someone would buy it and clean it up, cut the grass, trim the trees, ruin my dream.
The day after the tornado (against my better judgement) I drove to that neighborhood. I couldn't ride Sugar because of all the debris. The whole neighborhood was was leveled. There were still chickens running around, but no houses, no trees, no people. and my house was gone. There was nothing but a pile of lumber. The trees were gone. The whole wonderful neighborhood was gone, forever.
But I didn’t know what that really meant.
Later, of course, we learned of the tremendous devastation. Many of our friends were injured, both in Vernon and later that day, in Wichita Falls. We lost some friends, too. One of my friends from the Vernon Riding Club died, along with her baby son.
My doctor's daughter had a horse named Cherry. She was about 8 and she loved that horse. He was like a dog to her. He died that night from trauma, they think a tree fell on him. They had to put put bars on her window because she would wake up at night and climb out her window. She had to go find Cherry.
This may look like a piece of wood. But it’s not. It’s a slice of wood from a tree at the Wilbarger county 4-H barn. It came from a tree that was destroyed on April 10, 979. So many memories on my mind, I keep thinking I should write them down, but even though I can feel them so strongly, like flashes in my mind, I can't seem to get them out on paper. The 4-H barn was just a few blocks from my house. I to ride my horse Sugar over there all the time. I went a few days after the tornado, and the entire roof had been ripped off the building and the arena stands were demolished. There had been beautiful trees all around the arena. The trees were all gone, and there were men there cutting down what was left. I remember walking Sugar over to them and asking if i could have a slice. One of the men stopped his saw and said, "Remember that pretty tree that was right there? This is it." Then he cut me a little slice. I still have it. a little slice of wood that represents it all to me.
Many of our friends were injured, both in Vernon and later that day, in Wichita Falls. One of my friends from the Vernon Riding Club died, along with her baby son.
That day is called Terrible Tuesday, the day of the Red River Valley Outbreak. At the time, it was one of the worst tornadoes to ever hit the United States.
The Wichita Falls tornado caused over $400 million in damage, making it the most expensive US tornado on record until the Moore, OK tornado on May 3, 1999. As of today, it is ranked as the 10th costliest.
The Vernon tornado, an F4, killed 10 people. The Wichita Falls tornado, also an F4, killed 45 people.
I'll never forget, a few days later I was at the supermarket. In front of me was a man holding a little boy. The boy had bandages on his face and his arm. The checker, making conversation, said something about his injuries, and asked if he had gotten into a fight with a lawnmower. The little boy said that no, he was in a bad storm, and his mommy got killed. Of course, the checker was terribly upset. For quite a while after that, no one dared ask questions about any kind of injuries, it was just too emotional.
That day is called Terrible Tuesday, the day of the Red River Valley Outbreak. At the time, it was one of the worst tornadoes to ever hit the United States.