On a relatively cool, cloudless day in June of 1963 I got home from work at 4:30 in the afternoon to find my mother and my wife Linda, who was two months pregnant with out oldest daughter, standing outside looking toward the southwest. When I got out of the car my Mom pointed in the direction they were looking and told me to look, there was a tornado coming. I looked and only saw a slight grayish haze way off in the distance with a barely visible little "tit" on the bottom. I told her I didn't believe it was a tornado, that it was either just a cloud or maybe some smoke from some farmer burning off a pasture or woods. Mom said she hoped I was right but there was something funny about the haze and she was afraid it was really a tornado.
Linda fixed a quick meal and when we finished eating I went outside to do a couple of chores, glanced toward the southwest and this time there was no question---it was a tornado. Dad was home by this time so I went in, told them there was a tornado coming and we all went back outside to look. It was still miles away and from the direction it was going it looked like it would go north of us. I had seen several tornado's in the distance but never one up close, so I told them I was going to drive closer and get a better look. Linda, and my Mom and Dad, told me I was crazy but she also wanted to see one closer up so we got in the car and headed out.
The tornado was a mile or so north of the main highway so before we got even with it I turned north, drove about a half mile and stopped at Providence Cemetery. We had just stopped when the tornado went by, and even though we were still a half mile south of it's path it was awesome. The roar was like thousands of trains, so loud it was painful, but the sound of trees breaking and houses exploding was easily heard over the roar. The trees around us were whipping around in a frenzy but only a few small limbs were blown off, I didn't have enough sense to be scared but Linda was terrified.
When we got home Mom and Dad were standing it the yard watching the tornado. There was no question the tornado was going north of where we lived but one of my sisters and her family lived six miles north of us and it looked like the tornado was going in her direction. Mom was upset and wanted to head up there but the tornado was still west of the road going north so we waited until we thought it was past the road and all of us got in my car and we headed out.
About a mile and half south of my sisters house we started having to move limbs out of the road to get by, and barely made it around a couple of trees that had blown down. A half mile farther we got to the Underwood's house, at least what was left of it. It was one of the big old houses with an open hall down the center, the entire north end was gone. There was five or six people running around in the yard yelling and we stopped to see if anyone was hurt or missing. Mr and Mrs Underwood were both around 70, were the only ones who lived in the house and since both of them were outside we knew they were okay but Mrs. Underwood was crying so we knew something wasn't right.
I asked what was going on and one of the others, who was a neighbor, said Merlis, his wife and two kids had been in the part of the house that had blown away and they were trying to find them. Merlis was one of the Underwood's sons and his wife was one of our relatives. My Mom and Linda started trying to comfort Mrs Underwood and we began looking for Merlis and his family. Ten minutes later it was beginning to get dark and we were spread out in the woods east of the house seaching when we heard someone yelling back at the house. We went back and there was Merlis and his family, scratched up and dirty but otherwise they were okay. Turns out there was an old, caved in storm house just down the road, they had managed to crawl in it and stayed long enough to make sure all the wind was gone. Don't know why they didn't hear all the yelling but the main thing was they were okay.
We got back in the car and started on to my sisters. About two hundred yards north of the Underwoods house we got to where the tail of the tornado had been on the ground. There was a strip in the woods in both directions about a hundred yards wide that was nothing but bare ground as far as the eye could see. We had to move more limbs to go on north, and in one place had to straddle a shallow ditch with the car but we got through. When we got to my sisters house. everyone there was fine but another storm hit. They had a huge concrete storm shelter that was built to hold about 10 people but we managed to cram about twice that in. No tornado in that storm but the wind was so strong it blew trees down and made the road we came up impassable. We had to drive almost 40 miles to get back to our house.
It was the next day before the damage from the tornado could really be seen. It stayed on the ground for over 40 miles, from south of Shannon, MS to several miles northeast of Hamilton, Alabama. Never found out for sure how many were killed, don't think there was ever an accurate count, but there were several. The damage wasn't as costly as it could have been as the tornado never went through a town. At any point in the 40+ miles it was on the ground you could look southwest or northeast and there was over a hundred yard wide strip in which nothing was left, not even grass. Hope I never experience another tornado, but I have to say that one was an awesome experience.
My memory isn't as accurate as I thought it was so here's a couple of corrections. The tornado was in April, not June, and I thought it stayed on the ground the entire time. Actually it stayed on the ground for 18 miles, went up for a couple of miles and dropped back down before it got to the Alabama line. It was on the ground for over 40 miles total so I did get that part right. The tornado looked just like the one in the photo, with a long tail and high clouds.
[attachment 39744 tornado.gif]
Linda fixed a quick meal and when we finished eating I went outside to do a couple of chores, glanced toward the southwest and this time there was no question---it was a tornado. Dad was home by this time so I went in, told them there was a tornado coming and we all went back outside to look. It was still miles away and from the direction it was going it looked like it would go north of us. I had seen several tornado's in the distance but never one up close, so I told them I was going to drive closer and get a better look. Linda, and my Mom and Dad, told me I was crazy but she also wanted to see one closer up so we got in the car and headed out.
The tornado was a mile or so north of the main highway so before we got even with it I turned north, drove about a half mile and stopped at Providence Cemetery. We had just stopped when the tornado went by, and even though we were still a half mile south of it's path it was awesome. The roar was like thousands of trains, so loud it was painful, but the sound of trees breaking and houses exploding was easily heard over the roar. The trees around us were whipping around in a frenzy but only a few small limbs were blown off, I didn't have enough sense to be scared but Linda was terrified.
When we got home Mom and Dad were standing it the yard watching the tornado. There was no question the tornado was going north of where we lived but one of my sisters and her family lived six miles north of us and it looked like the tornado was going in her direction. Mom was upset and wanted to head up there but the tornado was still west of the road going north so we waited until we thought it was past the road and all of us got in my car and we headed out.
About a mile and half south of my sisters house we started having to move limbs out of the road to get by, and barely made it around a couple of trees that had blown down. A half mile farther we got to the Underwood's house, at least what was left of it. It was one of the big old houses with an open hall down the center, the entire north end was gone. There was five or six people running around in the yard yelling and we stopped to see if anyone was hurt or missing. Mr and Mrs Underwood were both around 70, were the only ones who lived in the house and since both of them were outside we knew they were okay but Mrs. Underwood was crying so we knew something wasn't right.
I asked what was going on and one of the others, who was a neighbor, said Merlis, his wife and two kids had been in the part of the house that had blown away and they were trying to find them. Merlis was one of the Underwood's sons and his wife was one of our relatives. My Mom and Linda started trying to comfort Mrs Underwood and we began looking for Merlis and his family. Ten minutes later it was beginning to get dark and we were spread out in the woods east of the house seaching when we heard someone yelling back at the house. We went back and there was Merlis and his family, scratched up and dirty but otherwise they were okay. Turns out there was an old, caved in storm house just down the road, they had managed to crawl in it and stayed long enough to make sure all the wind was gone. Don't know why they didn't hear all the yelling but the main thing was they were okay.
We got back in the car and started on to my sisters. About two hundred yards north of the Underwoods house we got to where the tail of the tornado had been on the ground. There was a strip in the woods in both directions about a hundred yards wide that was nothing but bare ground as far as the eye could see. We had to move more limbs to go on north, and in one place had to straddle a shallow ditch with the car but we got through. When we got to my sisters house. everyone there was fine but another storm hit. They had a huge concrete storm shelter that was built to hold about 10 people but we managed to cram about twice that in. No tornado in that storm but the wind was so strong it blew trees down and made the road we came up impassable. We had to drive almost 40 miles to get back to our house.
It was the next day before the damage from the tornado could really be seen. It stayed on the ground for over 40 miles, from south of Shannon, MS to several miles northeast of Hamilton, Alabama. Never found out for sure how many were killed, don't think there was ever an accurate count, but there were several. The damage wasn't as costly as it could have been as the tornado never went through a town. At any point in the 40+ miles it was on the ground you could look southwest or northeast and there was over a hundred yard wide strip in which nothing was left, not even grass. Hope I never experience another tornado, but I have to say that one was an awesome experience.
My memory isn't as accurate as I thought it was so here's a couple of corrections. The tornado was in April, not June, and I thought it stayed on the ground the entire time. Actually it stayed on the ground for 18 miles, went up for a couple of miles and dropped back down before it got to the Alabama line. It was on the ground for over 40 miles total so I did get that part right. The tornado looked just like the one in the photo, with a long tail and high clouds.
[attachment 39744 tornado.gif]
