Wow! Amazing stories! That day lives in our memories like the day JFK was shot! I was in the basement of my home on Caroline St., 2 1/2 blocks north of the high school. I remember the sky turning what is now etched in my memory as "tornado green" and the air just had a "strangeness" to it. I think it rained but no other indications than that that something happened. Then I heard about the subdivision south of the high school being hit - where Diana and Charlie lived - also Diane Chewning (who was kind of seriously injured as I remember?) and Louella Holter whose parents were killed in the tornado. What a tragic day! I walked over there from my house and couldn't believe the damage! Debris everywhere, houses off their foundations - or gone completely! What a memory! 

Hi there - I surely do remember that day as well - at my house we all went down the basement and huddled under the pool table.

I also walked through the damage behind The Plaza - I still have CL Herald articles about it.  Mr. and Mrs. Knaack also died that day, I believe.

Here is a website that has pictures of the diasater if anyone is interested. The site has pictures of scenes of Crystal Lake (movie theatre etc.)

http://my.opera.com/web4me/albums/show.dml?id=163454

Gerry - thanks for that link.  I had visions of myself going through rubber bin after bin looking through all my musty newspapers!

I remember that my whole family was in Woodstock that day, and when we got home, we learned about the devastation.  Whenever " Palm Sunday " is mentioned, that is the first thing I think of.

That was a very tragic day!!   I remember how the sky turned an ugly green.   Hail and rain on our side of town.

We were playing some baseball on our sandlot diamond at the end of Lakewood.

Then we found out about the tornado and drove up to Rt. 14 and McHenry Ave. and every telephone pole toward Coventry and Virginia road was down!  

I remember we closed schools and everyone was out helping pick up debris and help clear the rubble!

I had another close call tornado experience here in Cedar Rapids.  It tore off the roof of our building we were working in, but no damage inside!  We just made it to an interior hallway when we heard it go!

Donna Brown was at my house when the tornado hit. The picture window in our living room bowed but didn't blow out. My Mom was in the Piggly Wiggly when it hit. By the grace of God, she wasn't hurt. My former brother and sister in laws home was destroyed, and my first husband, Don, was on the missing person's list. He was out helping others but his family didn't  know where he was (obviously no cell phones back then) I felt so bad for Louella. Lost her parents and her brother. Was terrible but the town really pulled together as a family.It's truly amazing that we didn't lose more. I hope I never see anything like that again. Once a lifetime is enough for me!!

My brother and I were over at the Congregational Church playing basketball outside. A strange wind came up and the side door to the church starting opening and closing like crazy. We went inside the church basement and waited for the wind to die down and then went back outside to shoot some more hoops.

A car pulled in and it was a couple who were friends of my parents. They said they stopped by to see our minister and inquire as to whether or not my parents were okay. I replied, "Why didn't you just go over to our house."

The lady responded, "Oh my. You don't know! There was a tornado that hit your subdivision and we couldn't even get in there!"

They drove us over and sure enough, there were a lot of people gathered at the back entrance to Colby Subdivision. My brother and I hopped out of the car and took off running. All the houses looked fine until we went around the curve toward our house. There wasn't mush of it left. My mother was sitting out front crying because everyone else was accounted for except my brother and me. She jumped to her feet and came over and hugged us. Afterward, I turned and noticed a body covered with a blanket in our front yard. My dad said to stay away from the corpse and wait for the proper officials to show up. 

Our car that was in the driveway was upside down in our neighbors' yard and the garage collapse on our vehicle. The roof was gone and the place was a mess.

 That night, my brother and I stayed at Mr. Johnson's house (the PE teacher) and my mom, dad, sister and little brother stayed with some friends. I hope none of you ever have to go through such an ordeal.

Vivid memory of that day as my mom and i coming home from El gin  and hearing on the radio[AM] that a tornado had touched down We were stopped at Cutoff and 14 by police whom were turning back sightseers, mom showed her license and we drove north on 14 not believing the destruction and also not knowing whether we had a house to go to.My aunt and uncle lived on Pingree and the tracks had bushels of products on their lawn from the Western auto store and Piggy wiggly 

OK troops - where were all the rest of you when the tornado hit and what are YOUR memories of it! Thanks all who have already posted - loved your first hand account Bob! (Don't know what happened to all the original posts? Maybe they go into Class Creator [The sponsoring website] Land never to be read again?)

Really a drag about the original posts, Paul. 

But anyway, I was out of town with my dad and stepmom, in Hampshire, my brother and grandfather were at home. It was really weird,  the sky got a very strange color, and there were birds all over the ground, like they didn't want to be in the air. My dad was trying to call home, to no avail, and he said let's go.  We got as far as union st. and McHenry ave. where they had the street closed off.  One of the guys there told my dad that we couldn't go any farther because there had been fatalities, well my dad being my dad said get out of my way, my family is in there.  We got as far as Keith st. when we had to stop because of power lines being down, got out of the car and started running home, through all the debris, past Halters home which was gone, and finally to our house, it was half gone, but my granfather and brother were standing there o.k.. but very dazed. The house to the left lost some windows, the house to the right was completely destroyed, as were so many others. Bob, you lived up the street from me, and know firsthand  just how it was.  It was something that you wouldn't wish even on your worst enemy, correct that, maybe I would. But not on my friends!

Yes, Charlie, Mary Lane got hit very hard. I remember that you were right down the street from our house so you were in the midst of the destruction as well.  In fact, I remember some late night conversations years later in your back yard. Rick was back from the war and we'd sit around a small fire and suck down a few suds while talikng into the wee hours of the night.  Please tell him that I said "hi."

There were some bizarre occurrences associated with the tornado. I'd seen straw stuck in wood before in films but never in person. I remember looking at some straw that had traveled with so much force during the tornado that it was driven into what was left of the side of our house.

Although part of the garage fell on our station wagon, it was still intact because the luggage carrier on top absorbed most of the debris. In fact, unlike our other vehicle, it looked pretty good. When we got up two mornings after the tornado, however, we noticed that the rear window of the station wagon had collapsed into a zillion little pieces. We were told that the original pressure from the tornado had caused the window to shatter some 36 hours later.

We had to take what we could get our hands on Sunday from the ruins in the house and store items in our basement. Since we had no roof, my dad nailed a door over the entrance to the basement before we left that day. Overnight, thieves tore that door off and stole some of our belongings from the basement. 99% people were awesome with their help during that time but there were a few assholes, too.

The following week, we were playing like scavengers and trying to salvage what we could from the house. My mother spent an entire day looking through the debris in the bedroom trying to find one item. She had taken her wedding ring off to clean it just prior to the storm and she was very emotional about not having it. Mom was so happy when she finally found it. 

While still cleaning up the mess one day, this motorcade came rolling down our street and it stopped right in front of our house. A man stepped out of a limousine and started talking to my mom and me. It was Governor Otto Kerner who was in Crystal Lake to view the "disaster area."

The reason that the limo stopped in front of our house was because the cameraman used to work for my dad and made the suggestion to stop at our place.  Governor Kerner  picked up on the fact that my mom had an English accent and started telling us about some boat club he belonged to in England. Although I thought it was pretty cool that I was standing there with the Governor, I remember thinking to myself , "who cares out your friggin boat club? Some of our neighbors are dead and many of our homes have been destroyed!" I bit my tongue, however, and kept my thoughts to myself. Anyway, after chatting with the Governor, they interviewed my dad and aired the interview on television. When they did an anniversary radio show about the tornado a year later, they replayed my dad's interview. He was under the basement stairs when the tornado struck and he said that it sounded like a train hit our house.

Don't want to derail the tornado accounts - these are great - and keep them going. But I'm wondering how many of you have expereinced an earthquake - or other natural disasters? Bob's comment about the tornado reminded me of the sound of the earthquake I expereinced in the1971 Saugus earthquake in teh Los Angeles area. Like the "green sky" memory of the tornado, the train sound is my earthquake memory.

Since we lived in West Hollywood, on the south side of the mountains from the epicenter, we experienced little damage - a broken picture window and some broken things that fell off shelves. But this happened about 6 in the morning and my room was next to kind of a walkway alley between our structure and the one next to it. The wall was about three feet from my bed and the walkway was about 8 feet wide. During the earthquake, which seemed like it lasted forever, it sounded and felt like a fast moving freight train was going though that walkway. Very scarry! The worst part though were the aftershocks. You're already so sensitive to the ground shaking and then it happens again and again - and if you're a neophyte, you don't know if this next one is going to be worse than the original one! Just an all around scary experience! 

And then there are volcanoes! I lived in south central Montana when Mt. St. Helens erupted but we got about 3-4 inches of ash depositied on our property that far away! Hope Yellowstone never erupts - that could be really nasty for anyone living within hundreds of miles of that place - as well as for the planet as a whole! Now back to tornadoes! (But DO share your other disaster stories!)

Hey Bob,  funny thing about the press coverage.  A couple of days after the tornado, a fw of us were just walking around and ran into a crew from the Sun Times.  They asked us to go home and get our baseball equiptment, and we staged a makeup game on the corner of Keith and Union sts.  The pic appeared in the paper like we were all recovering, getting through it all, but the whole subdivision was still in shambles. Tune in at ten for the complete coverage.

Yes, even though I was young at the time, I thought the Governor's trip through CL was a photo op for the politicians.

There were some good things to come out of the ordeal, though. It brought our families and neighborhood closer together as well as the town.

I already knew the kids from North School and because of the tornado, I went to South Jr. High for 6th grade while our house was rebuilt and met a lot of students there as well. I hung out with Bob Heaton that summer and school year (I'm sorry to hear that he passed away) and like I said earlier, I met others like Julie Haberstik.

Lots of classmates have recently joined the site so we just want everyone to know that there are three blog Forums currently with 14 topics having been discussed. This one is all about the 1965 CL Palm Sunday Tornado. 

Check out all the topics and post a comment if you have something to add! If you click on the Forum List at the top of the page, you can view the Forum titles. Click a title and you will see the the individual topics listed in that Forum. If you'd like to start your own topic to be discussed, click "Post New Topic" at the top of the page, name your topic and post away! Happy Blogging!

I thought we were in jr. high when this happened. 

Hi Holly,

By the date (1965), you are correct. I have a memory warp somewhere. I remember living on Mchenry Avenue for a little while after the tornado. Some friends just moved out of their house and hadn't put it up for sale yet. I think I finished the school year in that house.

We lived in Rev. Dalrymple's house by the lake after he moved out and that's when I attended South Jr. High. I'll have to check with my family about actual dates when we lived by the lake. Hopefully, their memories are better than mine.

I remember the day very well as I was being confirmed into the Methodist Church on Crystal Lake Ave. at the time the tornado struck.  Shortly after the ceremony commenced all were asked to convene into the basment. We didn't wait long before being allowed to return to the sanctuary. When Pastor....? (Sr. moment) put his hand ontop of my head I felt a sensation pass thru my body unlike one I had ever experienced before or since.

On a day of devastation so close at hand I was blessed.  A day I will never forget!

Gee, I wonder what that "sensation" was Gary - given that you were being "confirmed" and all! Great story! I wish I'd gotten "that" at MY confirmation - it took almost 30 more years for that "to take" in my life!

Gary, I think the Methodist minister's name was Dr. Figley.

I just listed a house at 365 Harold St. in Colbys (small ranch home) It's across the street from Marcia Campbell's house. Apparently, it was leveled by tornado and was rebuilt the same year. My client's don't know who the owner was at that time. Anyone know????

Deb

You're right! Very nice man.

Were you a member of that class as well?

I have a picture of the class somewhere in album that I

'll need to find now for sure.

GAP,

I remember the house Susie, only name I think of is Knaack?

I think you're correct. My homeowner couldn't remember and I told him I would try to find out for him. Thanks and see you tomorrow!!!

If it was the Knaack's house, it was a tragic story.  As a 13 old my initial reaction to the tornado was facination.  That faded quickly when we found out that my brother Tom's best friend's dad died.  Craig Knaack's father was in his camp trailer when the tornado hit Colby. 

No, Gary, I was confirmed in the Methodist church in Washington state before we moved to Crystal Lake in the spring of 1964 (mid-7th grade).  My family ultimately joined the United Church of Christ -- Dan Bloesch's dad was the minister there until he passed away from cancer.  Rev. Nagy took over, and he married my husband and me in December, 1972.

-- Debbie

P.S.  Hope you all had a great time this weekend!

Deb

Thank you for info.

I am sorry you couldn't make the reunion. It was everything and more than I hoped for. Everyone was so open and genuine. 

Bill Mack, Tom Seaman and Mr. Peaco were in attendance and all were doing well.

Stayed tune to website. Lot's of pics from the weekend to posted soon.

Regards -

GAP

I am just reading the tornado blog and when it hit I was vacationing in Bermuda with my Dad and brother and sister.  We read about it in the Bermuda paper, which mentioned CL - it was reported that "wooden planks were driven through stone walls"- we called home and were so relieved that my Mom and Pot were fine.