20 Years Later, Deadly Tornado Remembered
Posted on Thursday, May 7th, 2015
Photo by Don Sessions
Path of Destruction: The view of damage from above 13 Cimarron
Circle looking northeast toward Masters Drive and the front nine of
the golf course at Falconhead Resort, the community that suffered
the most residential property damage in the May 7, 1995 tornado.
Photo by Barbara Sessions
Storm Reminder: A Sears Craftsman circular sawblade embedded in a
tree near the #3 green is a lasting memento of the powerful tornado
that struck Falconhead 20 years ago.
By Barbara Sessions
The most destructive tornado in Love County and Red River Valley REA history struck on the afternoon of Sunday, May 7, 1995, killing three people and leaving dozens homeless.
Of "F3 high-end intensity," the storm downed homes, trees, and power lines along a path 700 yards wide and 34 miles long ranging from the Red River Ranch one mile west of Burneyville all the way to Gene Autry, with identifiable debris recovered as far as 120 miles away in Okemah.
Twenty years later, tornado survivors remembered their losses.
Death
The Love County fatalities occurred in two nearby homes of related family members north of the intersection of Highway 32 and Highway 96. Lacy Smith, age 87, died when her small home was blown across Dory Road into a wooded area. Smith's sister, Lola Willis, 83, who was visiting Smith from her home on Highway 32, also perished.
Family members remembered the sisters as inseparable in life as they were in death. "They were always together," said Lola Finch, a granddaughter of Smith. "They loved to quilt. They made beautiful quilts."
"They could cook out of this world," said Anita Johnson, a granddaughter of Willis.
Finch said the sisters were homemakers and lived in the area all their lives. They attended Primitive Baptist Church in the Dunbar community.
Less than one-half mile north and west, family tragedy continued. The tornado struck the home of Smith's daughter, Jimmie Gaines, injuring her and taking the life of her husband, Bud Gaines, 78.
The Gaines' daughter, Linda Dixon, was on duty at the hospital when an ambulance brought her injured mother to the emergency room.
"She said it was like a bomb had gone off in their home, throwing them across the room and into the fireplace," Dixon said.
Afterward, Jimmie Gaines found herself outside and alone. "She said everything was real, real quiet, like she was the only person left on earth.
Dixon said before the twister dropped down, her parents were preparing to drive to the Smith house and pick up the elderly sisters, who were afraid of storms, and bring them to shelter at the Gaines home. "The tornado hit before they could take action."
After a week in the hospital, Jimmie Gaines recovered from her injuries. She died in 2011, her daughter said.
Dixon remembered her parents as successful farm operators and as leaders in the Nazarene Baptist Church.
Destruction
Love County Assessor Cathy Carlile eventually removed 26 tornado-destroyed homes from the tax rolls, including that of her parents, Rex and Joyce Harrill, on Highway 32, one-half mile west of the intersection with Highway 96.
"I told a statewide meeting of assessors that you never dream when doing this job that the house you grew up in will leave the assessor's roll because of a tornado. It's a bad feeling," Carlile said.
Joyce Harrill was alone when a neighbor, Bob Taylor, called to alert her to tornado warnings on TV, Carlile said.
Harrill entered her outdoor storm cellar and then climbed back out when the lantern wouldn't light.
"She was intending to go back to the house for more matches, but as she opened the cellar door, she saw the tornado crossing the highway toward her. She swung on the hook holding the door down or she would have been gone. She said she started praying her house wouldn't be destroyed, and then when the noise told her the house was gone, she prayed for the lives and homes of the neighbors," Carlile said.
Other harrowing experiences already had taken place south of Highway 32 at Falconhead Resort, where 20 homes were destroyed, and 20 others damaged, and the large buildings housing the airport hangar and maintenance equipment flung apart.
Ahead of the tornado, security guard Jim Johnson, watching the storm warnings on Channel 12, drove to the golf course and country club to alert guests and employees.
Chief John Flinn of the Falconhead Volunteer Fire Department began circling the streets of the 2,800 acre property in a fire engine with siren blaring.
From high ground at the south gate of the property, storm spotter Jackie Bates saw the tornado rise from the bluffs across the Red River and rotate toward the sister developments of Red River Ranch and Falconhead.
Security guard Wesley Glenn herded ranch visitors to safety inside a concrete block restroom/shower. The tornado destroyed several cars and trailers in the adjoining RV park, damaged the rodeo arena, and reduced the ranch store to rubble before crossing Highway 96 into Falconhead.
Bates, meanwhile, radioed word of the tornado sighting to Love County Emergency Management and then drove down Golf Club Drive, alerting the Falconhead neighborhood most at risk.
The Tim Carey home, a prefab at the top of the hill, took the fiercest hit, being swept up into the tornado with no structural remnant left behind.
The Careys were not at home, a fact fortunately known to Falconhead security. "They told me at the front gate that morning they were driving to Houston. We would have been searching everywhere for them otherwise," Johnson said.
A short distance north of the Careys, at 53 Golf Club Drive, the home of Maurice and Mary Carlton was blown from the foundation. As the structure rose, the bottom fell out, dropping the couple to the ground. Mary Carlton incurred a broken arm, the only injury reported at Falconhead.
At 63 Golf Club Drive, Carol Loggins took shelter in the culvert at the foot of her driveway as the tornado ripped through her home.
"I saw things starting to fly in the air. Afterwards, a lot of my clothes were in trees. I could hear the phone ringing. I managed to reach in between the caved in walls and answer it. It was my friend Fern Markwell calling from Marietta to see if I was OK."
An earlier phone tip from Loggins probably saved the life of Mary Dane Legg across the street at 61 Golf Club Drive. "I had been working at my computer, unaware that we were in a tornado warning," Legg said. "I switched on the radio in time to hear them tell Burneyville to take cover."
Legg gathered up her dog, Sugar, and sheltered inside a closet. "A tree fell through the house. It landed on top of the computer station where I had been sitting when Carol had called."
Loggins and Legg subsequently rebuilt and continue to live at Falconhead.
Bates had driven west off Golf Club Drive onto Cimarron Circle. The tornado leveled his brick home at #13 as he turned into the driveway, lifting and spinning his pickup before setting it down on four wheels.
"I got up off the floor board after the tornado passed. I was OK. My truck had no windows but it ran," Bates said. "My emergency radio still worked so I called in a report to the county and asked for ambulances."
The tornado, bearing northeast, crossed a field onto Masters Drive, wreaking havoc to another half-dozen residences. One of the most inexplicable outcomes occurred with the gray brick home at 39 Masters Drive.
The twister struck with such force that nothing was left afterward but the bottom few rows of brick, one external wall, and the interior walls of the closet in which George and Shirley Hightower had taken shelter. They emerged unharmed.
The home was rebuilt. A circular saw blade embedded in a tree in the backyard remains a permanent reminder of the miracle at #39 and at Red River Ranch/Falconhead in general, where, despite several million dollars of material losses, everyone survived.
The tornado powered on across the east side of Falcon Lake. Several eyewitnesses described a water spout and seeing the bottom of the lake. Further east, the maintenance facility, garbage truck, and golf course maintenance equipment were wiped out, along with the airport hangar.
Dozens of trees were downed or damaged on the front nine of the golf course. Flying metal gashed the greens and, along with clothing, paper, and other paraphernalia, littered the ground or lodged in branches.
Other dramatic tornado destruction occurred in the Marsden community, where the brick home of Ronald Hobson blew apart, leaving nothing but a spiral staircase, according to Carlile. The family, sheltered in the basement, was uninjured.
The tornado was still on the ground into Carter County, striking the Michelin Tire Plant, Ardmore's largest employer. Michelin rebuilt at a cost of $75 million and resumed operations two months later.
About 80 REA poles were downed along the path of the storm. Among the hardest hit areas with 10 downed poles each were Highway 96, Oswalt Road, and an area about three miles north of Marsden, according to a report prepared by the co-op.
Through rain, hail, and lightning on Sunday night, co-op crews worked to restore power, staying on the job for 27 hours straight. The repair costs came to $1 million, general manager Lynn Puckett said.
In the tornado's aftermath, most Falconhead homeowners rebuilt, and the presence of so many contractors and carpenters in the following months stimulated additional investment in new homes.
Red River Ranch did not fare as well. The developer, Thousand Adventures, took the insurance money and abandoned the 7-year-old dude ranch project.
Debris
A Falconhead golf course flag, a personalized jacket, canceled checks, receipts, and other pieces of paper with names or addresses traceable to Red River Ranch or Falconhead were transported long distances, according to the "Long-Range Debris Transport and Fallout" research study of the May 7, 1995 tornado by the University of Oklahoma.
The item that traveled farthest was a canceled check from a Falconhead resident. The check was recovered 120 miles away in Okemah. The Falconhead flag came down 43 miles away in Davis. It still contained part of a plastic rod. The jacket was recovered south of Ardmore "in perfect condition with no tears, holes, or major scratches." Paper items from Falconhead sources landed in Carter County, Seminole County, and Okfuskee County.
On the Falconhead golf course, a book from the St. Joe, TX library was found. The OU researchers say the super cell thunderstorm associated with the long-range debris spawned six tornados in northern Texas and southern Oklahoma.
The first two, in Cooke County, were F0, and had a path of less than 1.5 miles each.
The third tornado, originating in Bucher, TX and the fourth tornado, originating in St. Joe, combined to produce an F3 of high-end intensity that cut a continuous damage path of 58 miles from Texas into Oklahoma.
Tornadoes 5 and 6, both of F1 strength, sprang up in northeast Ardmore and dissipated about 10 miles northwest of Ada.