Thompsonville destroyed by an EF-3 tornado, April 27, 1971

by Steve Dunford 

Arial view of the village after the tornado (Photo provided by Kathy Wiegand)

Yesterday morning I started writing this.  This is something that I did not have the intention of writing.

This is recalling some of the stories that I have heard over the years of April 27, 1971, the day before my first birthday.

It was an unusually warm April day.  Highs were in the upper 80’s to low 90’s.  From talking with several people the humidity was like a late June or early July day.

A Civil Defense (Now EMA) worker was storm spotting in Tower Heights cemetery in West Frankfort.  Franklin County was already under a tornado warning because of a cell that spawned several funnel clouds in Randolph and Perry counties.  This was during the day that tornado warnings were rarely issued.

My dad was home from work just a few minutes from Allen Industries at Herrin.  My brother who was four at the time was watching Sesame Street.  Another warning was issued and said that there was a tornado on the ground heading toward Thompsonville.   My mom looked outside and saw the tornado, which its path was two blocks from the house that dad still lives in.  He said Thompsonville will never get hit by a tornado, and the power goes off.

An EF-3 twister swept along Route 34 at 4:50 p.m. that day, killing one, a second death occurred much later from injuries.  Accounts have the injury total from anywhere between 15 to 35   There are some accounts say a second went through five minutes later.  I believe it was either two or a multiple vertex one.

There were several business destroyed in the downtown.  One was Villa Carilie’s store, attached to Jim’s barber shop.  Jimmy was in the shop and was one of the injured.  If anyone knew Jimmy, he would witness to you while giving you a haircut.  He spent a few days in the hospital after that.  When he was found, accounts tell me, that he was found wondering around singing, I am Bound for the Promise Land.

Both the Grade School and High School received significant damage.  The gym roof from the High School smashed into the Grade School.  There is still evidence of this today, of the section of roof that blown off.  If school would have been in session, this would have been devastating.

Consolidation talks, which has taken place since the 60’s were already taking place because of damaged school buildings. The high school enrollment had fallen to around 75.  Thompsonville now has a high school enrollment of 110 and is financially stable.

One building that was not touched, the First Baptist Church, that was the only congregation in the city limits did not see damage.

I remember having a conversation with Melissa Carter, who was a preschooler during the time.  Her family lived in the house that Travis and Michelle Clem live in now that is on the west edge of the city limits along Route 34.  She was saying that the injured were brought into her living room.

My grandparents lived across the road in the house that Doug and Bonnie Cottrell lived for years.  They had to take shelter twice. They recieved tree and roof damage, but a block to the east, the storm lashed its fury.

First on the scene after the storm, and helped with the recovery efforts, was the baseball team from Southeastern Illinois College in Harrisburg, coached by Virgil Motsinger.  They were coming from Rend Lake College after their game was rained out.

My maternal grandfather Weldon “Doc” Flannagan worked for IDOT and just got home from work, north of Akin.   He was ready to sit down and eat supper (conbread and fried potatoes were involved somewhere) and WSIL-TV came on with a bulletin that said that Thompsonville was hit by a tornado and who is not dead, they are packing out in ambulances.

He took off in his state truck and was able to get as far as Carlile Road.  At 60 years old, he ran from there to our house on Main Street, two blocks south of the highway.

This was irresponsible journalism at its least.  I can remember the days in the 70’s, well lets say Channel 3 news was a joke putting it mildly.  There were several that told me lives were saved by the warnings issued by a new FM country station that just came on the air, WDDD in Marion.

My aunt and uncle, Gary and Deb Marvel lost their home in the tornado.  She was seven months pregnant (Leslee) and had a two year old (Michelle) in the basement when the house collapsed.

A reporter from the St. Louis Globe Democrat took a picture of Michelle in the door facing of the house, the only thing that was standing.  United Press International  ran that picture across the nation.  Also, there was reports on the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.

The next several days was noisy, as the media and several emergency workers ascended on the small village.

I had a conversation with my Kindergarten teacher, Carol Kern, several years ago.  We had half day kindergarten when I was that age.  The kids in the rural areas went to school in the morning.  In the afternoon, those that lived in town went to school. She would tell me those of us in that afternoon class would always have twisters that destroyed houses with Lincoln Logs and Tinkertoys. Most of our pictures on manila paper, were black tornadoes doing damage.

I have always been a weather enthusiast.  Some has interpreted this as fear.  I think someone that was an infant at 364 days old could sense his surroundings.  From the lifelong talk, I know the capabilities of the fury from severe weather.

Fast forward to year 2001.  It was a cold April day, that warmed up to 70 degrees after dark.  Late that night there was a severe weather outbreak.  There was a microburst that cut through Sesser, downing several trees in the park.  This spawned a tornado east of town.

There was an EF-2 tornado that went down Route 34 also that night, in the town that is T’ville’s arch rival, Galatia.  There was one that cut a swath of destruction, killing some in the Southern Seven counties.

I was living south Sesser then.  You could see the tornado in the lightning, and could hear on the scanner a Franklin County deputy chasing it.   There was a three year old boy that was standing with his daddy at the back door, not scared but mesmerized.

That three year old boy is 18 now, is a weather enthusiast, and going to study meteorology in college.