47 Years Ago, Where were you?

[Tom Kepshire]

Palm Sunday marks the 47 anniversary of Palm Sunday tornado outbreak actually occurred on April 11, 1965 and involved 47 tornadoes (15 significant, 17 violent, 21 killers) hitting the Midwest. It was the second biggest outbreak on record. In the Midwest, 271 people were killed and 1,500 injured (1,200 in Indiana). It was the deadliest tornado outbreak in Indiana history with 137 people killed. The outbreak also made that week the second most active week in history with 51 significant and 21 violent tornadoes.

I was unfortunate enough to be caught, along with my family, along a highway near Montpellier, IN by an F4 and nowhere to hide but in a ditch. The lime green sky and roaring sound is something that I have always carried with me. Every Palm Sunday, I pause and think back to that evening.  Until 2009, when Lowell Susdorf and I watched the Chesterton tornado pass about 20 yards to the north of us, the Palm Sunday one was closer than I ever wanted to be, less that 100 yards.

[Sharon Eberhard]

I was living in Ft Wayne and that day I was riding a Trailways Co bus from Detroit Mi back to Ft Wayne.   The bus was an old bus and equipped with "armstrong" steering.  The driver had to keep both hands on the the wheel to keep the bus going straight while he drove thru the storm.   When we got to the edge of Ft Wayne,  It was eerie with half the city out of power.  It took me 3 days to make contact with my family in Monon to make sure they were OK.

[James W Smith]

I was in Crawfordsville and I noticed the barometer was the lowest I had ever seen, about 26.5.  We saw one funnel pass by about 3 miles off to the east.  I think that was the one that flattened the Dairy Queen on the south side of C'ville.  It was truly a weird afternoon and evening -- one not soon forgotten.

Imagine living through that and moving to NC only to have an F4 actually hit my house (Raleigh tornado post-Thanskgiving 1988).  I must have brought it with me.   

Jim

[Robert Gibson]

I was a student at Purdue and in my dorm room when the storms broke out.

[Robert Wheeler]

I was working in West (By [not allowed]) Virginia at that time and not bothered

I heard from a cousin in Kokomo that it was two doors north of her house on the West side of town. Her husband missed two days pay because he couldnt get out of the neighborhood.

[George Carpenter (G3)]

I was flat on my back recovering from surgery at Maxwell AFB, Montgomery, Alabama.

[Ken Weller]

I was living in Sweden at the time with my parents and sister.

[Jim Osborne]

I was (still am) living in Indianapolis. With apologies to all, I really have no memory of the '65 outbreak because I was only a year-and-a-half old.

[David Longest]

A sophomore at New Albany High, working evenings at A&W Root beer.  I was a carhop for about a month then asked to
come inside and fry burgers (remember the "Papa & Mama" burgers.  I went from $.47 cents / hour to $.80 / hr.; thought
I was rich.  If I'd known the Monon was in its last years, that money would have gone for a camera.

David

[Tom Kepshire]

For those living along the Indianapolis Branch, April 11, 1965, was there any interruption of service, or damage  to the tracks during the tornado outbreak?? I am in communication with a gentleman, formerly from Terhune, who is working on a paper, or something, and was asking. He specifically asked about the Sheridan area. Gene Remaly, any information?

[Sharon Eberhard]

Tom, at that time, my grandmother lived on W Marion St in Monticello and she was 2 blocks from the tornado path.  She had very minor damage to her home -- a cracked window and 3-4 shingles missing from the roof.   She may have had very minor interruption of electric service but nothing severe enough to warrant moving from her home.

Sharon

[Gene Remaly]

Tom:
Sheridan was in the path of another tornado that day.
I was concentrating my efforts in Monticello and am not aware of Sheridan damage.

There is a photo of a South bound L&N train passing the demolished Monticello depot shortly after the storm. The storm path was about a block wide and the tracks were in the center of a city street, I Imgine it got cleared fairly quickly

[Jim Osborne]

Gene

You're thinking of the April 3, 1974 tornado super outbreak when downtown Monticello was virtually destroyed. That's when the depot was hit.

My father-in-law told me a story of how they came to Monticello from Chicago in 1975 looking for a summer cabin, not knowing about the previous year's devastation. A thunderstom was rolling in as they were looking at a house, and he couldn't understand why the realtor looked so nervous and anxious to leave.

[Gene Remaly]

I was there with our fire dept rescue truck about 2-3 hours after the storm. I stayed for 3 days. After working through the devastation, I can understand why the natives were restless when a black cloud came across town for a long time after.