Wow what a recording! Great job giving that some air play Lorraine!

Wow, what a find. That's as descriptive as any modern day digital recording. Especially the mention of a car dropping from the sky onto 95th St.

Kehe certainly took a chance on his life by being out in that deadly storm. Non the less, he did a
great job on his eye-witness account of the storm's fury. I remember the storm well, as I didn't
live too far away (8700 South in Chicago). We did get significant damage in my area, but no
where near the devastation that Oak Lawn experienced. That storm and Kehe's report gave
Chicagoans a new respect for Tornadoes/Thunder Storms......they can happen anywhere.

The eye-witness audio paired with those incredible pics gave me chills. Wow!

Just hearing that brought back some scarry memories, I lived at 92nd and mayfield at the time and I was only 8yrs old, my grandma called me home frome a friends house which I was playing at who lived right behind Oak Lawn high school, 5 minutes later the storm hit, my grandma and I were huddled behind a couch in the house very scarred, she got up for a second to look out the window and saw the tornado going by, I'll never forget that.....

I definitely would have been swearing a lot more. Mr. Kehe would have made a hell of a radio broadcaster. There is a longer 58-minute version at the Oak Lawn Library, which I believe was the narrative for a State Farm Insurance film of the damage after the tornado, made in conjunction with "Mr. Fran Plummer of Oak Lawn." It is an outstanding historical record of this catastrophic storm. I hope everyone goes to the library's Local History Room to listen to it. I thank Kevin Korst, the local history coordinator and Linda Atkins, the public information officer, both who have been so kind and supportive of Patch since day one, and of course, our wondering "history guy" Adam Bednar who writes our "Lost Oak Lawn" column.

I was ten years old and living in Des Plaines, IL, the day this storm struck. My dad had taken me to Jewel to buy food for my Girl Scout hike the next day. By then, the Belvidere tornado had already struck and my parents were shaken by the number of children boarding the school buses that were killed. An F1 formed over Schiller Park south of O'Hare Airport (Des Plaines was north of the airport, which may explain why I am partially deaf from airplanes flying overhead at low altitudes every two minutes). The sky turned green, and my dad grabbed me and we hightailed it home. At 5:30 p.m., the Oak Lawn tornado struck. It cast a pall over the entire Chicago area for days afterwards.

We lived in Park Forest at the time and the storm roared thru our town tearing shingles from our roof. I called my sister in Oak Lawn and after a few minutes she had to hang up and her family ran to the basement...didn't talk to her again for two days.

You really have to give credit to Kehe for having the tenacity to remain outside for so long. I've had the unfortunate luck of being stuck near two tornados, but I can hardly imagine being in the middle of one. I'd encourage anyone who is interested to check out the longer version Lorraine mentioned, which includes original news broadcasts from that fateful day. The library also has an amazing collection of newspaper and magazine clippings related to the storm.

Chilling recording ...thanks for sharing.

I remember Bob Kehe, he was the friendly Coral manager and a neighbor. He lived in the 9200 blk of 51st and we were in the 9400 blk, our homes received a loose shingle or two but 9200 was devasted. My husband was on the O.L. police department and was taking a college course at Bogan H.S. someone came in and started yelling that O.L. had been hit by a tornado he ran from class and got into the car and started driving from 79th & Pulaski (Crawford) every way he went was blocked he finally got stopped at 90th & 52nd and started to run home he met a neighbor near the Village hall who told him I was at my parents with the kids. He went right to the station and started helping where ever he could.
I didn't see him for 3 or 4 days except to nap and change clothes, he helped pull some of the people out of the grocery store at 95th & S.W. My brother was suppose to be confirmed that night at St. Gerald's that
didn't happen.
Karra Jelley Kestian

I had just turned five and hadn't started school yet. My little brother, who was three at the time, and I had been in day care that spring. We were coming home on the little school bus on the day of the tornado. I don't think the staff knew what to do other than take the children home. The poor bus driver must have been scared out of her mind. She had dropped off the last child in that mobile home park on 91st and Cicero and still had to drop us off at 94th and Ridgeland. She parked the little bus along the east side of a red brick building - maybe the laundry or office facility for the park - and we just sat there in the middle of the tornado. I remember my poor little brother crying and trying to crawl under a seat, the bus driver yelling at him not to do that and seeing that great big, huge, wide, dirty tornado spinning in front of us to the north. All kinds of debris and chunks of buildings were flying at the bus. I was paralyzed with fear and could do nothing except stare out the window at it. I don't remember how or when we finally got home, but my parents later told us that they had been at the temporary morgues with the neighbors looking for our bodies. Hearing that recording brings all of those emotions back. Incredible. Just incredible. I'm terrified of storms to this day and am always looking for funnel clouds when the weather gets bad.

Great story Lorraine I was only 3 months old and living in Chicago at the time. It really felt like the reader was right there!!

Holly, that is truly a horrifying memory, and here you are 44 years later telling the tale. The Airway Trailer Park was decimated. Who knows why some lived and others didn't. The older I get, the more I believe in fate, as much as I don't want to. I know there are many areas where I'm not in control.

Great article and recording. My parents, grandparents and aunts and uncles all remember that day very well.

Positively chilling! Though my parents, whose home was directly in the path of the tornado, have described it to me (I was away at college) in vivid detail, actually HEARING it was incredibly emotional to me. This video is a historical treasure!

Thank you for this. I was 11 years old living at 77th and Cicero and I was outside when this happened. We lived about a mile from where it touched down, but I remember the top of it passing over our house. Never saw the funnel. Afterwards, the National Guard closed everything down around it. I remember the Coral Theater very well. That was where our parents always took us to see movies - long before videos or DVDs.

This is an exceptionally rare and very valuable piece of audio. How kind of you to share it with us.

My family and I survived the Oak Lawn tornado. I will never forget that day. I was 14 at the time and am now 58. We lived at Oak Center Dr and Maple Ave, 1 block east of Central Ave. My Mom sensed that a very bad storm was coming by the green color in the sky and the stillness preceeding the tornado. I will never forget the look of the sky or the wierd feeling in the air. I was the oldest of the 4 children. My Mom had put my 2 sisters and my brother in the basement under a very heavy table in the northwest corner of the basement. Her and I ran back upstairs to open the windows one inch as that is what they advised you to do in case of a tornado. As we were doing that we looked out the front kitchen windows in the direction of Southwest Hwy. and 95th St. There it was, a Huge Black Funnel Cloud with 3 or 4 little tornados dipping down on each side of it out of the surrounding clouds. We could not believe what we were seeing. We were fascinated and terrified at the same time. We almost couldn't move to safety as we were compelled to watch this huge tornado, something we had never seen before in our lifetime and hope to never see again. My Mom finally said we had to run to the basement for our lives. Thankfully the tornado turned to the north a bit and didn't come straight for our home. It was so close. I still feel so badly for everyone who lost their loved ones and their homes. The feeling in Oak Lawn for that whole year and longer was so devastating. Tears in my eyes. Cyndi B.

I was 12 and living in Mount Greenwood (at 110th and St. Louis). For some reason I was home (was that a holiday? or maybe I was sick... I just can't figure out why I was home and can't remember whether my younger sisters were home as well) and my mother and I watched the funnel cloud start to pass over our house. At that point, we headed into the basement. There was no damage in our area because the tornado didn't touch down in Mount Greenwood, but I remember the sky being a weird colour and seeing the funnel cloud.

I was 8 yrs old .I lived at85th and mayfield.The tornado sirens went off.I was on my bike and the wind blew me all the way home.I ran for the house and my bike was thrown into the garage door.My dad was a Burbank fireman so he took me to see damage the next day.I remember the green bus twisted in half and the roller rink was gone.My dad was pretty shaken up for the next couple days.

Fantastic recording..Remember that night well..My dad rushed us all from the dinner table down the stairs while it passed.. we
were at 92nd and Parkside and only had junk everywhere afterwards.. A part of redwood wall from the restaurant at SW Hwy and 95th was in our neighbor's yard..One of our friends, Jim Holcer's house at 94th and Parkside was half gone..( it's actually shown in 3 different photos in this articles' pictures..) Had a bus sitting on Stanley Clements house(kid I went to school with) across from the OL ball field. My sister's boyfriend had just left our house and ended up holding on to the gas meter on the side of the house at SW Hwy and Parkside.(behind the Homestead) he lived down on 93rd and 53rd ave. and his house was ok..Once you hear that sound like a locomotive running right next to you with that ugly dark green sky you Never forget experiencing a tornado! Pat Flanigan

My father was a heavy equipment operator for the city of Chicago. He was called in to help Oak Lawn with the cleanup in the aftermath of the tornado. He worked for days in Oak Lawn. And when he came home at night, he cried over the devastation hie saw. It was one of the only times I saw my father cry.

Thank God that our meteorologists have the tools and knowledge to predict these storms in advance and that these sirens are hopefully in everyone's hearing distance. When I hear the predictions, I start gathering the parrot, the cats, my husband and son and we all head down into the basement with a cell phone, a radio and the landline phone. We squat beneath the stairwell in the basement until the sirens stop. While I was on the bus, my dad, six year old sister and grandmother were at home across the street from the Concorde and Monticello nursing homes on 94th and Ridgeland. My dad tried to get my grandmother to go into the crawl space with him and my sister. She couldn't move. She watched the tornado spin down the road heading eastwards from the south facing picture window. Afterwards, there was a huge black long wave pattern left along the length of the north facing wall of the nursing home.

It was a storm to remember! The day was a very unusually humid and still day. I remember getting ready for Friday night at the Hometown Canteen on South West Highway when my mother told me to get out of the shower because it was storming. When the sirens went off my mom and some siblings headed for the inside bedroom closet. My brother and I put up a mattress over the window as we looked at a pink and green sky. We knew this was serious! I grabbed the cat, who was running around wildly and headed for under a bed in the same bedroom. We prayed for everyone's safety as the sirens continued their wail. When things quieted down we went to the living room and looked out to debris in the street. When I calmed my wobbly legs, I went outside and walked down the street of South West Highway, to see houses leveled and a car overturned as well as a bus. Lines were down and there was no power. The next few days were as walking through a nightmare with police and ambulance sirens going off, helping people whose homes were hit badly, the national guard at all major intersections with barricades, and experiencing snow after the tornadoes. It is a part of my history that will never be forgotten.

I will never forget that day. I was at my friend's house at 87th and Cicero and my mom sent my older brother to get me as quickly as possible as she knew the weather was only getting worse. He picked me up on his 5 speed....he told me to hold on as he needed to get us home fast. I was 9 at the time and my brother was 12. We got home and all 5 of us siblings and my mom ran into the middle bedroom...some in the closet...some under the bed. My dad was a Chicago Fire Fighter and was on duty that day. My brother ran out to the living room and told my mom that our drapes were standing straight out....it became very silent and all went still before the tornado made it distructive path. The wind and sound of the tornado was very loud....I recall covering my ears and my mom with the rosary and having us all pray. After the tornado we all went out and looked around....much devistation just houses from us....along Southwest Highway in Hometown. Our house was not damaged...we were one of the lucky ones.

Scouter is having some trouble submitting comments. Per her request, I am copying and pasting her story here.

This is what I remember about the tornado - I was 7 years old when it hit - 5 days after my birthday. My dad was a Boy Scout Leader of Troop 612 - located in the Southfield area - and a Bridgeview Trustee. He and his Boy Scout Troop helped with traffic, food drives and clean up. I remember standing at our back door and watching that funnel cloud coming down. We lived near St Regis Paper Products – right by the parking lot - and my mom got upset because I came out (I was a curious 7 year old) to see and was standing by my dad. I remember his words "Oh MY God! It's a bad one!" and then after making sure we were all ok, he got in his car, with first aid stuff, shovels, etc and some coffee in a thermos. When it was over, he headed out to where the Church of the Annunciation was (now where Culver's is) and met up with the troop. And they worked for what seemed like days. My husband, then a young Boy Scout in my dad's troop, remembers other things. He was also part of the First United Methodist Church of Oak Lawn, and remembers Helen Linderborg and the congregation setting up a shelter and a first aid station at First United... And he remembers the destruction and the work of all of those volunteers and how everyone pulled together...

Thanks to everyone who has shared their tornado stories. They are all incredible stories of strength, faith and survival. Next year, I will compile them all into a story.

There are actually three known photos in existance for the Oak Lawn Tornado. Besides the one that appeared in LIFE magazine and the other famous one Elmer C. Johnson took at 88th/Harlem, there was a rare 3rd photo of the tornado, which was also taken by Elmer C. Johnson, it can be seen on his Flicker photo collection here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39565304@N04/4339190233/in/photostream/

I was 11 yrs old and living at 99th pl & Central in Oaklawn when the tornado hit. I was at little league practice at Brandt school. When the weather started to get bad our coach Mr Waleski loaded up our bikes in his station wagon and drove a bunch of us home. I remeber the sky turning a shade of green and everything getting really still for a short time. Then there was this roar and my mom and I went into the basement, dad was at work. It wasn't until the tornado passed that we realized what happened. As the cleanup got underway, I remember me and my friends standing along Central Ave. as the public works truck and National Guard trucks drove by carrying debri and we would run out onto the street and pick up whatever fell out of the trucks and move it off the roads. I learned that a lot of my friends homes suffered damage along with the Oaklawn roller rink and high school. I remeber the first time I drove by 95th & Southwest Highway and could not believe everything was gone. Watching this incredible video and seeing the Coral Theatre brings back a lot of memories. Russ Petrick

I was three at the time of the tornado, we lived in hometown, while relatives lived in Oak lawn. I remember the front of the house looked the same, but once u walked thru the front door... there was nothing else. I am still fasinated ny these storms.

Laura Waters Sharwarko
I remember playing in the yard. The hail came and we were giggling and collecting the giant ice balls. Then my dad saw the tornado coming and told us to get in the house. We didn't have a basement, so we huddled in the hallway. It sounded like a train. I was 9 years old, screaming, and scared to death. It was so loud and pitch black. Then it left, and it was quiet. My dad had to leave to help those injured. He was gone a long time that night and I was frightened for him. When he came home, he looked like a ghost. He had to help find bodies at the trailer park that was hard hit. The next few days, he took us to see the damage. It made me feel awful. The roller rink was hit, the Oak Lawn high school hit, homes destroyed, cars all over. Not sure I've ever gotten over it. A man who installed the pool in my current home a few years ago lost his mom in the tornado. This recording brought it back like it was yesterday. Can't believe we haven't seen this before! Thanks for sharing.

Sometimes it's hard to tell what's real and what isn't in your mind when you're as young as my three year old brother and I, but I'm positive that while we were parked in that trailer park in the school bus, we saw those mobile homes being ripped apart by that tornado. I was old enough to be terrified of that thing, but too young to understand the consequences in terms of death. I remember the mother of one of the children on the bus running out to the bus to get her daughter and as she ran out of the bus back towards her home, the tornado tore one of the homes to shreds a few homes away. I can't remember the sound of it. Just the sights. I remember huge chunks of debris flying straight for me as I sat in the bus and then at the last second a shift in the wind would take the debris off in a different direction. Listening to that tape and reading everyone's comments really dredged up a lot of memories to the point that I almost can't stop remembering bits and pieces. It's been really interesting to read the other comments and it has also been sad to hear the stories of how the damage and deaths of people really impacted and affected those who helped clean up and who were left behind.

I remeber leaving OLCHS early that day, for some reason the after school programs were canceled. Don't know why...I would have been in the pool. Leaves me with chills thinking about it.

Charlie Fisher
I was working at American Machine Co. when this happened. About one block east of Cicero on S.W. Hwy.

It made me cry, I have never heard this recording. I felt like I was there with him,what a scary event! It makes me think even more of the earthquake,Tsnami and other horrific tornados that effected so many lives around the world.

My mom was one of the many people who thought we'd never get a tornado because of Lake Michigan providing some kind of protection. That notion in her mind was forever changed on the afternoon of April 21st, 1967. I was only 2 months old at the time, but my mom always said the clouds that day looked different than she’d ever seen before; eerie, dirty, and seemed to be hanging very low. Late that afternoon, my mom was changing my diaper while my 10 year old brother was looking out the window at the sky. He then told my mom to come to the window to look at something weird he was observing and he tried describing it, but she was too busy to go look. At some point she heard radio reports of a tornado in the area and she took us into an interior hallway.

It was then that my mom realized it was the tornado my brother saw at the window. Reports about the high school being hit alarmed her because my sister had been taking late classes there and was then heading to my grandma's in Burbank that evening. There was no dial tone to make any calls to see if she made it safely. Fortunately, my sister had already left the school before the tornado came. My mother recalled that a couple days following the tornado, there was a light snow!

I was living at 7300 and Philips in Chicago and can remember the wood floating down the street . I was eleven!
My mother told us to get in the basement to ride the storm out. The last thing I remember is my Mother getting a call from Dad saying that the store he was working had sign on its roof and it got ripped off by the winds and smashed it into the apartment complex accross the street at 8401 So South Shore Dr. My grandparents were not in that complex at the time but if they were they would of been killed by the flying window glass . Scarey

Great Article

The tornado of 1967 was the second one I remember hitting Oak Lawn, the other one was in April of 1961. I lived on the South Side of Chicago, and half of the roof from the next door neighbors house was on our roof, and their garage which was facing North and South, was turned in an East-West direction. I remember hearing the same sound then, and there was a greenish-yellow cast right afterwards. The 1961 one didn't have many lives lost, as did 1967. Thanks for sharing the recording with us, now we should all know what they sound like, and how quickly everything happens.

I was living in Hometown on Main Street when it hit...it was VERY close. This is the first time I've heard this recording, and it is amazing. However, it still doesn't give you the sense of how incredibly loud the tornado was. I was 15 at the time, and of course, I'll never forget it.

I was 11 when the tornado hit. My mom worked at Saratoga Motor Lodge by Ford City. She knew that her nine kids were at home. She left work immediately and headed home. When she got to 87th and Cicero police refused to let her go farther. She abandoned her car, took off her heals and ran the 1.5 miles home in her bare feet, terrified that her children and home may have perished. She arrived home to find us all safe inside, thanks to the protective herding of my older brothers and sisters, but many others were not as fortunate. The tornado had a profound impact on me and everyone in our community. This video and recording brings back that horrid day and reduces me to tears.

My father and I watched the storm arrive that afternoon from our kitchen window at 99th and Clifton Park in Evergreen! A lady leaving a store on 99th street was blown on the street and forced upon our front door having only the handle from her food cart still in her hand! Most of our family volunteered at Christ hospital at the time, and spent many hours helping the wounded and homeless! Allen De Normandie

I remember the stillness, the green sky, and was amazed by the width of the tornado as we watched it from 89th and Central. And then the hail and rain. The sirens roared all night. What a find! Wonderful pictures of the old Coral Theatre, long before the multi-screens and home theatre systems. Loved getting Green River from the soda machine. Miss that place! He took quite a chance staying outside.

10 years earlier, a tornado followed a similiar path. Melody Lane on 87th street just east of Ashland was detroyed by both!

Bonnie Bastick Doyle I ememeber that day well. Me and my sister went to Ford City Shopping Center at 77th and Cicero. Our Mother heard about the storm coming and came to pick us up. When she got there we saw the funnel cloud and she put us in the car and got out of there fast. The next day my friend and I went (with cameras) to take pictures of the damage for our boyfriends who were in the Navy and Air Force. We ran into the nNational Guard and they told us to get out of there that they had orders, shoot to kill. We made trackes...

I remember arriving at my Aunt's house for dinner just before the tornado hit! MY cousin say the tornado just a block from their house and called her mom to see the funnel cloud not knowing what it was. She told us all to head for the basement as she lite palms from the stove and let them burn in the kitchen sink. It sounded like a frieght train coming down the drive way. My uncle had a very hard time getting home (had to show ID to get in). They got a beam thrown into their roof but not much more damaging. We all prayed while laying on the basement floor. The tornado looked like a ball of fire going through the driveway. Half of St Geralds school was toren off. Thank God we all survied without any injuries. I'll never forget the sounds and sited of this terrible devistation. Markers were torn up at St Mary's cemetary. Whenever we have tornado warning now I get everyone into the basement as soon as it gets still ourside and the sirens go off! We live further South now and it"s more open where we're at so I take all precaution to keep us safe! I too, remember the recording the Coral manager made taking his life in his own hands and being lucky to be alive after that! God Bless all who survived !

Sandy of Frankfort IL

There is a Facebook page for the Oak Lawn tornado where people can join and share their stories:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=59847957720

Jim Martin. We lived at 91st and Menard and I was preparing to attend a confirmation event at St. Gerald church. My mom ran into the house and told me and my three younger sisters to get under the kitchen table. We were po folk and didn't have a basement. I remember the noise and the debris against the window and the panic of my mother as my older sister and brother were at large. My mother put me in charge of my sisters while she went out in the car searching for her other children. She found my sister one block away in her girlfriend's basement and my brother called from Vicks Barbershop to tell me he was on his way home. We still don't know how he got through.I remember the sirens all night and my grandmother arriving in tears and her relief that we were all safe. I remember touring the area in disbelief that next day and later watching the remaining part of St. Geralds School demolished by workers and having to finish the school year at St. Nicholas the Greek School. I also remember the National Gaurd on the corner of 91st and Menard for the following week or so and how well they were treated by the citizens of Oak Lawn. I remember the constant stream of people dropping off food and beverages for these fine gaurdsmen as they provided protection and security to the village.

I was on the North Palos Fire Department that day. First touch down was at 104th and 88th. Ave. which was vacant acreage then. After a diagonal path thru Palos Hills, the tornado followed 95th Street east into Oak Lawn and then along southwest highway, and into Hometown. I spent several days in Oak Lawn, after checking the damaged homes in Palos Hills for casualties. Thankfully our City was spared from serious injury, though there was lots of damage along the path. I still remember standing watch at a damaged home just west of St. Geralds on SW hwy, and watching snow fall upon the owners sofa.
Mike Wunder, Palos Hills

Like Susan, I was scheduled to be in the pool area to take photos of the swim team for the yearbook since I was the Shield sponsor. That would have placed dozens of us in the pool, but somehow, the photo session was cancelled. Don't know who made that fateful decision, but how fortunate. Didn't find out about the tornado and it's destructiveness until I came across some friends I was meeting at the Candlelight theater that night. At first I thought they were just kidding me. Soon found out the terrible truth.

The one that went through the S. side of Chicago was also bad I watched cars rolling sideways east on 87th street. just east of Mellody Lane. I was in the then VFW hall on 87th and Troop st. The tornado through the chimney through the roof and busted a 3' x1' beam. So I lived through both of them. Which was worse??? You guess

Dennis Spicer

The only color photo of the tornado shows it in back of Dominick's Finer Foods.
I was in the back of the store working in the produce dept.
It hopped over the store and headed right for the trailer park that it decimated in Hometown.
I guess I was really lucky that day; something I'll never forget.

And if I recall correctly, Dennis, the Dominick's store had quite a few customers in it and people were relieved it did not go there. However, the devastation of the roller rink and the young lives taken there were the hardest to take. I did not know about the children in Belvidere. How shocking and tagic. I was 9 years old and we lived on Spring Rd in Oak Lawn so our house was not damaged that I ever heard of but our family suffered the terrible loss of my Mom's Dad, my beloved Grampa William (Bill) Jackson, a gentle giant of a man who taught me to play War at cards with him. He was in the tavern that was kitty korner from Oak Lawn High School, on SW Highway there. It was demolished and as I understand it, a still-running automobile landed on the bar and pinned him and several other people. His chest was crushed but he was conscious long enough to talk to the other people trapped and injured, tell them jokes and reassure them that help would be coming soon. I think he was near the exhaust and that it overcame him at last. I think he was a hero.

Oddly enough, though I did not know him then my husband is the son of Jerome Z. Harmon who set up the temporary morgue at the VFW hall in Oak Lawn where my Grampa had to be identified by my devastated Grandmother and my aunt Karen. The funerals left a deep impression on me, mostly because there was at least one child's funeral at the very same time as my Grampa's. They had to do them all together, the wakes and all. She was a beautiful little girl in her First Holy Communion dress. Yep, this brought it all back and then some. I was in our tiny bathroom with 5 of my brothers and sisters and my Mom so I didn't hear or see anything but afterwards, ever afterwards NO ONE in Oak Lawn ever relaxed during bad storms and we all would go out and look at the sky for telltale green for YEARS after.

My dad's office was at 95th and Major, not a window was broke, while across the street the entire block of 94th and Major was decimated--nothing was left standing. Kind of funny, last week my sisters and I were packing things up at my parents house and we found the Oak Lawn paper that was printed the following week with pictures of the devastation. My dad was a doctor and was on his way home from work when he heard the sirens (on Southwest Highway and Harlem). He turned around to go back because he knew that people would need medical help. Mary Fran Fitzgerald Novak

I lost my father in that tornado. His name was Bill Welser. He was a carpenter on his way home from work and was at 95th & SW Hwy. I was 10 at the time and the scars from that night will never heal. He was truly a wonderful man who went to church (St. Catherine's) every day, and worked on all our neighbor's homes. My mother (Ann) was left to raise my brother and sister and me. She never remarried, and devoted her life to us. She passed on 1/5/10. I miss you and love you mom!

I'll never forget.it was a friday i think and i was 10 years old ,we all went to the basement to shelter ourselfs. and i love the song as years went by ,but the radio was playing the hit song from the supremes at the time,and you know how music or songs make you think of what happened in your life at that spusifacte place and time when you heard it. well it was the song the happening.jim talber

Don W.
Wow,what a fantastic account!
We had just stopped at the McDonald's minutes prior to the tornado. I placed our order when my wife came in with our son in her arms. We dropped to the floor and shielded as many children as we could when all Hell broke lose. It didn't last very long but the roar was deafening. When it was apparent that the worst was over, several of the employee's began lifting the customers over the counter to safety.

My leg was cut up pretty bad and one of the employees wrapped it with an apron. Our car sustained some damage but not enough to prevent us from driving to Christ Hospital. As we drove through the intersection of 95th and Cicero, the traffic signals were out. Somehow we managed to get to the hospital where I was dropped off as my wife took our son to her parents. The hospital emergency room was empty as the ambulances had not begun bringing in the victims of the tornado.

I must have been the first to arrive at the emergency room as no one knew about the tornado. My hair was mussed, I was soaked from the rain but the bloody apron around leg gave me away as someone who definitely needed attention. With that the ambulances arrived at the emergency room door. I was pressed into wheeling in some of the injured. I can still remember seeing a number of victims still wearing their roller skates as they had been skating at the badly damaged rink across from McDonald's.

We came back the next day and our order was still sitting on the counter.

I was riding the El on my way home from work in downtown Chicago. Our train slowed down and stopped right on the curve at 43rd & Indiana. The doors popped open and there we were hanging at a slant over the Dan Ryan Expressway. Because the El was so crowded with rush hour passengers, I was standing in front of the door with an acquaintance. I was holding onto a pole, but she wasn't and I remember grabbing at her when the doors opened. Of course, no one on thge train knew about the tornado, but we could see the dark skies and knew something extraordinary was going on with the weather. The train eventually regained electricity and inched into the 63rd & Loomis station and we all went home to the tragic news of the destruction that hit Oak Lawn. It has taken me years to not panic when the weather turns strange and warning sirens go off.

What a day, I had a class a the Oak Lawn Roller Rink that night, but because the weather was not that good , my dad said I could'nt go , man I was so made!!!! Thank God for small disappoments.Remember one of the girls had to have something like 800 stiches or more in her leg. Very sad
Kathy Callahan

As a junior at OLCHS we should have been at gymnastics practice that Friday evening but it was called off because our coach was helping at a track meet. After the tornado ripped our high school in half, we walked by to find the bleachers in the gym we practiced in, across the street. That gym was gone.

Lou Brancaccio

I was a few weeks away from turning 7 years old when the Oak Lawn tornado came through. I remember that day. I have never seen the sky as green as it was. I lived on 72nd Springfield at that time. I remember the wind and the sky and being terrified. I also remember driving down 95th street not long after that day. There was so much damage. It was a very scary experience.
I never heard of this recording until just now. This is very interesting and well done. It brings back some good memories of the Coral theater too. I went there many times and was very sorry to see it go. Thank you for sharing this.

I was a sophmore in high school at Richards. Was walking home after track practice when the tornado struck. We lived on 99th street and 50th court. My whole family was looking out the window watching the tornado. We were so lucky that it turned north before it got to us. My Dad and I volunteered at the Masonic Temple the next day. It was being used as a relief center. We helped unload a semi truck full of supplies provided by the Jewel Food Store. One of my friends and his father volunteered at the Oak Lawn VFW. It was being used as a temporary morgue. May God bless them both.

It was a day that NOBODY from Oak Lawn or the surrounding communities will ever forget. I lived in Hometown at the time and my home sustained major damage , I grew up in Oak Lawn and was familiar with what, after April 21st was no more!

My father lost his life, as well, on that day at 95th & SW Hwy. His name was Pat Golden, and he and Bill Welser were waked across from one another at the Blake-Lamb funeral home. Our mothers met and became lifelong best friends. My mom raised three kids alone, too, and they were a comfort to one another.

Reading the experiences of what so many went through on that day just makes me feel even more the heartbreak that the folks in Joplin MO must be going through right now and what will obviously continue to effect them the rest of their lives. May God continue to Bless those of you who survived and bring comfort to those who are living it right now.

Very true about the feelings for those in Missouri and Oklahoma who are currently living this nightmare. Every time I hear about tornadoes, I'm immediately taken back to that day in Oak Lawn.

My mom and I had a Friday ritual: after I got home from school (Sward) we'd walk up to Green Oak Center at 95th & Cicero. In and out of stores, killing time. Sometimes we'd see a show at the Coral, and always would stop for a bite to eat at either the snack counter at Kresge, the "greasy spoon" diner next door, White Castle, or maybe to Dean's where they had Green River pop from the fountain.

We were on our way home hoping to beat to the rain when we saw a police car cruising south down an unusually empty Cicero Avenue advising people to take shelter. We ran the rest of the way home to 98th Street just west of Cicero. We got safely inside to discover the power was out. As we dug out candles and flashlights, the rain stopped and it got eerily quiet. We went outside in front and the sky was a strange color of green that I'd never seen before. Then the sound came....like an approaching jet that got louder; like when they do those fly-over maneuvers at ball games. The phones and power stayed down for the rest of the night. We had a portable radio that we listened to and as the night went on we realized just how serious this was.

Sorry to ramble, but this really brought back a flood of memories.

I thought it sounded like a jet, too, rather than a train. A jet is much louder and I also remember the quiet before the funnel came. We all will always remember.

I was only 5 years old at the time; I had 6 brothers, I was the only girl, but remember that I took one of my little brothers, don't remember which one, downstairs in the basement and into a closet, shut the doors tight as I could. No one else was home at the time. I remember my parents were at work and I was real scared. It must have been early evening that some of us were home from school. There were storms, rain, hail, and I had been listening on the t.v. or radio and heard the sirens. I do remember the sky and entire atmosphere being green and knew that was a bad sign. I also remember everything becoming very still; then the dark, and it was then that I brought my brother, probably about 2 0r 3 years old into the closet, shut the door and prayed over and over. The Coral theatre was an integral part of our childhood experience, giving us many, many good family memories together. Thank you for posting this, I live in MI now, this brought back many memories of my childhood growing up in Oak Lawn on 96th & Kostner Ave. We were spared, I remember being shocked at the level of damage all around us. I've always felt blessed & thankful for the protection I feel around me. thanks!

That Coral manager did a great job filming a historical event, ironically, enough, outside the local movie theatre. He left us a piece of Oak Lawn history. I currently live about 3 blocks away from the event. It feels familiar, but I cant recognize anything except the actual Coral theatre building which I remember from my childhood, where, ironically, enough, I saw "Gone With The Wind" for the very first time.

Great article Lorain, what a historical gem .I was about 15 when the tornado went thru Oaklawn . My dad took us for a ride in the car to witness the devastation. I seem to remember a staircase going to nowhere by a school.I think it was a walkway over a highway for the school.That whole event still scares me today.We have seen storms that have the ingredients ( Except the tornado) that Mr.Kehe was describing and have been blessed so far not to have the twister come down.

I was 10 years old and lived in Bridgeview at 9237 Pemboke Lane. From our front yard I watched the twister go down 95th street towards the Coral theater and then proceed towards SW highway. I was home alone as my Dad worked the 3:00 pm to 12:00 am shift for GM at the Fischer body plant in LaGrange. My Mom left earlier to pick up my sister from OLCHS because she wasn't feeling well. Call it luck or what have you but my Mom, Dad, and sister finally made it home hours later. I was never really scared during the twister but so glad we were all in one piece. I now live in Florida so I'm always prepared for hurricanes. You can't say that about twisters.
Perry Neuroth