Health & Fitness

Ron Stufflebeam's Snapshots of Aftermath of Oak Lawn Tornado

Oak Lawn-resident shares personal photos from the day after Oak Lawn Tornado.

Ron Stufflebeam was kind enough to share his personal photographs from the days following the Oak Lawn Tornado, which struck on April 21, 1967.

Says Ron:

"Well, I've had this in my favorite folder for a few years now & never commented on it. After reading some of the comments & seeing one entered by Perry Neuroth who I didn't know at the time, but came to know later in the mid 70's from dating his Sister Shirley I figured it was about time (C;' On this horrific day I was sitting on the front porch of my best friends house. Terry Burks who lived at 95th & Natoma. Him, his Dad & I were sitting out there just discussing the weather not knowing what was heading our way when the sky started turning all different colors & then we saw it. We were like it shock when his Dad (Harold) grabbed us by the arms, we went inside & he yelled get on the floor, guess he didn't know about taking shelter in a bathroom & they didn't have a basement. Well, we laid there hearing all this noise as told about in the recording & after we had realized it had passed us we got up & went to the kitchen window & watched it bounce down 95th street. Later we got in his Dad's car & the 3 of us went down by the High School & was taken with awe at the damage, we were fortunate & didn't see any injured people. At 17 it is not something I would have wanted to see. I took a OneStep Polaroid black & white camera I had with & have almost a dozen photo's of the area around 95th & Southwest Highway by the school. A day I will not ever forget & felt so terrible for all the families & friends affected by this that day."

Do you have a memory or photos to share of the Oak Lawn Tornado of 1967? Feel free to share them on this community blog.


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