Comments: A neighbor, Mr. James Fagan, worked for Chance Vought. They had a son named Gary Gene and also a Hudson Hornet. I remember Gary Gene and me standing up in the back between the front and back seats in that giant car as his mother, Jane, drove us all to Sears on Jefferson where Gary Gene and I got to visit the big candy department in the basement. I was probably six years old. Now I wonder what it was I'd planned for dinner tonight. The Hudson was dark green and had velour seats like a movie theater.
Comments: Phil and Jud my dad worked at Chance Vought and that is how we got transferred from Connecticut to here. Best thing that happened to my family.
Comments: I have just started finding out about the 50th reunion to be held in Oct this year. I live in Garland now and am married to Ron, a wonderful man. I have 2 grown daughters and one grandaughter, Sophia, who is 15 years old. She lives in Little Rock, AR. I am looking forward to getting to know people. Laura
Comments: Phil, my Dad also worked nights at Chance Vought.
Comments: We lived in Wynnewood 2835 Bristol Drive, time of tornado, my dad worked night shift at Chance Vought. I remember going out on front porch, it got so quiet! Dad told me to get in the house! It went through part of Wynnewood, saw it go by! Scary. We got our water at well by Stevens Park golf course. Notice photo of dry White Rock Lake..very little trash, Lake Travis looked like a trash dump as it dried up.
Comments: Thanks for the reminders of "The Tornado". Long time ago but vivid as heck. I lived at 2822 Harlandale and only remember hearing about it, didn't see it or any of the other memories that my classmates have. Thanks again for sharing.
Comments: Annette's death saddened me like the passing of someone I knew personally. She was so adorable as a kid, and then all those movies with Frankie Avalon that portrayed innocent young love -- well, all that is part of the fabric of our generation.
Comments: I was just reading the posts about the tornado. That's the last year we lived in Dallas. We lived on the NW corner of Sunnyvale and Custer. I remember looking out the back window at Jeff Bryant's house on the corner of the next street. He lived on the SE corner of whatever that street was. The tornado went down the length of the north side of that street and left everything else as if nothing had happened.
Comments: I, too, am saddened by Annette's death. Other generations don't realize the impact the Mickey Mouse Club had on ours. I adored Annette. Heck, I wanted to be her, notwithstanding my comparative lack of beauty, personality, charm, talent, etc. Bless her heart; she fought hard against the beast that is MS...
Comments: So sad to learn of Annette Funicello's death. I couldn't wait to get home from school and watch The Mickey Mouse Club. I didn't visit Disneyland until I was 40, but I got my "ears" just like all the little kids.
Comments: Yes, and we walked home with the water jugs balanced on our heads.
Comments: How did I miss you guys living in Zimbabwe?
Comments: I remember driving to the zoo and filling up empty plastic milk jugs with artesian water to drink. The approach to the spigots was muddy. I asked if there was monkey pooh in the water since it was from a well beneath the zoo. Apparently not (or monkey pooh is not all that bad for a person) because i am still here. Red River water was full of sediment that messed up our water heater.
Comments: I remember going down close to the zoo with my daddy to get the water.
Comments: In 1956, my older sister was a freshman at NTSU. I remember vividly my dad driving us to Denton to enroll her that fall. When we went over the bridge at Garza-Little Elm Reservoir, I couldn't help but think it looked like a desert and that it would never fill up. Then I remember driving across that same bridge a few months later after the tornado and all the rain, and being scared because the water was lapping about 2 feet from the bridge, and it looked like an ocean.
Comments: I grew up thinking grass was brown. Then it started raining, and I learned it's really supposed to be green.
Comments: Here's a link to a comment about the drought that began in 1953. Interesting photo of White Rock Lake drying up. http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2010/12/as_drought_looms_a_look_back_a.php
Comments: Yes, Charlotte, it was that drought. I think we were into it for at least 6 years by that time. We moved to Oak Cliff in '56 and there were water restrictions even back then. We got water piped in from the Red River and you didn't dare drink it. We used to go every Saturday morning to the Lion's Club down by the zoo. There were artesian wells on the property and they let you fill two jugs (any size) for drinking water. Also, the Corp of Engineers was building the Garza-Little Elm Reservoir and said it would take 7 years of normal rain to fill it. It took one month after the tornado!
Comments: Sharon, was that awful drought just before that tornado ???
Comments: Gee, I wish we had a "Like" button for all these comments here.
Comments: Of course, it happened before my time but I can recall my folks talking about the "big tornado of '57" when they lived on Calcutta Drive. On that day my mother recounted to me that she was in Parkland Hospital and had an ideal view of the twister as it bounced around.
Comments: I was in an afterschool program at Jefferson Davis Elem;we were on the playground when a teacher/coach told everyone to get inside. We went into the hallway outside of the gym and assumed the position. The tornado became airbound right before the school, came right over the top of Jefferson Davis, but did not harm the school. It then came back down right across the street from the school and proceed to wipe out houses in its path heading down Singleton Avenue. None of the kids were concerned because other than the doors rattling and the noise it made we didn't know what was going on - too young and naive to get scared. Guess you can say we dodged the bullet on that one.
Comments: I was still living in Detroit, as we didn't move to Dallas until August that year. But my Dad was already down here, working at Security Engineering -- a branch of Dresser Industries, later Halliburton -- at the corner of Illinois and Westmoreland, and they got some killer photos of the massive tornado on the ground, right across the street, again, probably dumb for just standing out there watching it.
Comments: I remember walking home from Harrell Budd with Judy Wells and remarking that this was certainly tornado weather! But I was actually glued to the TV when my brother came running into the house. The next thing I knew, he and my mom were running from the kitchen to the front yard. It was far enough away that I thought the debris was leaves, but then realized it was roof tops. I think I needed glasses about that time. Of course, that tornado caused the drought to break and it rained for a solid month.
Comments: Home alone at 2211 Harlandale.(House is no longer there.) My mother was running around Dallas and saw the tornado from 'the viaduct'..She decided to come home. Didn't get near that house.. Jumped over my GM's house...over near Sunset. Left a path over there. My mother was having a 'hissy fit' as we drove over to GM's house, because of the destruction. When we got to Waverly Dr., there was my GM on the porch, watching the sky and watching for us.. It was a welcome relief to see her on her porch, safe and alive.
Comments: I was at a "rock & roll" band practice at Bill Johnson's house with Vick Haak, Tommy McGown, and I forget who was playing drums. We were a short lived act for a talent show at Harrell Budd. Did Elvis medley. His house was at a highpoint east of Marsalis and that gave us a great view of the incredible destruction.
Comments: My mother was on the bus, too, coming home from city hall. Sounds like everyone was outdoors, waiting to get whacked in the head by flying debris. Guess we were all very fortunate.
Comments:
Comments: Standing in the street watching it go by with the rest of the neighbors. STUPID
Comments: What were you doing 56 years ago today? I was standing outside the beauty shop at Overton and Ramona, stinky perm curlers on my head, watching he tornado spin past. |
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