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Abercrombie, Clotiele B.
Abercrombie, Loyd D. Sr.
Abercrombie, Virgie Blalock
Armstrong, John
Bain, Pamela
Bento, Lola
Box, Dorothy Womack
Campbell, Lu
Holbert, Pearl Shaw
Challis, James E. "Ike"
Cole, Beaver
Coleman, Howard
Cronkite, Walter
Degnan, Julie E.
Duch, Greg
Erikson, Charles Henry
Ezell, Alta Reigh
Farrell, Hal
Gregory, Doug
Grenley, Martha Rogers
Grigg, Horace
Grigg, William N.
Hannon, Bill
Harris, Howard
Johnson, Joe and Bobby
Kronjaeger, Jim
Lester, George
Lester, George - Playmates
Lummus, Darlene
Lummus, Don
Martinez, Nelma Cummins
Mayhew, Bessie
McAllister, Mark
Meissner, J. Raymond
Moody, Mildred
Motley, Pete
Nelson, Ron
Plant, Sally
Platton, Mike
Read, Osceola Jefferson
Robertson, William Judson
Robinson, Jimmie Jordan
Mack Thornton Rogers
Ryan, Terri Jo
Seacrist, Debra
Shaw, Marjorie
Stanley, Glenda G.
Taylor, Bob
Taylor, Jim
Thompson, Bill
Vail, Mary Lechtenberg
Vento, Eduardo
Vinson, Allen Earl
Vinson, Melvin
Williams, William B. |
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My Daddy, Joe Bailey Nelson, was one of the
first responders. He and my sister were coming
back from Kilgore when the explosion occurred.
He stopped to pick up my Mother, going directly
to New London. He worked for Humble Oil and my
family lived in Sexton City at the time (I did
not appear on the scene until 1946 at
Gladewater). As you probably could guess, my
Daddy never, never, never talked about that day
or the days that followed. My older siblings
went to school at Rocky Mount.
We are not related to the Nelson (school
teacher) who died in the explosion.
The Humble people were a tight bunch and many of
them knew each other from Navarro County. The
Bonners, Callaways, and others I can't
remember right now were good friends of my
parents. The Callaways lived next door to my
parents at Sexton City and the Bonners were
friends from Navarro County.
I grew up in Talco and the Cecil Griggs family
was close to my parents. They had a son named
Billy, who was about 8 or 9 years older than me.
Are they related to you?
About my stories. I do have both first hand and
second hand accounts that I have documented. My
sister was about five years old at the time of
the explosion, but she has a very detailed and
graphic recollection of that day, that night,
and subsequent days. Her recollection really
does match up well with the newspaper accounts
(e.g., the lights that were brought in that
night to help with the recovery effort, etc.).
Her most vivid recollection is at the morgue in
Overton, specifically the garage that was used
as a morgue. She was not suppose to be there.
Daddy was identifying bodies for some friends
who could not do it themselves. My sister
"escaped" from the car and went looking for
Daddy. Her height at that age was table high.
You can imagine what she saw. She did document
her memories in graphic detail. Other stories
are second hand (again, neither Mother or Daddy
every talked about it). I hesitate making these
stories public. Most of the people mentioned in
my stories are now dead, but maybe some of the
family is still alive. I do not want to
embarrass anyone or invade anyone's privacy in
this matter. What has been your experience in
this matter? Most of what I have has not been
part of the public record. Both my Daddy and his
twin brother, Jim Nelson, who lived in Overton,
did some things to help out their friends that
even the family of the friends did not know
about (and probably do not know about to this
day). I know some of my parents friends never
recovered from that day. Even though their
physical lives continue, they were dead mentally
and emotionally. Some literally disappeared from
the community, never to come back.
I will tell you that my Daddy cried emotionally
that night, something he did not do. He had been
helping to shore up some walls to go and recover
some students (who were alive). The walls
collapsed. When they finally got to the kids,
they were all dead.
Most who read about New London are naturally
horrified about the event. What they are missing
is how this affected the people around New
London. The people were so tight in the oil
community (and the Navarro county connection),
that even if their children were spared, they
were affected deeply by the loss of life. Some
of the families knew each other for years. My
family knew Mollie Ward's
family (Clyde Seale) forever. |
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Sally Peerson Plant from an email |
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Here's my Mother's recollection of that day.
Daddy and Grandpa went there within minutes of
the blast to see about the kids. One of Momma's
cousins, Maxine Beekman, whose Father was Ira
Beekman (he was the Superintendent of the W. B.
Hamilton Oil Company fields), and whose Mother
was Leona Beekman, went to school there. They
were raising some of Leona's nieces, too, one
Maxine's age named Jessie and an older girl
named Helen. Maxine ended up hanging and
screaming on the corner of a wall that was still
standing. Jessie, some place in the building,
was huddled with a boy in her classroom buried,
and when they finally saw some daylight and
crawled toward the opening, a radiator from the
floor above fell on the boys back as they were
crawling and crushed him to death right beside
her. They both survived.
After the one got down, she went looking for the
other. And vice versa. Unable to find each other
they ran for home eventually, and found each
other there. Aunt Leona was at the school
looking for them, and later they came home and
found them huddled together crying. Daddy and
Grandpa worked there till the end. Momma says
Daddy could barely speak about the horror of it
all, and Grandpa had a blank look for a long
time, and wouldn't talk about it. But they were
there, when they and the other men were trying
to match up body parts along one wall or
fence-line to be identified.
It is ironic what that blackboard said, the one
that was found later and put in the museum,
because oil is what they lived by in every way
possible here in East Texas, yet it killed so
many people. Grandpa continued in the oil fields
until his health was too bad to work anymore.
While they lived on the oil lease the baby of
the family was killed when a flare pipe that had
been replaced (but no guide wires were installed
yet) fell over and crushed him to death. My
Momma and Grandpa lifted the pipe and pulled him
out. His name was James Delbert (Little Del)
Beekman. My Daddy later became a truck driver in
Houston, and was burned over 85% of his body and
barely survived because the gas can he was
carrying back to the shed at work exploded in
his hand. Compare this picture to yours, and you
will see that everything about the stance and
body matches. The pictures are Grandma and
Grandpa, and Daddy about that time.
I hope this bit of the story helps you in some
way. |
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In addition to the above, Ms Plant has
identified some of the people in the following
photo (also located elsewhere on this site) in
addition to generously providing photos at the
bottom of this page. |
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"Look at the far left edge where there are 3 men
next to the rest of a wall, count from the left
to the right, the 4th man standing alone is my
Daddy. He rarely ever wore anything but khaki's.
I do believe that the man standing on the wall
just a little further to the right, very tall at
6'4", heavy mustache and cap, dark jacket and
heavy gloves, facing the camera, is my Grandpa.
My Grandpa, Clarence Leroy Beekman, was an oil
field worker; he worked the W. B. Hamilton
fields and the Sinclair fields. My Grandparents,
and Daddy & Momma (Jewell Donald Peerson & Clara
Mae Beekman-Peerson), lived there in Wright
City, TX on the W. B. Hamilton oil lease." |
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