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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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This recollection of Mack Thornton Rogers made
possible by his daughter, Ginger Collier. |
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Click On Photo To Enlarge |
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Terri Jo Ryan from an email |
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One of my most unforgettable characters in my
long and storied newspaper career was a fellow
by the name of Herb Gormley. I first met Herb
Gormley when I was working at the Kileen Daily
Herald (July 1984-August 1986) as a "cub
reporter" fresh out of J-school. He was a
70-something semi-retired sportswriter who liked
to come to the office a couple of times a week
to shoot the breeze with the sports desk and
whomever else hadn't heard his stories before.
I enjoyed listening to his newspaper tales of
long ago, and trying to imagine what reporting
was like in the era before "portable phones"
(what evolved into today's cell phones) and
Cathode Ray Terminals on your desk. The most
gripping story he told was the one that made a
newsman out of him: On March 18, 1937, young
Herb Gormley was a Western Union telegraph agent
in East Texas, near a community called New
London. Although it was in the midst of the
Great Depression, the school district was the
wealthiest in the nation, thanks to its location
in the heart of the oil patch, where business
was booming.
The pride of the district was its
state-of-the-art school, fueled by natural gas —
which was odorless and colorless in those days.
At 3:05 p.m. that day, when the school building
was packed with hundreds of children, teachers
and parents who were scheduled for conferences,
a spark from a piece of shop equipment in the
basement ignited an unnoticed gas buildup in the
brick structure. Witnesses to the accident
reported the building rose several feet into the
air as the explosion began, and crashing into
thousands of bits of rubble on the way down.
More than 300 men, women and children were
killed that day; some mangled remains never were
identified. It remains the single largest
disaster to strike a public school in our
nation's history. It so shocked the world, even
Adolph Hitler sent his condolences to the people
of Texas. Men like Herb transmitted the
horrifying news to the outside world, and within
15 minutes every fire truck, ambulance and
hearse within 100 miles came to the scene, to
try to rescue any survivors. Herb said he
especially recalled seeing streets littered with
white debris — the bread tossed out of factory
trucks to convert them into instant ambulances.
For several days, fueled only by coffee and cat
naps, Herb helped reporters from around the
country file their stories from the scene. A
newsman was born. . . . When cancer finally got
him, in 1986 I think, his was the first (and
thus far only) Masonic funeral I have ever
attended.
I recall all the tall, stately men in their
western suits, dress cowboy hats, and little
white aprons and gloves. Every time they
referred to "the Deity" they tipped their hats
in respect. What a visual. The following year,
when I worked for the Brazosport Facts, it was
the 50th anniversary of the disaster and I
tracked down two local survivors who lost their
little sister, Sammi Jo, in the explosion.
I still think of ol' Herb every once in a while.
Terri Jo Ryan
Religion reporter
Waco Tribune-Herald |
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Glenda G. Stanley from an email |
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The school explosion happened before I was born.
Nobody talked about it, until one day my
Grandmother and I were looking at pictures and I
saw a picture of Jack Nail. My Grandmother was
the sister of Jack's Father. This is the story
she told me.
Robert Nail with his wife Ada and three children
had just moved from Electra Texas to New London
Texas. Jack was not happy about the move and
leaving his friends. He was rebelling a lot.
Robert bought him a pair of paratrooper boots he
wanted, hoping it would help him adjust to the
move. Jack was 14 years old so nobody knows why
he was there.
When Robert heard about the school he went over
to help find the children. After a while he went
to the building where they were putting the
children's bodies. He saw one of Jack's boots
under the edge of a white sheet. He walked over
and put his hand on the boot, and Jack's leg
fell off. They never found all of Jack's
remains.
My Grandmother said that between the day of the
explosion ant the day of the funeral Roberta's
hair turned totally white. She said it was like
over night. He had the most beautiful white hair
I had ever seen. Nobody would talk about it when
Robert, Ada Buford or Bobbie were around. They
did not say much when they were not around
ether. |
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