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		Contributors           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.               Melvin Vinson from an email           I graduated from London High School in 1955. I was born about a month after the explosion. Mama and Daddy lived about a mile east of the school. Daddy had cut down a dead tree in the yard and was cutting it up. He heard the explosion and turned to look. He said he saw debris in the air above the trees. He dropped the axe, told Mama he would be back when he got back and started running to the school. He was there 2 or 3 days. I had a first cousin, Mary Emily Lloyd, killed. She is buried at Pleasant Hill. She was in the 7th grade. Her mother, Annie Loyd (Mrs. Emery Loyd) was teaching at Gaston when the explosion happened. Lena Hunt, a teacher married Mama's cousin. She and two of her children were killed. The Maxwells who were killed were distant cousins. It is said that Lena Hunt was in the back part of the building that was left standing. Her desk was backed to a wall. There were 2 students standing at her desk when the explosion happened. The wall behind the desk caved in, and she and the two students were killed. Nobody else in the room was injured. Lena is buried in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery. Her husband, Charley Hunt (I think) was my mother's first cousin and never remarried. Her 2 children are there too.           Top Of Page       William B. William from his son, Terry A. Williams           The following is what my father, William B. Williams remembers about the New London school explosion. I have forgotten the number of miles from Arp, Texas to New London. I was in study hall, the last class of the day. Suddenly the floor of our classroom vibrated. The teacher was passing my desk and I asked her what that vibration was. Her answer was that it probably came from one of the refineries, perhaps there was an explosion of some kind. At the same time my father's relief was early to work, telling what he had heard on the radio. Dad was home a little early and asked me and my sister if we wanted to go with him to New London to see if we could help in some way. We were not prepared emotionally for what we encountered there. It is a scene I've never forgotten. We went to the least crowded area, in fact no one was in that section at the time. Several people were concentrated in one area. Under the rubble we could see someone's arm up to the elbow. In futility, we tried to lift the concrete slab but it was too heavy. In a very short while someone with a crane and cable came over to assist. While the crane operator moved the slab we, as gently as possible, pulled the body of a young man my age from under the debris. By this time the area was pretty much filled with rescue workers. Pulling the body from under the slab and witnessing was devastating. An announcement was made that everyone not on a rescue team was to leave the immediate area so as not to hamper rescue efforts. I remember trying to help comfort some people, but it was overwhelming. The last thing I remember on our way back home in silence was passing a 36 Chevy under a huge concrete slab.             Top Of Page       Don Lummus - Henderson, Texas - 5/16/2012           My Mother, Mildred Josephine Wyatt (Lummus) was about 14 at the time of the explosion.. She was home sick that day... it was one of the very few times she ever missed school. According to what I've heard, her entire class was killed..may be wrong about that..but do know she was enrolled at New London. Thanks, Don Lummus             Top Of Page