We continue our stories about the Tornado that devastated the Pinkstaff area seventy years ago on February 25, 1956. (Please refer to the map of locations published Monday February 23 to follow the path of destruction.)

As remembered by 94 year old Doris Gosnell.  

On February 25^th, 1956, Edgar and Doris Gosnell along with their two daughters, five year old Claire Ann and two year old Vonda were living in the old Gosnell homeplace. Their new home was being built right next to the homeplace. They were getting excited to move into the new home. The inside was just about finished. On that early Saturday morning they were awakened to an F-2 tornado. The old homeplace had some windows blown in and some blown out. Minor damage was done due to the location. Doris Gosnell remembers how their new home basically saved their lives. Their new home was mostly brick and withstood a lot of damage but several windows were blown out. There were no injuries and every one was thankful to survive that tragic storm.

     Their chicken house sustained a lot of damage and several chickens were scattered and lost as well as other livestock. Most of the other out buildings were destroyed. There were several Amish volunteer workers who helped rebuild and clean up. The nearby Glenn Roberts home was not damaged. Across the Brushy Fork Creek in the old two story home, Edgar Gosnell’s mother, 71 year old Catherine, was alone and asleep upstairs. No harm to her or her home and she was oblivious to the tornado. The nearby home of Jim and Lucille Rife was not damaged. The path of the tornado was northeasterly as it crossed Route One headed for the town of Pinkstaff.

 Gosnell House and Poultry Barn Below #3 on map

The Saturday morning tornado spared the Glenn Warner residence on Rte #1 at the South edge of its path removing only the top of the fireplace chimney and a section of roofing. But it performed one of its most freakish stunts, according to the newspaper reporter, by completely removing the Warner garage, picking up the car and depositing it in the soft ground of the yard a few feet away between 2 trees with no tracks to show how it got there.  In the process the twister completely smashed a lawn mower sitting in the garage but left a bicycle right beside it untouched. Mr. Warner said there wasn’t a trace of the garage left and he had not been able to find even a little bit of it anywhere. #5 on map

Memories of the 1956 tornado told to Larry Curry by 83-year old Bob Culter: At the time of the tornado thirteen year old Bob Culter was living at home with his father Oliver, mother Lucille, seventeen year older brother Kenneth, and sixteen year older sister Virginia. Their home was located on the west side of route one approximately one mile south of the Pinkstaff corner.

     When the tornado hit, Bob and Kenneth were in their bedroom, Virginia was in her bedroom, and the parents were in their bedroom. Their wrecked home was picked up off the concrete block foundation and placed twenty five feet to the north while they were all in bed. The house had missing walls, gaping holes and the windows knocked out by extremely high winds and large hail stones. Straw from a pheasant’s nest had covered sister Virginia’s bed and his mom and dad woke up with a pet pheasant in their bed. Their garage was blown away but their car was not damaged or moved. A nearby gas tank was not moved. No one was hurt. A crew of Amish volunteers rebuilt their home. Bob remembers lots of backed up traffic on route one due to influx of sightseers. He recalls his neighbor Andy Childress, coming over to their house covered in black stove pipe soot from their broken stove pipe. Bob had been going to Fairview Grade School about a mile to the south of his house. He finished his schooling in Lawrenceville. In the whole scheme of things, Bob is grateful that no one was seriously injured or killed. He remembered it like it was yesterday.

The photo on the left shows the front of the Cutler house. The gaping hole was formerly the front wall of the bedroom in which Mr. and Mrs. Cutler were sleeping. The room to the left was the living room, the front wall of which bulged out. Their car, shown at the right, was sitting in the garage at the rear of the house.  Even though the garage blew away, the car was not damaged or moved. The family dog seems puzzled by the new location of the house. The middle photo shows the practically new residence of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Cutler on the West side of State Route 1 South of the Pinkstaff Rd. It was actually blown about 25 feet through the air while the family of five was still asleep. This picture shows how the house was blown off the cement block foundation in the foreground and set down close to the highway right-a-way. The photo on the right shows Mr. and Mrs. Cutler and their two sons Kenneth, then 17, and Bobby Jean, 13, standing in front of the wrecked house where their front door was located. Interviewed by a newspaper reporter the next morning, Mrs. Cutler said, “we didn't know the house had been moved when we woke up and heard the wind and terrible hail. My first thought was of the children, and we found that the doors were not open to their rooms. We called and the boys answered immediately and helped get the door to their bedroom open. It was some time before Virginia answered, and we were able to get to her in the back bedroom and found she was nearly smothered with straw from a pheasant nest but not much hurt. Hail was falling as big as teacups.” #6 on map

The Millie Childress home, was just north of Bob Culter's. Larry Childress, the son of Mille Childress, shared his memory of that devastating tornado. Larry, 87 years old and former mayor of Tremont, Illinois, was a student at Lawrenceville High School during the 1956 tornado.

     "At the time of the tornado Larry and some students were on their way home from a field trip in Chicago. During the tornado Larry’s mother, Millie and younger brother Andy were home. Larry’s father had passed away several years earlier. Their two story home was located on the west side of route one about a half mile south of the Pinkstaff corner.

     Larry was unaware of the tornado until discovering Route One being closed down. They allowed him to go through and that is when he saw his home. Their two- story house had been picked up off the foundation and moved out in a neighbor’s field, with his mother and younger brother Andy in it, and uninjured. Their chained up dog was missing and showed up three days later. Living along the highway, Larry remembers the lines of cars with sightseers observing the tornado damage.

     He recalls the many local volunteers helping clean up and actually setting the house back on the foundation. There was a large group of Amish who travelled down from Arthur Illinois to assist in the tornado cleanup. He especially recalls an Amish man and younger lad building a beautiful straight fence behind their home. The Amish workers would not eat any of the provided meals until others ate first."   #7 on map