Palm Sunday Tornado
Reading about a recent storm that passed through Shelby County from Ft. Loramie to Anna brought back memories of the Palm Sunday tornado in 1965 during my junior year in high school. The tornado, one of 47 across six states, followed a similar path as the recent storm traveling from Ft. Loramie to Anna but was much more destructive, killing three people, injuring 50, destroying dozens of buildings and even derailing a train.
At the time neither the current Ft. Loramie High School or Anna Engine plant had been build, but had they been, the tornado would have likely hit both to generate much more destruction. President Lyndon Johnson declared a state of emergency and toured the destruction sites around Ohio.
Two of my classmates were on a date that night and as they were traveling west along Ft. Loramie-Swanders Road, they spotted the tornado heading their way, so both got out of the car and wisely crawled into a side ditch along a wooded area for protection. The tornado passed nearby and they could hear the winds tearing through the woods ripping massive trees into small pieces. Fortunately they survived the incident but the car was damaged from all the flying debris. To this day, if you look closely, you can still spot tree damage in the woods along the tornado’s path.
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| Power Line Damage Under Repair |
There was no school the next day as the power had been knocked out, so I recall we piled into the family car to scope out the damage. Here are some more photos from the local newspapers:
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| Cement Statues Strewn about at Loramie Cast Stone Products |
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| A Family of Seven Miraculously Survived the Twister on this St. Patrick’s Farm |
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| Barn Destroyed |
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| Railcar Flipped Right Over |
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| Pontiac GTO Crushed by Falling Cinder Blocks |
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| Tom’s Body Shop Destroyed - Proprieter Tom Moeller Looks over the Aftermath |
The photo of Tom Moeller especially brought back poignant memories. His shop located just south of Al’s Place was totally destroyed. I had gotten to know Tom a few months prior when he had performed some body work on Dad’s 1965 Chevy that I had damaged.
Dad had bought the car the previous fall just as the new models were coming out; but rather than trading in his old 1959 Chevy, he thankfully kept it for me, as I had just earned my drivers license. Our basketball team had a pre-season scrimmage with Marion but I missed the bus because we had a fresh cow to milk for the first time, which is a two person job. My duties were to distract the young cow by feeding it some grain in the station while Dad proceeded to gingerly place the milkers on the cow, which always proved to be very problematic.
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| Tom Moeller |
The milkers got kicked off several times and so did Dad! But finally after getting the cow milked, Dad told me to head to the scrimmage but to take his car with snow tires since there were some early season snow flurries. Because I was running late, and with literally no experience driving under snowy conditions, I did a 180 into the side ditch along SR119 on my way to the scrimmage. It scared the heck out of me, plus the bumper and right fender were damaged when the car scrapped the fence along the road. Fortunately, the side ditch was minimal so I was able to drive out and head back home rather than going to the scrimmage. Dad was somewhat upset but less than expected, probably since he recognized I stuck around to help him milk the fresh cow. We took the car to Tom’s Body Shop for repairs, and because Dad didn’t want to risk increased car insurance rates with the “reckless teenager” now on the roles, he asked Tom to pick up a used bumper and pound out rather than replace the fender, all for about $100.
Tom eventually rebuilt his business after the tornado, selling the building to the Loramie Racing Team in 2003 when he retired, which is now a day care center. He died in 2017. Here is his obituary, with no mention of the tornado but no doubt was one of the most eventful days in his life.
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