It seems just like yesterday when I rode my trike around Daddy, and a neighbor man, who stood around talking, and watching the dark afternoon sky to see if a tornado was coming.

That was in Oklahoma City during the late 1940s, and I later grew up to be much more respectful of the weather.

Now when I hear someone down the street using a chain saw it reminds me of the sounds the day after the 1999 nightime tornado that hit Dover, and a few homes east of Hennessey.

I can still remember the next day seeing shredded clothing hanging from tree branches in Dover, and thinking the town looked as if it had been bombed.

I looked up The Clipper issue on the library’s site that carried those stories and photos.

It gave me chills. That twister was one of 45 that hit Oklahoma that night, and Dover firefighters worked to clear debris from 21 houses and mobile homes.

“About 10 of those were located about one-half mile west of the Dover Town Hall. A tornado coming through that area leveled six mobile homes, and four houses on the west edge of Dover.”

Those news stories showed that Bonnie Mead Price, a nurse, was the only fatality in the Dover storm. She’d reportedly refused to leave her home “that was reduced to a pile of debris.”

Amanda Colton’s home was next door to the Price house. Her daughter, Lavita, described that house as a “100-year-old two story house which had survived three floods, and now is gone.”

The report shows that “the tornado continued northeast, with varying damage, and hit hard again at the north edge of Dover along the west side of US 81.”

An 18-wheel tanker was thrown over, and a pickup overturned against it at the “very north edge of Dover.”

Two tornadoes were seen near Hennessey and the storm siren “was sounded two times.”

There was a meeting of the Hennessey Board of Education that night at the administration building (where the school’s daycare is now located) and board members went to the high school until the danger was over, then went back to their meeting.

There were reportedly 130 men, women, children and dogs in the high school band room which was the town’s designated storm shelter.

Another story was about Steve and Cheryl Gilliland who’d gone “driving around” that night to watch the storm.” When they got home they discovered the only thing standing was the front steps to their 28x70 double-wide mobile home.

Their home was located about three miles south and two miles east of Hennessey.

Tonya Seiger said she and 11 friends, neighbors and family went down into the Gilliland’s storm cellar.

Maybe these stories will be a reminder to stay tuned in to the news, and check on friends and family to make sure they’re safe. And for goodness sake: don’t stand in your front yard talking to neighbors about the weather during Tornado Season.