Madison County ArArchives Obituaries.....Gabbard, Sam April 12, 1945 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ar/arfiles.html ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Debra Crosby Crosby http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00010.html#0002467 April 25, 2015, 5:01 pm Miami Daily News - Record Friday April 13, 1945 Sam Gabbard of Crosses, Arkansas named in the list of dead. Miami Daily News - Record Friday April 13, 1945 Tornadoes Take 77 Lives Over State; Antlers Hard Hit Page 1 Oklahoma City, April 13 -- (AP) - Oklahoma counted it's tornado-deat at 77 and the homeless in hundreds today after twisters bounced crazily over the state to spread destruction in a dozen cities and rural communities. The storms swept on into Arkansas, killing three, and two persons were reported missing in a storm at Morrisonville, Mo. Most seriously hit in Oklahoma by yesterday afternoon's storms were Antlers with 55 dead, Muskogee with 11 and Hulbert with three and Oklahoma City four. Boggy had one fatality, as did Red Oak, Greenwood Junction and Rowland. In Arkansas, two were killed at Dora and one near Fayetteville. There were no accurate estimates of injuries and damage in the typical Oklahoma storms but hundreds of persons were hospitalized and whole sections of cities were swept away by the winds' fury. Red Cross Chairman Paul Osborn at Antlers, struggling to bring order into rescue work, said one third of the city of 3,000 was demolished when wind caught up 500 or 600 residences. Army posts and Red Cross chapters were sending all available personnel into the area, and Will Rogers Army airfield at Oklahoma City sent a badly needed portable electric power plant. At Muskogee a twister whirled through the eastern outskirts, seriously damaging every building of the Oklahoma School for the Blind, many of whose inmates were hospitalized. A large part of the city was without electric power for several hours when the lines from a plant on the (Continued on Page Six) Page 6 (Continued from Page One) Arkansas river were blown down. K. R. Reed, a resident of the Southeasters Oklahoma City district hit by the first tornado reported, said the wind accompanied a cloud which he described as "shaped more like an acre-wide spade than anything I can think of." Four full blocks of residences were leveled here. Collectively, the tornado toll was the worst since a twister hit Pryor in 1942, killing more than 100 persons and smashing a major portion of the city. Twisters which did damage, but did not kill, also struck at these Oklahoma towns: Cushing, Flower, Kendrick and Choctaw. LIST OF IDENTIFIED DEAD Oklahoma City, April 13 The identified dead in Thursday's tornadoes: At Antlers: Buck Smith, Lewey Turley, D. D. Galligly, Mark DAy, Mrs. Nie Nash, Mrs Tom Spence and her four children, Wick Smith, Mr. and Mrs. Jim Pilcher, Charley Welch (an infant), Floyd Maddox, Carol Crawford, Mr. Ryan, Nellie Nelson and her husband, Lydia Jones, Infant Cogburn, Mrs. Barborouse, Mrs. Walker. At Muskogee: Mrs. Ruby Nelson, 36; A. M. Horn, 58; Jerry Huddleston, 4 months; Mrs. J. O. Hanks, about 42; Mrs Maybell Briley, about 30; Mrs. Earl Adamson, 32; Delores Hicks, Alda Stephens, 14; Juanita Moss, 15, both studens of Oklahoma School for the Blind; a baby, last name given as Henshaw; a Mrs Burgess, a Mrs. Noah. At Oklahoma City: Chief Warrant Officer T. D. Morange, Detroit, stationed at Tinker field; Tech. Sgt. Harvey Rease Newell, Atlanta, Ga., stationed at Tinker field; W. A. Brewer, civilian, Oklahoma City; Merritt Cecil Clanton, 3. At Red Oak, Okla.: Thelma Lorene Prince, 8. At Greenwood Junction, Okla.: Mrs Lee English At Rowland, Okla.: Pearl Johnson At Dora Ark.: Mrs Minnie Moser, 65; Margaret Moser, 1 year. At Crosses, Ark: Sam Gabbard. At Hulbert, Okla.: Mrs. Sally Gassaway, 51: Mrs. Maxine Wise, 19 and her infant daughter Fern. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ar/madison/obits/g/gabbard196gob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/arfiles/ File size: 4.2 Kb