...about 42 years ago yesterday...

Oak Lawn, Illinois. April 21, 1967.

...the weather was warm and sunny, but off in the distance, the sky was greenish-gray. I was worried that I'd have to walk home in a bad storm if I stuck around to wait for the bus. Although I ended up at the same place, I got there about 30 minutes earlier when my friend's mom offered to drop me off at the bus-stop a few blocks from my home. The wind was very powerful and the dirt and grit stung my face and got into my eyes. I ducked into the doorway of a business right on the corner, and waited for a few minutes for it to subside. I recall a very loud roar, and I could barely hear sirens going off. Never having heard a tornado warning before, I did not recognize the sound. By the time the wind had subsided and I peered from around the corner, I was met with a scene of complete destruction. Police and firefighters were running out of the back of the building to the left of me, and I was told to stay back. I had not comprehended that I had witnessed a tornado, and that I had barely escaped being injured or killed. I remember climbing over debris...tree branches, bricks, telephone poles, and lumber, just trying to get home. My parents and sister were uninjured, but our house was pretty badly damaged. Many of my neighbors were not so lucky. Thirty-three people died, and over 500 were injured in our town alone. That day, there had been an outbreak of tornadoes in northern Illinois.