Ponca City Oklahoma Dust Storm

We lived in Ponca City Oklahoma for four years when I was very young.  My mom said that when I was about five years old, my dad who was a training union teacher at First Baptist Church along with my mother and several other Sunday school teachers took a group of eleven to twelve year old’s to a farm outside of town for a picnic.

Near the end of the day, after everyone had eaten hotdogs and cleaned up, the wind began to pick up.  The teachers loaded everyone into the trucks and quickly drove to the farmer’s barn to take cover.  My mom said the dust storm was terrible and lasted for a very long time.  They had no way of telling the parents waiting at the church to pick up their children that they had taken cover from the dust storm and could not see to drive.

When the weather cleared they finally were able to drive back into town and they delivered the children to their parents and then we drove home to discover that the windows had all been left open to help cool the house down.  Mom said our home was covered in dust and dirt.  It was late and my father had to work the next day but all the beds had to be stripped, remade, and the floors swept. 

One closet in the house faced east and the dust and dirt had not penetrated the closed door.   What a blessing for clean bed linens.  Mom said it took days to clean all the nooks and crannies to make our home livable again. 

I have no memory of this happening but always enjoyed hearing stories and events my mother shared with us.