Udall City Marshall Wayne Keely
Mr.
Keelys was in his home the night of May 25, 1955. He recalls that he was
watching some TV and some of the local children were over. "I remember
that there had been a tornado watch out earlier in the night, but that it
was canceled an hour and a half BEFORE the tornado hit. The first warning we
had was the noise. It was like one of those B1 bombers that are around these
days coming into town. I got
my family and the kids and got them into the cellar just before it hit.
I remember my wife trying to light a candle, and myself not being able to
breath to well. I was able to get a quick glance out of
the cellar while the tornado was over us. It looked like there was
electricity inside of it. I'm not sure if it was metal hitting
together or maybe static electricity. Debris was coming into the
cellar and blocked the entrance.
After the tornado passed
we came out of the cellar. I looked down at my watch and it read 10:41 PM.
The first thing I saw was a neighbor laying in a flooded street. One
of the neighbors came up and said that my sister had been found in a ditch
with a 2x4 through her. She made it, how I don't know, but she pulled
through.
There was a 1952
Chevy pickup in the tree in my front yard. The owner of the truck was
found dead later outside of town. I walked through the damage. I
remember not being able to tell what part of town I was in. We found
another neighbor setting on a porch, setting down leaning up next to a pole
like they were sleeping, but they were gone. The water tower had been
knocked over and the streets were
flooded. I saw an old
model ford setting in the street near the water tower and it looked like it
had not been touched. The front window was still up, and it had not
been broke." That's where Mr. Keely's stops, and starts talking
about the next day. More than 44 years
later you can still hear the pain of that night in Mr. Keely's voice, a true
hero in my book.
Udall Police Car After the Tornado
Wayne Keely, 87, of Udall, died
Nov. 30, 1999, at his home.
Keely was born Aug. 25, 1912, on the family farm west of Rock, to Sidney
Wilson and Ollie (Wilson)Keely. He was raised on the farm and educated in
area schools. On Nov. 20, 1937, he married Ella H. Engle in Rose Hill.
Keely worked as Udall city marshal for 13 years and Cowley County
undersheriff for several years.
