The BlastFifty years laterThe BlastFifty years later2009 Umpqua Edition 2009 Umpqua EditionJust $10 Just $10Take Home A Taste of HistoryTake Home A Taste of HistoryAvailable at:Douglas County Museum of History and Natural HistoryPremierWest Bank Branch Of cesCow Creek Tribal Government Of ceSeven Feathers Hotel and Casino Resort Gif Shop2371 NE Stephens Roseburg, Oregon 541.672.9405Remembering yesterday. Celebrating today. A vision for tomorrow.If you are interested in being a part of Oregons once-in-a-lifetime anniversary, please contact Cow Creek TribalGovernment OfceKEEP UP THEGOOD WORK!835 Sheridan 673-7122Thank you for your cooperation in helping to conserve our landfill resources. By changing our throw away habits, we promote a healthier pollution free environment.Heres how we did in 2008Newspaper ............................ 245 tonsCardboard ......................... 1,080 tonsPlastic ..................................... 34 tons Metal ................................... 10.4 tonsUsed Motor Oil ................. 1,275 gals.Recycle, Help the planet survive.Pat Sullivan .................................4Nova Bailey .................................5Grace Farenbaugh ......................7Pam Smith ..................................8Roger Helliwell ............................8Loyd Hastings .............................9Gloria Best ..................................9John Boyd and Myra Boyd........ 10Donya Adams ............................12Ruth Brady ................................13Bonnie Wetherell ......................16Dale Greenley ......................17David Kennerly ....................19Pat Matthews La Liberte .....19Areta Bass ...........................20Connie Hammons ..................20Mary Lou Johnson...................21Genee Parr Coon ......................21Gary Oilar .................................22Bob and Frances Frasier ..........22La Verne West ...........................23Sandy Brown ............................26Friday, August 7, 2009The News-Review, Umpqua Edition Roseburg Oregon, Page 3 Ri f e Range Rd. SE Douglas Ave.Lois Harvard Ave. SE Oak Ave. Umpqua River SE Stephens StSE Pine St S.W. Washington9999 NE Diamond Lake Blvd138Exit124SharonRoseburgs Premier Neighborhood Situated in the heart of the Umpqua Valley, Roseburg ofers a quality of life that most people long for. Tis is where you will fnd EAGLES VIEW ESTATES, nestled into the rolling hills and just minutes from historical downtown Roseburg.EAGLES VIEW ESTATES has been designed with quality of life in mind. Boasting an assortment of lots and featuring Crafsman and European style homes that begin at 1500 square feet. Tis subdivision ofers wide streets with adequate parking on both sides, fully ADA walkways and CC & Rs that protect the quality and livability of the neighborhood.Te peaceful country like setting ofers magnifcent views and is close to the elementary school and parks! Come see what all the talk is about!Lots starting at $69,900 Land-home packages availablePhase 2 coming sooneagles VI E W E S TAT E S 1 888-8 LEMB CO (1-888-853-6226)www.roseburgeaglesview.comExclusively marketed by ReMax Professional RealtyOf ce 1-541-673-3272Toll Fee 1-800-637-6989Mike (541) 530-2043Doug (541) 530-3748Founded in Roseburg, were proud to be your local business and residential telephone and Internet provider!Call 541-229-0229or come by and see us at 1012 SE Oak AVE STE 200, Roseburgwww.mycomspan.comTHE BLASTJOHN SOWELLThe News-ReviewToday marks the 50th anniversaryof the day that shook Roseburg toits core.Known around the state as theRoseburg Blast but shortened locallyto simply the Blast the Aug. 7, 1959,explosion of a freight truck caused thedeath of 14 people and injured 125.The truck was loaded with two tons ofdynamite and four and a half tons of ablasting agent made from ammoniumnitrate, ground walnut shells and peanutoil. The products were scheduled to bedelivered to customers later that morning.George Rutherford, a driver with thePacific Powder Co. of Tenino, Wash.,parked his truck about 1 a.m. outside Ger-retsen Building Supply, then located atOak and Pine Streets in downtown Rose-burg, and then went to the nearbyUmpqua Hotel. Days earlier, the compa-ny had been warned not to leave suchtrucks unattended.The explosion, set off by a fire in nearbytrash containers, created a crater 50 feetacross and 20 feet deep and leveled muchof downtown. Six blocks of businesses,homes and apartments were destroyed bythe blast and resulting fires; altogether, a23-block area was damaged.The Blast caused $12 million in damage.Pacific Powder was later assessed $1.2 mil-lion but was acquitted of criminal charges.Southern Oregon Public Television pro-duced a 2005 documentary on the Blast. Itwas narrated by veteran ABC Newsreporter Barry Serafin, a Roseburg teenagerat the time of the explosion.An Associated Press account of TheBlast from the day of the explosion isavailable online athttp://tinyurl.com/5jfpdp. ATime Maga-zine story is posted athttp://tinyurl.com/5rbndn.You can reach reporter John Sowell at957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@nrto-day.com.Fifty years later, The Blast still resonatesOn the coverRuth Brady holds a photo of The Blast while standing in the spot where the dynamite truck blewup. She was living on the corner of Douglas Avenueand Jackson Street when The Blast occurred onAug. 7, 1959.Her story can be read on page 13.More Blast stories will be published in todayspaper and upcoming Sunday Life sections.Photo by ROBIN LOZNAK/The News-ReviewUmpqua Edition 2009News-Review Publisher: Mark RaymondNews-Review Editor: Vicki MenardNews-ReviewAdvertising Director: Pat BridgesUmpqua Edition Editor: Tricia JonesDesigner: Lacey HoyerTable of contentsPage 4The News-Review, Umpqua Edition Roseburg Oregon, Friday, August 7, 2009Shop Local IndependentCome See The Beautiful Flower Baskets!BusinessesA 100 Valleys CompanyThe Heart of Roseburg Town Center612 SE Jackson, Suite 2www.HawksCo.com(541) 673-6499549 SE Jackson Downtown Roseburg 673-5356rsbgbook@roseburgbook.comHours: 8:30 - 5:30 M-F, 10:00 - 4:00 Sat.A whole lot more than an office products store. Your creative stamping & scrapbook store too!GOLD CROWNIndependent & LocallyOwned Since 1910!Alignments Brakes Shocks & StrutsSuspension Wheel BalanceCustom Exhaust Custom U-BoltsCars Trucks Motorhomes RVsMon.-Fri., 8:00 to 5:30 Sat., 8:00 to 12:00GENES BRAKE & ALIGNMENT, INC672-94911540 NE Diamond Lake Blvd, RoseburgFor the Best Quality & Service Since 1979567 SE Jackson 672-3230We pay top $ for Gold, Silver & PlatinumQuality Jewelry ExquisiteCustom DesignsIn Store Repairs435 SE Jackson 440-3042Downtown RoseburgThe Style That Fits Your Life445 SE Jackson St. DowntownRoseburg464-8422Where Your Adventure BeginsTHE BLASTBYPATSULLIVANAs told to Tricia Jones The Blast took place soon afterthe 13-year reunion of the Rose-burg High School Class of 1946,which hadnt had a reunion untilthat year. Our classmates met on Saturday, Aug.1, at the Roseburg CountryClub, and there were 110 peoplein attendance. So several friendsof mine were in town. At thetime I was employed at UmpquaDairy; I had worked at the plantin various jobs and was salesmanager during 1954-55. On the night of the Blast,several of the guys and I gottogether and had a gab fest andwere kicking memories around.We broke up about 12:30, 12:45a.m. and Don Gerretsen andDaun Lillard and I decided to go out fora beer. We parked at the Rainbow Cafeon Stephens Street and shot the breezefor a while, and I bought a pack of Marl-boros and put it in my pocket. As we walked outside, we heard all thesirens and Don said, I think thats by the(Gerretsen Building Supply) plant, sowe got into the car and drove down andturned right on Pine Street. As westopped, Don said, Pat, get your car outof here; thats a dynamite truck! He and Daun jumped out and headedto what was then the Gerretsen office. Ibacked up the car and headed over to BillStocks Motors, a car dealer, and I parkedright by the Eagles Lodge and got out ofthe car and locked it. I went into the tav-ern around the corner on CassAvenue and phoned my wife totell her where we were. I wentout and ran down the streettoward the fire I was headedback to Gerretsens to get Donand Daun out of there andwas about 30 feet from PineStreet when I saw the edge ofthe dynamite truck blow. Sil-houetted against the truck wasthe Roseburg police officer,(Donald) De Sues, who waskilled. He was the last thing Isaw. It was a centennial year, and thepolice were dressed in cowboy outfits,with a white Stetson and tight jeans.They never found any of him. Next thing I knew I was falling downand was hit in the chest with a piece ofthe engine block from the truck. It wasabout the size of a 50-cent piece andshaped like a diamond. It went throughthe pack of cigarettes and lodgedbetween two ribs below the left nipple. Iwas in shock. I hit the ground and every-thing went black. When I started to get up, there was nofire visible at that time. I started to getup, and I got knocked down again. I wastold later it was the air rushing back inafter the blast. There was no light whatsoever intown; it was pitch black. I headed back towhere the car was and all I could see wasCigarettes saved his life on the night of the Blast SullivanCourtesy of Summer JamesTurn to SULLIVAN, page 6Friday, August 7, 2009The News-Review, Umpqua Edition Roseburg Oregon, Page 5 THE BLASTNOVABAILEYThe temperature soared well intothe 90s on Aug. 6, 1959. Thatsnot unusual for August in Rose-burg. I recall nothing to distin-guish that day from any other hot summerday. The night would become unforget-table!Bob and I were living in an 8-x-27-foottrailer in a small court on S.E Short Streetright across from the Umpqua Dairy plant.We had retired that evening at our usualtime. Because of the heat we had left allwindows open.About 1:15 a.m. we were jolted awakeby the movement of the trailer and a hor-rendous noise. My first thought was, TheRussians are here. Weve been attacked.(Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Union ofSoviet Socialist Republics, was at thattime planning a tour of the United States.)Immediately, all of the tenants in thecourt were outside. We could see a hugefire to the north. There was much specula-tion as to the cause. Some thought perhapsa plane had crashed since the airport wason the north side of town. Or maybe oneof the lumber mills was ablaze. We milledaround and continued to wonder about thefire. Then slowly people returned to theirown trailers.I was getting back into bed when Inoticed that Bob was getting dressed.Why are you getting dressed? I asked.Im going to see what is going on, heanswered.Youre not going without me. Wait till Iget my clothes on.We left our trailer and headed north onMill Street. By now all of Roseburg wasawake and many people were in the streetssurging toward the fire. After severalblocks we were stopped and told we couldgo no farther.Theres danger of the propane storagetanks by the railroad tracks exploding.They are hosing water on them to keepthem cooled down, we were told.With that the crowd turned right andmany of us headed toward downtown. Boband I made a loop through the area, whichlooked like a war zone. Windows wereshattered. Glass and debris littered thestreets. Brick walls were damaged. Looterswere helping themselves to merchandisethrough the broken windows. We personal-ly saw a man lift through two sewingmachines from a store window. At first Ithought he was probably the owner of thebusiness, but later doubted it.Downtown Roseburg was in chaos. Weshould not have been there. The potentialfor mortal danger existed. No one yetknew whether walls might collapse. Wewalked the length of Jackson Street, themain downtown business street, eventuallythreading our way to Southeast StephensStreet, the business route southboundthrough town.As we neared the home of our elderlyfriends, Carlos and Lenora Page, we foundthem sitting on their front porch as if itwere mid-afternoon instead of 3 a.m.Bob and Nova, Carlos called outwhen he saw us. 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But Ive always been glad wedid. That was our only chance to see first-hand the results of the explosion.The initial cause of the calamity was afire in some trash cans alongside GerretsenBuilding and Supply. It could have result-ed in just anotherbuilding and businesslost to a fire.Except for a truckparked beside the busi-ness a truck fromPacific Powder Com-pany of Tenino, Wash.,a truck loaded with sixtons of explosives.There was two tons ofdynamite. And therewas a blasting agent, amixture of prilled ammonium nitrate,ground walnut shells and diesel oil. Thetruck had arrived in Roseburg about 8:30p.m., too late to deliver its fateful cargo. The denotation caused more than $9million in damage, spread 50 city blocks,injured about 125 people and killed 13.Another would die from injuries a yearlater. He was a teenage boy from ourneighborhood. He and a friend werereturning from a movie when the firebegan and they went to go see what washappening. Abolt from the truck struckhim in the head and he never came out ofthe coma.Many Roseburg citizens saw a silverlining in the timing of the catastrophe.Had it happened 12 hours earlier or laterwhen the streets were full of cars, andbusinesses full of people, how muchworse the pain and anguish of loss wouldhave been.As the dust cleared from the tremen-dous damage, residents of Roseburgbegan making plans to rebuild. Andrebuild they did. Today, more than 50years later, there is little evidence toremind one of that fateful night except inthe scarred memories of the people whoexperienced it. No way could we ever for-get an event, which left such an indelibleimprint on our minds and souls.Page 6The News-Review, Umpqua Edition Roseburg Oregon, Friday, August 7, 2009Over 50 years of trusted lending!Federally insured by NCUA.1960 W Harvard Ave Roseburg 541.957.9099687 E Central Ave Sutherlin541.459.5444oregonfirstccu.org Federally insured by541.957.9099 541.459.544423 locations in Oregon!CREDIT UNIONSincFIRST COMMUNITY60 W Harvard Ave 60 WHRoseburg541.957.9099 541.957.9099 CR ONSinc FIRST FIIRST FF R C T COMMUNITYAdults $10 Children $4(13 to 20)Gates open at 11amFor information: 459-5120 800-782-2686 www.henryestate.com 687 Hubbard Creek Road Umpqua, OR 97486Main Stage: Acoustic Blend 12:00pm- 4:00pm Mofessor 5:00pm- 9:00pmUMPQUA VALLEY-STYLE SMOKED SALMON and TRI TIP BBQ Sponsored by Roseburg Mat Club 3:30pm- 6:30pm $10Celebrating 31 years of ne wines. . .24th Annual Portland State Universitys School of Social Work ofers a 3-year M.S.W. degree distance program designed to prepare graduates for entry into advanced professional practice in social work. Te distance option- with sites in Ashland and Eugene - utilizes classroom and online instruction with feld instruction provided, whenever possible, in your community of residence. For information and an application, please visit our website. Te application deadline is January 2. Earn your Master of Social Work degreewww.ssw.pdx.eduTHE BLASTelectrical lines snapping around. It lookedlike a bunch of snakes. I got into the carand turned into the intersection of Pine andCass and turned left on Lane and wenthome, up on Cascade Court, directlyabove town.I went into the house and my wife,Edith, had cuts all over her hands and legs.She had been standing in front of the 8-by-10 plate glass window in her shorty night-gown in the living room when the explo-sion went off. She had put her hands infront of her face and there was glass all theway around her. I laid down on the bed and she pulledthe piece of metal out of my chest. Shesaid later maybe she shouldnt have, butshe did. At about that time a neighbor ofours, Lee Wimberly, came down andlooked at me and said, Weve got to gethim to the hospital. He brought his cardown and put me in the back of his stationwagon and somehow or other wended hisway down the street to Mercy Hospital. They put me in a room and Dr. (John)Unruh came in and patched me up and puta bandage on the wound and gave my wifesomething to wipe off her legs and arms.They said they were short of rooms andthere was so much going on anyway, couldwe get out? Wimberly took us to my folks home inHucrest. He dropped me off and somehowhe took my wife back up to our house soshe could get some clothes. When they gotthere, our porch was full of lawn chairswith people sitting out there, watchingdowntown. Lee Wimberly kicked the peo-ple off our front porch. The Blast blew all the windows out ofour house. My wife went back to the houseagain the next morning and the principalof Hucrest Elementary School, Joe Scal-lon, was nailing plywood all over the win-dows. It took a while to get glass. Therewas not a glass window left in the town ofRoseburg, I dont think. They were ship-ping it from all over. I really dont have health problems tothis day from the night of the Blast exceptI have to wear hearing aids, and Im con-vinced that the Blast damaged myeardrums. I dont have any proof of that,but Ive had problems with my hearingsince then. On a side note, that night I figured bothDon Gerretsen and Daun Lillard weredead. I had last seen them running to Ger-retsens. Daun Lillard had been runningback to my car with a file from Gerretsensto put in my car, so he and I passed eachother on Pine Street, but I didnt see him.He ran into an alcove thing near the EaglesLodge and was there when the Blast wentoff. Don Gerretsen had left Gerretsens andhad run to the Coca-Cola plant. He passedpeople who were later killed. He wasphoning his father when the Blast occurredand it blew him onto a lawn. He had asprained ankle. That piece of triangular metal thatlodged between my ribs Im convincedthat my ribs and the cigarette pack stoppedit from going in too deep. Ive never talked about it too much, butI fully believe I was the closest person tothe Blast who was an eyewitness and wholived. I guess it was just plain Irish luck. Pat Sullivan retired from Umpqua Dairyin 1990 and now lives in Bend. He stoppedsmoking in 1982 following a heart attackand hasnt had a pack of cigarettes in hispocket since then. Sullivan:Continued from page 4Bailey:Continued from page 5BaileyFriday, August 7, 2009The News-Review, Umpqua Edition Roseburg Oregon, Page 7 THE BLASTGRACE GAY FARENBAUGHThose who lived in the 1940swould ask each other, Wherewere you and what were youdoing when the Japanesebombed Pearl Harbor? In the 1960s itwas, Where were you when JFK waskilled? The current generationrecounts what they were doing on 9/11.For those who were from Roseburg in1959, it is, Where were you when theBlast happened?Here is my story.I was 6 years old, a month away fromfirst grade and living at 1348 S.E.Overlook Ave., which was up the hilland on the way to Terrace Avenue, thehillside residential area overlooking agood portion of the town. My father, AlFarenbaugh, owned F&WFloor Cover-ing, which was at 527 S.E. Cass Ave.,on the corner of Pine Street.On that night, my mom, AllenaFarenbaugh, was awakened by thesound of several fire trucks. She used tosay that she was a light sleeper, so overthe years she would wake up and claimshe heard a car door slam, there wasrustling in the bushes outside the bed-room, she heard voices outside the frontdoor, etc. That night, she heard something big.And for whatever reason, she didntwake my dad, but scurried downstairsto my grandpas (W.R. Brown) room.They hurried to the redwood fence inthe backyard that faced downtown andtried to see what was on fire. Momdecided to get a better look and climbedthe fence. She could see fire trucksdown near my dads floor coveringstore and was afraid it was on fire. Itwas then that the explosion happened.My first memory was of my dad turn-ing on the light in my bedroom, lookingat me for an instant and then rushingdown the hall. I had never seen himlook so scared. I was aware that a loudsound had just occurred and wanted tosee what everyone was rushing to, so Iput on my red Keds tennis shoes, mypride and joy, and ran down the hallthrough the kitchen and out the backdoor.The next few minutes are kind of ablur, as everyone was now in our ter-raced backyard, yelling out questionsand answers. What in Gods name happened?There was an explosion downtown,near the railroad tracks!! Gerretsen's!Thats across the street from thestore!! Why are you bleeding? I fell off the fence and into the rosebushes. The explosion looked like amushroom, just like an atom bomb. Ithought the Judds house blew up!(The Judds were our next door neigh-bors) Was it a train wreck? She wasrolling back and forth in her bed cov-ered in glass! The blur cleared up as I noticed mydad, mom, grandpa and 17 year-old-sis-ter all look at me at once.She was covered in glass? my momyelled. She ran over to me to makesure that I was OK. Not finding anycuts, she hugged me. I probably startedto cry and do remember asking her ifwe were going to burn down, but Idont remember her answer.For a while the air was filled witheveryone retelling the same thing overand over, my dad using the binocularsto look downtown and someone proba-bly calling the police or turning on theradio, and I was just standing there inmy pajamas and red sneakers taking itall in.At some point, someone came outfrom the house and said that the bigmirror in the bathroom had fallen downand shattered. Gee, what if I have togo the bathroom, I wondered tomyself.I dont remember this, but I am surethat everyone else started assessingother damage. Apparently, several win-dows in our house broke. But all Iremember was the big window in mybedroom and of course the inability toget into the bathroom because of thebroken mirror. And I was feelingembarrassed that mom had fallen intothe rose bushes while in her nightgown,her hair in pin curls and a bandanna.I kept asking Grandpa if I could lookthrough the binoculars and he finally letme. All I remember seeing was a fire-man standing on the corner next to ourstore aiming the big fire hose at theflames across the street.My mom started to cry and yell at mydad because he was going to go downto the store. He walked down the stepsfrom our upper yard as she pleadedwith him to stay. To me, it was OK. Hecould do anything and nothing wouldever hurt him; why didnt she feel thatway?What if the building collapses onyou? You could get burned! If thepropane tanks go, we are all goners.The night thetown was on fire CHILDHOOD MEMORIESGrace Farenbaugh, 7, is seen with her grandfather, W.R. Brown, at the Blast site.Turn to FARENBAUGH, page 15Page 8The News-Review, Umpqua Edition Roseburg Oregon, Friday, August 7, 2009THE BLASTPAM SMITH At the time of the Blast myhusband, Fred, and I wereliving on the corner of MillStreet and Floed Avenue. My mother had been living with usand occupied the bedroom on the frontof the house on Mill Street, but shewas away at the time. We had two chil-dren at that time, a 7-year-old girl insecond grade, a level-headed, goodstudent and quite reliable. That wasCorinne. The baby, Linda, was ahappy, contented little thing, 18months old, and we all delighted inher. That morning, since Mom was gone,I moved the bed for Corinne againstthe far wall and the baby crib underthe window, which had a blind but nocurtains up yet. Fred and I went to bed around 10p.m. I was thinking of my mother onher long journey home, unable to sleepand wondering if I might get up andhave a cup of tea. Quite suddenly, thelace curtains blew inward, almosttouching the ceiling. Then a heavyblast of hot air pushed me against theheadboard and went down into mythroat more air than one couldbreathe. By the time the noise reached us,Fred woke and I had already decided itwas a bomb. As we scrambled out ofbed, our conversation was short andfearful: That was a bomb, wasnt it?Those damned Russians, and wehurried to the childrens room. For one second we looked hard ateach other, afraid to face what mightbe. The noise of shattering glass wason our minds. Corinne, almost in awhisper, said Dont look, Mommy,the baby is under there. I will never forget that little crib, nota sound coming from it. The blind withrollers still attached was as if someonehad laid it carefully the length of thecrib, and it was holding almost thewhole window of broken glass. No glass had reached Corinne, and Ibegged her not to get out of bed. At thecrib, Fred took one end of the blindand I took the other and we carefullylifted it, like a hammock. We didntdare drop any of it. Then we went tosee what we had to face. There Lindawas, sound asleep, her little curlsclinging to her damp forehead.I then went to put the kettle on.Fred dressed and said he was going tosee if he could help someone, so Idressed the girls, made the tea, got thecandles and packed a few things,because one never knew what mighthappen. Sureenough, here cameFred. The firemanand police hadwarned him the firewas so hot that thetanks of com-bustibles might blow,so go home and getthe family out.So he started homeand stopped byLucille Lents house,which was badly damaged, two blockscloser than we were. When theyarrived at our house, they were badlyshaken. Lucille, being a nurse, neededto get to work. So we had tea whileFred loaded up the station wagon andwe set off to Southgate, where we hada dear friend we knew we could staywith. We dropped Lucille, children anddog at that house. It was a sad butshort trip. The children were quitetraumatized and crying.The traffic was just terrible. Somuch of it was coming in from thesouth. We were trying to get to South-gate and until the police got there, wecouldnt cross for traffic. By this time we were pretty muchcalmed down and had learned thecause of the Blast was dynamite. We had our two lovely children safeand we spent a long night with a dearBritish friend. And we felt so fortu-nate, but were well aware of the catas-trophe that was playing itself out inour newfound town. SmithCourtesy of John and Myra BoydROGER HELLIWELLThe night of Aug. 7, 1959, myfriend, Mike Lorenzen, and Iwere sleeping out on ourpatio, overlooking downtownRoseburg near the telephone building.It was very hot and being active 12-year-olds we were not asleep whensometime after midnight the fire sirensstarted. Normally we would get on our bikesand follow the fire trucks, but for somereason we didnt. After a bit we couldsee a glow down by the railroad tracks,then more sirens. Our view includedMount Nebo. All of a sudden there wasa flash that lit the face of the mountainlike midday, and immediately follow-ing a tremendous explosion with aflaming mushroom cloud eruptingdirectly above us with flaming debris.Next, my dad, a World War II veter-an, came out from the house and toldme to start hosing down the roof of thehouse. My mother came out and men-tioned that maybe the Russians wereattacking, since that was a concern atthe time. My dad chuckled over thatsince Roseburg wasnt exactly a primetarget.Eventually we gathered with neigh-bors on Main Street trying to figureout what was happening, and withgrowing fires, whether we needed tothink about escaping if the routeswerent blocked. One rumor was thatthe propane tanks might blow up bythe tracks, causing catastrophic dam-age. Our house had some broken win-dows and cracked walls and ceilings.The burning debris from the explosiondrifted some to the south and therewere some spot fires in the south endof town. The fires and sirens continuedinto the next day. Jackson Street wassplattered with broken glass. The smellfrom many foul sources was nauseat-ing. The next morning we discovered agalvanized pipe cap went through thecarport roof a few feet in front ofwhere we had been standing. I stillhave the memento. Ill never forget how wonderful itwas to escape from town to a friendscabin on the North Umpqua, to getaway from the heat and stench, andswim. Of course the junior high I was toenter shortly was condemned, and wehad to double shift at Joseph LaneJunior High for two years. For a fewyears after, when the sirens went off atnight, I would crawl under the bed. Ialso kept hearing sirens for some time.The loss of life was tragic. Stench and heat drove family to cabin on the North UmpquaRoger Helliwell kept this Blast souvenir.Windows shattered but baby was unhurt in BlastFriday, August 7, 2009The News-Review, Umpqua Edition Roseburg Oregon, Page 9 THE BLASTLOYD HASTINGSOn the evening of Aug. 6, 1959,I was trimming windows atKarls Shoe Store at 556 S.E.Jackson St. My crew and I fin-ished trimming after midnight, saidgoodnight and returned home. Myhelper lived downtown in the McClellanHotel where todays City Hallstands. At about 4:00 a.m. Aug.7 the phone rang. My helpersaid the store was destroyed. Ilooked out my back door onKilldeer Street and saw a bigfireball in the sky downtown.My employee said he was in thestore, and since he did not havea key, I asked how he got intothe store. He told me all theglass in the store was gone andhe just walked in. I dressed quickly and drovetoward downtown and got as faras the high school and saw the roadblocked. I took the freeway to GardenValley to Stephens and was againstopped at the crest of the hill by theNational Guard troopers, and was toldonly owners or managers were allowedinto the downtown area. I located atrooper who knew me and was allowedto walk downtown. All along the way Iwalked through glass-filled sidewalksand other items from the Blast. I was in total shock as I approachedthe core of downtown. Broken glasslooked like snow in the streets. Everywindow was gone to shreds and struc-tures were hanging in all kinds of oddshapes. It looked like a war zone you seein the movies. When I did reach mystore I was shocked to see how muchdamage there was to the structure. As Iapproached the lobby, it was full of theshoes that had been in the win-dows the night before, alongwith glass everywhere. Shelveswere down in the back room,boxes were on the floor, purseswere scattered everywhere asthe glass shelves were shat-tered. We could see the fireburning just blocks away andthe smell and smoke made ithard to breathe.The damage was everywhere.I looked down the street to seeJack West, a jeweler, on hishands and knees looking fordiamonds among the glass in the street.Across the street above Dr. Tucksoffice was a 2-by-4 sticking out of thefront of the building. More damage wasaround than any one could comprehend.At 8:00 a.m. I called the head office inLos Angeles to tell them of the damage.They had heard of the Blast on themorning news and were concerned forour health.When I told them of the dam-age they could not believe it was thatbad. Later I received a call from the vicepresident of the company and owner ofour building. He could not believe itcould be as bad as I had described andsaid he would fly up and look for him-self. That evening he arrived and had tobe escorted to the downtown area by aNational Guard man to see if he wasindeed who he said he was. He looked atthe building and store and was in shock.I told him I thought all shoes were dam-aged, even in the boxes. He said no wayand stuck his hand inside a shoe and gotcut on glass. We then decided to send allshoes back to Los Angeles. New shoes were sent and we set upshop along with all of the merchants inthe fairground buildings about 10 daysafter the blast. It was a makeshift dealwith curtains between stores in eachroom of the fairgrounds. We were thereuntil almost Christmas when our storeswere repaired and able to return to nor-mal business.Shoe store one of many shops damaged by BlastCourtesy of Marilyn LewisHastingsGLORIABESTThe acrid smell of smoke anddevastation will stay in mymemory forever. Otherdetails may havebecome dimmer, but that neverchanges. At the time of the Blast, welived on Austin Road in Green.Daughter Susan, age 11, was atCamp Tyee for the week withher Campfire Girls group, andmy husband was working swingshift at the plywood plant in Dil-lard. I was in bed asleep anddaughter Linda, age 8, hadcrawled into bed with me. Sheprobably was lonely in her room withSissie being gone. Suddenly our house came alive withthe rattling of windows, accompanied bythe sound of a huge explosion in the dis-tance. We rushed to the window on thenorth side of the bedroom, and fromthere, we saw billows of smoke risinglike dark clouds in the distance, as wellas a faint glare lighting up the sky andslowly growing brighter. Ourlittle Chihuahua, Cutie, had dis-appeared under my bed andrefused to come out until morn-ing. I could feel only panic andamazement at what we werewatching, having no idea yet ofthe scope of lives lost, thewounded and the propertydestruction, as well as countlessacts of heroism that were takingplace almost immediately. My husband was on his wayhome from work when he saw the smokeand the sky becoming lit up. He began todrive toward town, but of course the roadwas closed by that time. I dont remem-ber just how we heard the news, but itwas at least a week before some of thestreets in Roseburg were opened to limit-ed traffic. What a strange and eerie feeling driv-ing down past the Churchs Drug Storelocation and other limited areas we wereallowed to enter. Terrible devastation sidewalks full of broken glass and debris,windows boarded up, buildings in ruins,and most of all the lingering smell ofsmoke, death, injury and fear. As we heard of the death toll, theinjuries and the extent of the damage, wethought of two might-have-been eventsin our own family. I had been dischargedfrom the old Mercy Hospital just daysbefore the Blast, following thyroid sur-gery; my room overlooked the river anddowntown area. In the late evening of theday before the Blast, daughter Susan hadsuffered fairly severe stomach painswhile at Camp Tyee and was brought toMercy by a counselor for observation.She was kept overnight because the doc-tors suspected appendicitis. However,she did well and was taken back to campthe next morning by a counselor. After the Blast, some campers weretold of the death of a camp counselorsrelative but were advised to not talkabout it and cause fear in other girls.Families in many other states were tryingto contact relatives here when they heardthe news. Susan started junior high school in thefall and was on double-shifting that yeardue to the destruction of the old CentralJunior High School in downtown Rose-burg. Gradually but surely the city of Rose-burg healed and rebuilt, with much effortand cooperation. When the Farm Bureaufinished rebuilding in the same locationand had its grand opening, my husbandsigned up for a drawing and won a verynice covered casserole dish, metal with aheavy Teflon lining. I still use it evennow. Each time, I remember. Family pondered what might have been in Blast aftermathBestPage 10The News-Review, Umpqua Edition Roseburg Oregon, Friday, August 7, 2009THE BLASTJOHN BOYD AND MYRA BOYD As told to Beth (Boyd) Griffin Griffin notes: I have always been fas-cinated by this account from my par-ents. Most of all because they can tell itso matter of factly. To me, these life-changing events, stacked upon eachother, would have been shattering. John Boyd: It all started with thedeath of my father, Hal, on Aug.5, 1959 at about 4 a.m. He hadwhat was then called spider can-cer. He was dead within six weeks ofbeing diagnosed. Prior to that, heseemed perfectly healthy. Hispassion was farming. He wouldhave worn a white shirt and tieon his tractor if he could. Hepassed away at Douglas Com-munity Hospital at the youngage of 49, just 20 days beforehis 50th birthday (Aug. 25). Just hours later, my secondson, Mark, was born. Hearrived at the same hospital at1:17 p.m. on Aug. 5. Its hardto believe my son will turn 50years old on this anniversary ofthe Blast. He and Myra werestill hospitalized on Aug. 7when the devastation occurred. I, however, was standingoutside my familys home inGlide waiting up for relativesto arrive from California. Itwas around 1:14 a.m. on Aug.7. All of a sudden, the win-dows rattled on the house, anexplosive sound roared up theriver, and the sky lit up asbright as day. It was as if the sun rose.My first thought was that the Union Oilbulk plant on Diamond Lake Boulevardblew. I immediately left and headed fortown. It felt like it took only 10 minutesto get there. I parked on Fowler Streetand walked in. Its somewhat of a blur, what exactlyhappened, because the whole town wason fire. I walked through town up Jack-son Street to Mosher Avenue. The win-dows were blown out of everything. Iliterally walked on diamond rings andjewelry among the glass fragments. Thejewelry store was in the Umpqua Hotel,but the only notable protection of prop-erty was at the Green Front LiquorStore on Rose Street, which wasswarming with members of the Nation-al Guard. I kept my focus on getting tothe service station where I worked,Havens Shell. I wanted to make sure itwas secure, but when I arrived, theowner was already there pumping gasfor the emergency vehicles. The stationwas on the corner of Mosher andStephens. A piece of the truck thatexploded had blown through the win-dow of the station office. From there, I walked back to my carand headed down Garden Valley Boule-vard to try to get over to the hospital. Iwas able to take the freeway to HarvardAvenue. When I arrived at DouglasCommunity Hospital, there were peoplelying all over the lobby on counters,floors and every other surface available.One woman had a huge chunk of herthigh missing. It was like a warzone. There were nurses anddoctors running around tryingto care for people. I remembera nurse picking up a child andit just went limp and foldedbackwards. To my relief, Myraand Mark were fine. My brother and his wifearrived at the hospital withmultiple glass cuts. Theirhouse was on Spruce Street,where the ramp of the Wash-ington Street bridge is today.They reported that a concreteblock had come through theroof and lodged in the ceilingover their bed. They were sonear the center of the Blast thatthe large, three-story housebetween their house and Ger-retsen Building Supply wasgone. I remember going backto check out my brothershouse and we had to throw dirton the rear tires of his car toput a fire out. I dont even recall when I found outwhat really happened. Im not surewhat day I finally went to bed. I doknow we were fortunate that fatefulday; there were no other injuries to ourfamily. We just had a few cracked wallsin the house to repair. When I returnedto work, I remember having to have apermit to drive through town. Myra Boyd: On Tuesday, Aug. 4,my water broke. About 7 p.m., the doc-tor told me to head for the hospital tocheck in. My father-in-law, Hal, wasalready there. When I arrived, John toldme Id better go see him for the lasttime. I then checked myself in and thenurses checked on me frequentlythrough the night. One came into theroom and I told her I would try to havethe baby the next morning so I wouldntwake the doctor. She said they alreadyhad to call him to tell him a patient hadpassed away. At that point I knew itwas my father-in-law, but I didnt havethe courage to ask her who it was. Thedoctor came in about 8:30 a.m onWednesday, Aug. 5, and told me thatHal had passed away. He said, Godgives life and He takes it away. Afterbeing induced, I started labor at aboutnoon. Mark came at 1:17 p.m., two anda half weeks early and only 5 pounds.Since my first son was 9 pounds, Markseemed very small and fragile. I was awake when the Blast occurred,because the nurse had recently broughta baby in for the woman next to me tonurse. At 1:14 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 7, Ifound myself standing at the foot of thebed, unsure how I got there. I rememberthat the pull blinds on the hospital win-dows hit the ceiling and the sky lit uplike a ball of fire. We heard glass crashand we were worried about the babiesin the nursery. I stepped out to look,and the babies were all sound asleep.We found out the glass that broke wasin the shower room. 48 hours: Life, death and destructionJohn and Myra Boyd are shown here in December 1957.Turn to BOYD, page 11John BoydMyra BoydFriday, August 7, 2009The News-Review, Umpqua Edition Roseburg Oregon, Page 11 Welcome ToVisitors Information CenterVisit www.winstonoregon.netfor local events and attractions541.679.0118PO Box 68 30 NW Glenhart, Winston, OR 97496MakeWINSTONthe Heart of Your UmpquaValley Adventures!Cal l 679- 621 1Days/EvesServing All of OregonLEASI NG PARTSCITYOFWINSTONCoComomesit itThty ofofWinstonHarrisons HardwareYour local family-owned & operated hardware store.124 SW Douglas, Winston 679-8380Nursery & Bark Center679-35442690 Roberts Creek Rd.RoseburgHeadquarters Headquarters521 Hwy. 42, Winston Mon-Fri8am-5:30pm (541) 679-8685BEST AUTO REPAIR IN TOWNInc.Since 1992WINSTON AUTOMOTIVE SERVICESBig BLUE ON 42Specialists in Computerized & Electrical SystemsFFAAMILY AUTO AIRFOREIGN DOMESTIC Autos & Light TrucksCCH CC RM RM CHUCK SWARMGreen DistrictWinston! Green District!and theTHE BLASTEleanor Unrath, who lived betweenthe Shell station and the Coca-Colaplant, was standing in the hall and shewas white as a sheet. She was gettinglinens out of the closet. She said, Ger-retsens has blown up and the bottlingcompany has blown up and Bill (herhusband) was somewhere inside thebuilding. He had gone to help fightthe fire, and he had died there. I was insuch shock, I just went back to my bed.I could hear people in the hallwayscreaming and crying for help, but Iwas too afraid to look. I got out of the hospital early on Sat-urday, Aug. 8, to go to Hals funeral. Ileft my tiny baby in the hospital untilMonday. We had to proceed with agraveside service at Roseburg Memori-al Gardens, because the Chapel of theRoses, which was then downtown, wasbadly damaged. The next day, Sunday, Aug. 9, wasJohns 22nd birthday. I dont evenremember if we celebrated. I returned to work at RoseburgMotors just two weeks after my babywas born. They were still doing roofrepairs when I got there. During theBlast, the windows blew out of thebuilding, and the roof had lifted up andcome back down.My dad, Deane, worked for Gerret-sens as a cabinet maker. His shop wasjust inside the door from where the firesstarted in a garbage can that night. Theexplosion scattered his tools all overtown. He lost all of his tools and hisjob. I am so thankful the Blast didnt hap-pen during the day, or I would have lostmy father, too. He was an avid photog-rapher, and I still have many picturesthat he took that night of the fire andthe aftermath in the days to follow. Final thoughts: The thing is, wejust all moved on. We rebuilt, weresumed our lives. Its not like today,where everyone wants someone else toblame or fix it for them. People pulledtogether and did what they had to do. John Boyd is seen here with his son, Mark.Boyd:Continued from page 10DONYAADAMSMost weddings are stressfulenough without the townblowing up the day before thebig event! On Friday morning, Aug. 7, 1959, theprospective bride, Zoe Peery, and herroommate, Donna, were asleep in theirdowntown Roseburg upstairs apartment.They were suddenly awakened by thedynamite truck explosion several blocksaway. They could hear loud sirens andscreams, and assumed that the town wasbeing bombed. Disoriented and confusedat the early hour of 1:30 a.m., the youngladies tried to hide under their bed. Theywere not too successful, since there wasvery little space under their hide-a-bed,and they soon gave up and began to assessthe damage to their apartment. The apartment windows had all beenopen that evening, and were not broken.But a lamp and a fan had been pulled outof a window, still plugged in, and the fanwas still running. The girls discovered thattheir medicine cabinet had burst open andits contents were now in the bathtub, and akitchen wall cabinet had come off the wall,covering the floor with broken glass anddishes. Due to the shattered glass, the girlshad trouble finding and safely reachingtheir shoes. Fortunately the wedding crys-tal was packed in a box under a coffeetable and was safe. The phone lines were still operable, sothey called the prospective bridegroom,Ray Crowe, who lived with his invalidmother near the downtown area. The girlswere certain he would promptly deliverthem to a safe location. Ray explained thatthe loud bang was probably just the roadworkers using explosives on Mt. Nebo,and it was nothing to be worried about. Shortly afterward, Ray did begin theslow drive downtown to get the girls. Hismother had complained that she could seefire downtown through the missing partsof her own roof, which had been blown offby the blast. Traffic was slowed due to aserious concern that several huge propanetanks near the blast site might explode, andtraffic was slowed by authorities trying tokeep everyone safe. Ray collected the girls, and began takingpictures while he was downtown. Thesepictures were later turned over to the Cityof Roseburg for historical records. Thedowntown streets were covered with glassfrom store window fronts, and merchan-dise from the stores had been blown allover the streets. People were arriving toclean up, but also looters had arrived tohaul off any valuables they could find. ThePage 12The News-Review, Umpqua Edition Roseburg Oregon, Friday, August 7, 20091175 W Harvard Avenue672-1961Last of the oldfashioned drug stores!www.harvardavedrugs.com Quilts Weather Vanes Country Dolls Linens Canister sets Coffee Grinders Jams Stainless steel measuring cups & spoons CookbooksCreate a warm and cozy spot in your home with country air!Monday-Friday 9am-7pm Saturday 9am-6pmBeautifulUmpqua River SettingFull Hook-up SitesRiver Sites Pull-ThrusGroups Welcome PavilionFire Ring Drift Boat SlideFish year-round Walk to Restaurants, Wineries, & Gardens (541) 584-2832(866)226-0246Reservations acceptedelktonrvpark.comMention this ad and get $5 off your total billVisit our website at www.RecyclePower.org or call Douglas County Public Works at 440-4350 (800) 224-1619 ext. 43503 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUTMATTRESS RECYCLING1 Mattresses and box springs are no longer disposable in Douglas County. These items damage landll equipment and pose re hazards.2 If you leave mattresses or box springs at thrift stores, it will cost them time, labor, and $8 each to recycleso think twice!3 It is now FREE for residents to recycle old mattresses and box springs! Mattresses & box springs are accepted for recycling at the Roseburg and Reedsport transfer stations, Wed-Sun 8am-6pmTHE BLASTBlast doesnt blowup wedding plans Zoe Peery and Ray Crowe were married on schedule despite the Blast.Turn to ADAMS, page 14Friday, August 7, 2009The News-Review, Umpqua Edition Roseburg Oregon, Page 13 Experience you can rely on!Experience you can rely on!Douglas DouglasCounty CountyRealtors RealtorsKnowledge &www.gstiles.comYour Real Estate Connection!1.800.275.6375 541-672-1616 662 NE Stephens St., Roseburg, ORExperienceResidential, Commercial & LandRoger HelliwellBroker, 20 Years 541-643-6646roger@gstiles.comBlasteyewitness1959Best Homes Best Locations Best ValuesBest Homes Best Locations Best ValuesDianeMcKillopBroker580-6516HERE TO SERVE YOU!Check out listings @ www.dianemckillop.com1479 NW Mullholland, Roseburg673-1890Dianes focus is to be a consultant to your real estate needs. She is here to ensure your satisfaction through the entire processof buying or selling real estateOur vision has always been that the clients needs are paramount, and service above and beyond your expectations. Valynn CurrieLets work together to make your wishes come trueWinston Branch265 Main, WinstonWinston, OR 97496679-4232FAX: 679-4413Roseburg Branch255 General,Roseburg, OR 97470677-1975FAX: 672-4344Roseburg BranchGrant Smith Road Suite 101,Roseburg, OR 97470748-2284FAX: 784-0643THE BLASTRUTH BRADYOn Aug. 7, 1959, at approxi-mately 12:45 a.m., my room-mate, Barbara Melhoff, and Iarrived back at our apartment,which was located at the corner of Dou-glas Avenue and Jackson Street. It was the old creamery building. Welived in the end apartment that facedStephens Street. We were getting readyfor bed when we heard all the sirens. Looking out the end window thatfaced Stephens Street, I saw flames wellabove the old junior high building. Wewent to see what was happening. I hadmy hand on the door to go outside whenthe Blast occurred. Both Barbara and Iwere blown backward, the ceilings werecracking and we were covered with thesilty stuff that comes from that. We looked at each other and thought,What the ? I had my car on thestreet with the windows up and not apiece of broken glass in it. In our apart-ment was fine debris and glass, even inthe refrigerator. The window I was look-ing out of three minutes earlier was pow-dered into the whole small apartmentand side windows broken and bowed in. We walked out of town to the top ofStephens Street and someone took us tomy parents house on SweetbrierAvenue. We were allowed into the city toclean, but had to be out by 6 p.m. Icame in to work and to clean my apart-ment. I found pieces of glass betweenthe bottom sheet and the mattress with-out the sheet being torn. I worked for the phone company atthe time and at midnight there was onlyone operator on. She felt the buildingshake, looked up and every light on theboards was lit up. We worked around theclock for a long time to get messages inand out of Roseburg due to no circuitsavailable and long delays.My friend, Dennis Tandy, was the onewho found the fire and sent his wife,Marilyn, to call in the fire. My uncle,Tuff Manning, and Dennis father, AlTandy, searched for a few hours andfinally found Dennis body in amakeshift morgue in the basement ofMercy Medical Center. My great auntlived on Pine Street and the wallbetween her apartment and the neighborscame down. If you want to call it luck, the Blastcould have killed more people if it wasnot for the early hour that it happened.Grain elevators smoldered for months,boxcars twisted like toys, the devastationfor loss of life was by far the worst, therest was rebuilt.Dennis Tandy is buried in RoseburgMemorial Gardens. He has no familyleft, and on Memorial Day he is not rec-ognized. I put a single rose on his graveevery year since I have returned to Rose-burg. His marker states, Hero of theRoseburg Blast.Blast lit up the phone switchboardCourtesy of Marilyn LewisPage 14The News-Review, Umpqua Edition Roseburg Oregon, Friday, August 7, 2009~Pioneers of the Future~ Historic CanyonvilleNNFORESTGLENSENIOR RESIDENCE EOfferingspecialized care and services for the comfort of our residents Monthly rent; no buy-in Vegetarian meals A variety of activities & events Scheduled transportation Move-In Specials! Conveniently located just off I-5 in Canyonville, OR541-839-4266200 SW Frontage Rd. www.ForestGlenRET.comJoanne & Bruce Proprietors452 N. Main St. CanyonvilleCome Grow With Us!839-6067New Expanded Gift Shoppe for Gardenerscommgdn@pioneer-net.comCommonwealthGarden Shoppe Trees, Shrubs Vegetable Starts, Herbs Bedding Plants Pots, Sculptures, Etc. Organic Fertilizers Soils & AmmendmentsPhoto by: JIM MORGANwww.beadmecca.com425 S Main St, Canyonville OR 97417 (541) 839-6688Easy on/off I-5 exit 98JAKES AUTO CENTERAuto CareCenterWe Install Quality NAPA Parts www.canyonvillechamber.orgSHOP DINEPLAY431 S. Main Street Canyonville, Or.10-5:30 DailyClosed Tues.54bncantiques@tymewyse.comPioneer Days August 27-30, 2009For Information Contact Tamera 541-839-4232Pumpkin & Music Celebration October 17, 2009For Information Contact Patti 541-825-3855Holiday Celebration & Tree Lighting December 2009For Information Contact Doug 541-218-2185Sweet Heart Stroll February 13, 2010For Information Contact Pam: pam@downtowncanyonville.com Lions Club Easter Egg Hunt April 3, 2010For Information Contact Chuck 541-839-4602Citizens Banquet April 3, 2010For Information Contact Ray 541-839-6614THE BLASTNational Guard soon arrived, barricaded thedowntown area, and stopped the looting. Since Zoe worked for the State of OregonPublic Utilities Commission, she was laterissued a permit to pass through the NationalGuard barricades to examine the state officefor damage and security issues. She discov-ered that the office door was blown in twoand chunks of concrete had come downfrom the ceiling. The Highway Departmentlater began moving valuables out of thebuilding for safety. While downtown, Zoe was able to enterher apartment to get her wedding dress andcrystal safely out, along with the candlelighters dress and other essentials for thenext days wedding. Zoe had reserved theUmpqua Hotel for her wedding reception,but the hotel had been closed due to theBlast and was too damaged to be used.Zoes wedding photographer was alsounavailable, but he did send another photog-rapher in his place. The florist had problemsdelivering the flowers, but the brides par-ents from Grants Pass gathered gladiolasand brought them to the wedding. Zoe spent the night at an empty houseowned by friends, but in the confusion ofthe wedding day, no one arrived to take herto the church for her own wedding! Shepicked up her overnight case and her wed-ding veil, put on her wedding shoes, andbegan walking to the church. The roadswere still busy with heavy traffic comingand going from down-town, including dumptrucks and emergencyvehicles. When shefinally arrived in herdusty clothes, hergroom was standingoutside in front of thechurch, greeting andwelcoming guests tothe wedding. Being solate to arrive, shequickly changed intoher wedding dress, and doesnt recall evenlooking in a mirror before the ceremony. Many guests assumed the wedding wouldbe canceled, and didnt come. But the fami-lies were there, as well as attendants andminister. The Joseph Lane Middle Schoolgymnasium was used for the weddingreception, but there was no cleaning crew,so the bride and groom stayed, along withfamily, to clean up after the reception andwedding. Late that night, the day after theblast, the newlyweds departed for their hon-eymoon in their 1913 Model T Ford touringcar. After returning home after a week away,they learned more about the Roseburg Blast.They also discovered that Zoes work officefor PUC and Department of Motor Vehicleservices had been moved into an old houseon Roberts Street near the State HighwayDivision offices. Later, Ray would alsobegin working for DMV, and both retiredfrom DMVafter many years working forthe State of Oregon. Fortunately none of their family oracquaintances was seriously injured in theblast, and the wedding was lovely. Adams:Continued from page 12AdamsWe had better clean up the glass.That mirror in the bathroom will be amess. The police might not let youthrough. Gay, you will have to useGrandpas potty downstairs.Apparently, everyone wanted to get abetter view of the growing fire, so weclimbed the back fence and sat down inthe sloping open field and watched thetown burn. I vividly remember thesmell of the fire. It would change fromburning wood to something else, some-thing black and dirty and very scary.See that black smoke? my grandpaasked me. I nodded yes. Thats CarterTire Company; that black smoke istheir tires burning. So, there we sat, watching much ofdowntown burning, sirens blaring,flames rising and falling, waiting fordad to come home.There goes the Umpqua Hotel.Will the fire melt the railroad tracks?What was that little explosion? Hey,Mary Lynn, Central Junior High isburning. I wonder how many peoplewere killed or hurt? Can the fire getup here? I see that the Lockwoodsare sitting on lawn chairs in their frontyard. (A neighbor, Fred Lockwood,owned Lockwood Ford and would endup relocating his dealership to the Blastsite.)No matter how many times someonetried to put me to sleep, I ended up inthe backyard. Hypnotized by theflames, heat and noise, I can still seeall the buildings burning with their dif-ferent sizes and shapes of flames.Once I heard that Dad was home andmy sister, Mary Lynn, was talkingabout his taking someone to the hospi-tal and there was blood on the passen-ger door of the car, I couldnt racedown to the garage fast enough. But,being 6 years old had its limits in myfamily, so even during mass panic,someone managed to keep me from thecar. I am sure I stomped back upstairsall upset that Icouldnt see theblood.Finally, fallingasleep on the couch,I awoke to a singlenoise ... glass beingswept. It echoed inthe house and onceoutside even a louderecho on our street. Itlasted all day.I bet nearly everywindow in town isbroken! Listen to that glass. So, itwas Gerretsen's that exploded? Sometruck was full of dynamite and blastingcaps. The axle of the truck wasblown four blocks away, all the waydown to Mosher and Pine! They sayseveral people died and hundreds areinjured. The store isnt completelydestroyed, but it will be closed forawhile. By the time I saw our car, the bloodhad been washed off and the man takento the doctor, long fixed up and withhis family.My dads store was not destroyed,but was heavily damaged. By the endof the day, all the rolls of carpet andlinoleum that were intact were broughtup to the house and stored in thegarage. They looked ugly sitting in ourgarage. Once again, I was embarrassedby something that only a 6-year-oldwould find icky under such circum-stances.The following day, Mom, Grandpaand I walked downtown. While Momwas talking with some people, I talkedGrandpa into taking me to Johnnys ToyHouse and buying me some small toy.We then walked down to the store,toured the blast site and walked themany blocks so we could see where theaxle had been blown four blocks!! In all honesty, I dont remember muchof the walk, other than the fact that theCoca-Cola bottling company had beenburned down. Worried that there wouldbe no soda pop for awhile, I was furtherdismayed when I spotted a melted palegreen glass Coke bottle in the wreckage.Years later, when talking about theevents, I learned that Dads first wifeshusband, who was a fire chief inOlympia, Wash., drove all night uponhearing about the Blast. He said that hecould smell burning flesh and thoughtthat it looked like a war zone.The building next to F&Wwas neverrebuilt, but remained a torn down emptylot with pieces of melted glass hiddenunder dirt. I dug there more than onceand found them.Apart of the truck was blown in theback wall of F&W. It was some sort ofgear and a nice little sign explainingwhat was put next to it. Once, I waslooking at it and pulled it out. My mom yelled at me and shoved itback in, hoping no one would everknow that I had compromised theauthenticity of its place in history.Every fall, my Grandpa would burn asmall pile of leaves in our backyard, andfor a few years after the Blast, I wouldfill up my sand bucket with water andput out the fire. The fire was unattendedand I was afraid that our house wouldburn. He would curse my actions, butnever to my face. I was looking at a World Almanacsometime back in the 90s and saw that,under disasters/explosions, there wasthe Blast. Todays almanacs dont list it.I guess after 9/11 our explosion didntseem worth mentioning.Oh, a friend of the family, HelenRandle, was visiting us on Aug. 7,1959. She slept through the wholething.Friday, August 7, 2009The News-Review, Umpqua Edition Roseburg Oregon, Page 15 Serving the Agricultural Community of Douglas County since 1921FARMERS CO-OPServing the Agricultural Community of Douglas County since 19213171 NE StephensHours: Monday-Saturday 8am-6pm Sunday 10am-6pmPre-Blast2009 Feed Agriculture Products Livestock Supplies Landscape Items Fertilizer & so much more!673-0601 1-800-452-0981THE BLASTFarenbaugh:Continued from page 7Young Grace poses by Blast damage.FarenbaughPage 16The News-Review, Umpqua Edition Roseburg Oregon, Friday, August 7, 2009800 W. Stanton StreetRoseburg(541) 673-5157St. JosephCatholic Church323 N. Comstock RoadSutherlin(541) 673-5157St. Francis XavierCatholic ChurchMass Times:5:30pm Saturdays (Vigil)Sundays 8am, 10:30am, 12:30pm Spanish MassLIFE TEEN 5pm (Sept-June), 6pm (July-Aug)Mass Times:5:30pm Saturdays (Vigil)Sundays 10:30amWITHNOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLEPlease Come Join Us!Oakland Churchof ChristFor more information459-44471400 NE Oak St., OaklandSunday 8:45 Sunday SchoolAll Ages10AM Worship ServiceSt. Paul Lutheran Church and SchoolSunday Services 10:00 am Christian Education for all ages 8:45 amQuality Christian Education ages 3-Gr.8Pastor Andrew FarhatPrincipal Jeff Spangenberg673-7212750 W. Keady Ct. RoseburgJust off Harvard Ave.Canyonville Christian Academy is accredited by NAAS (Northwest Association of Accredited Schools) & a member of ACSI (Association of Christian Schools International)For More InformationCall 541-839-4401or email admissions@canyonville.netwww.canyonville.netCanyonvilleChristianAcademyCanyonville Christian Academy is a boarding and day high school (grades 9 12) founded in 1924. CCA is located in southern Douglas County on a beautiful 11 acre campus. Students attending CCA have the opportunity to attend cultural events, visit museums, participate in OSAA athletics and learn about other cultures. Special eld trips, dinners and activities are scheduled throughout the school year offering a unique and memorable experience for all of our students.More than Just A SchoolAcademicsCanyonville Christian Academy... committed to excellence in the education of young men and women. It is a HOME thatwelcomes, a SCHOOL that prepares for life, a PLACE where Christian values shape character and a FAMILY where lasting friendships are formed.We now offer College Now mathematics courses in conjunction with UCC, as well as AP Physics and AP US History. Our students have gone to major universities such as:Brown, Penn State, U of O, Oregon State, Purdue, RutgersTransportation AvailablePlease call for currentprogram informationwww.saintgeorgesepiscopal.com(541) 673-40481024 SE CassRoseburg, OR 97470Oak Ave.Cass Ave.Jackson st.Stephens st. Rose st.HWY 99Loving God, loving our NeighborsSt. Georges Episcopal Church St. Georges Episcopal ChurchFrom I-5 take exit 124, go across the bridge & head downtown on to Oak Ave.Sunday - 9:00 amMain st.FAITHTHE BLASTBonnie Wetherell ofRoseburg has a specialBlast souvenir: a letterfrom the regional oper-ations director for the U.S. PostOffices Portland office, com-mending her father for hisactions following the Blast.Wetherells father, Horace L.Roell, was a post office clerk in1959; he then lived with hisfamily on Main Street. The letter appears as it waswritten below.Dear Mr. Roell:It has come to my attentionthat on August 7, 1959 fol-lowing the terrific explosionthat brought sudden desola-tion to the City of Roseburg,you made your way throughthe shattered ruins to thepost office and along withother employees, appliedyourself with such diligencethat near-normal postal serv-ice was provided on that fate-ful day.It gives me a great deal ofpleasure to present to you acertificate of award and acheck for $25.00, less deduc-tions, along with my personalthanks for your unselfishdevotion to duty during thisperiod of emergency.Sincerely yours,S.G. SchwartzRegional Operations Direc-tor Work after Blast nets rewardHorace Roell, left, is seen at the post office circa 1955.DALE GREENLEYIn midsummer of 1969, not long afterNASAput a man on the moon, I wasstanding in the Seoul, Korea, USO. Iwas on my way back from R & R inJapan, awaiting transport back to my uniton the Korean DMZ. Another GI wasalso idling away some time and westruck up a conversation. As with anyexchange between Americans in anotherpart of the world, one of the first ques-tions asked is Where are you from? Hewas from Massachusetts and when Iannounced Roseburg, Oregon, his eyesexpanded and with near reverence in hisvoice, he murmured, The Blast! I should have been used to it by then,but it still surprisedme every time it hap-pened. Since the firstday of basic trainingI had been amazed athow many GIsinstantly said TheBlast when theyheard Roseburg,Oregon. Having wit-nessed the Blast, Iknew it was animpressive event, butI vastly underestimat-ed the effect it had on the rest of thenation. I assume that in those early daysof television, visual impressions of thedevastation were more readily fixed inpeoples brains. In todays world, I thinkwe are visually and mentally saturatedwith, and have become inured to, neardaily televised images of violence anddestruction. In the late 50s, those imageswere novel and more easily impressed inthe nations collective conscious. Cou-pled with Life magazine photographsand Readers Digest coverage, imagesof Roseburgs blast were securelyembedded in American minds.I have a vision of the Blast that wasfirmly fried into my brain on that hot,humid August night in 1959. It was about1 a.m. I was 12, just getting ready to be asecond-generation student at CentralJunior High School. Mom thought it wasneat that I was to attend the same schoolthat she had attended as a young girl. Iwas lying atop the bedcovers, tossing andturning, unable to sleep in the heat. I washappy, however, as Dad had just built usa new, big house on the corner of Brad-ford Court and Broccoli Lane, a coupleof miles out Harvard Avenue from thenarrow, green, steel Oak Street Bridge. Itwas a solid house, built on a concreteslab with tile-covered floors. It felt like afortress to me. The only worries in mymind at that time were the Cold War, andthe fear of a nuclear attack. These discus-sions often included talk about buildingbomb shelters, and what provisions tostock them with. That was the backdropfor the panic that engulfed me when anindescribably loud explosion and violentshock wave shook the house. It felt likesomething picked the house up a fewinches and shook it like a rag doll. Ibolted upright in bed. Centered in myopen bedroom window, rising high intothe sky, was a tall, narrow, orange col-umn with white and yellow streaks arch-ing out the sides of it. It lit up the wholesky and atop the column boiled thedreaded mushroom cloud! Of course, Iinstantly knew that was the end of theworld, we were just dead men walking.The street quickly filled with neighborsin various states of undress, women andchildren crying and men in various statesof panic running aimlessly back andforth. I have to hand it to my dad. Hewas one of the few who kept his cool. Hehad been through Japanese bombings inthe Pacific during World War II and saidit sounded like a 500-pound bomb. Hescoffed at the mention of an atomicbomb with perfect logic saying, If theydid have one to drop on us, they sure ashell wouldnt have picked Roseburg todrop it on!Both the local radio station and televi-sion station were disabled and reliablenews dribbled in slowly. The rumorsflew wildly for a day or two while thedevastation was sorted out. I rememberone rumor that an apartment housebetween the railroad tracks and the riverhad been blown into the river and all theoccupants were missing. The fact that noone could figure out where that Friday, August 7, 2009The News-Review, Umpqua Edition Roseburg Oregon, Page 17 Caring for the community... on a personal level.We are currently located at:544 W. Umpqua StreetRoseburg, OR 97471541-672-9596We take all types of Insurance, including: Medicaid, OHP, MedicareWe will be moving to a new location on Kenneth Ford Dr.May 2010Other Locations inDrain, Glide, & Myrtle CreekElegant RiversideRetirement CommunityCall 672-2500 for a VIP Lunch and Tour1970 W. Harvard Ave., Roseburgwww.riverviewterrace.comIts your turn toEnjoy Life THE BLASTBlast altered academic fate of junior high studentsCentral Junior High School is seen after the Blast had done its worst.Turn to GREENLEY, page 18GreenleyPage 18The News-Review, Umpqua Edition Roseburg Oregon, Friday, August 7, 2009The Covered BridgeMyrtle Creek Tri-City Riddle Area119 S. Old Pacic Hwy, Myrtle Creek 863-4466Painting Classes & SuppliesDouglas County SpecialistsDougco Investments541-863-3135 1-877-935-2519For All Your Real Estate & Financing NeedsVince Lytsell, Broker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643-9683Scott Barraza, Broker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 863-1433Carol Matson, Broker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 680-2588Jackie Wagoner, Broker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 580-2971R. Todd Theiss, Principal Broker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 863-1321145 S. Main St., Myrtle Creek villagerealty@frontiernet.netSameLocationSince 1964129 S. Old Pacific Hwy., Tri City (541) 863-3134 (541) 863-3134(541) 863-7811 (541) 863-7811Visit our website www.myrtlecreekvillagerealty.comProuo o o& s&rVJnq IouqJas Louny TorcUY&arscJcLccEJJr&Jano Bron&rsJust off I-5 TriCity Riddle ExitinroducingnewYOUR CRAVING!South Douglas RodeoJune 2010, at the Tri City Horseman Arena, for info call 541-863-3037.Music in the ParkSummer Concert Series, Thursday Evenings, July & August 6:00-8:30 pm, for info call Ted 541-860-5846Fall Hot Air Balloon FestSeptember 26th & 27th, 2009, for info call Ted 541-860-5846Myrtle Creek Summer FestivalMillsite Park, Last weekend of July 2010 for info call Linda 541-863-6843South Umpqua School Foundation Dinner & AuctionSeptember 19, 2009, for info call Clair 541-680-7199Halloween Street FairOctober 31, 2009, Downtown Myrtle Creek, for info call Linda 541-863-6843Winter Festival/Timber Truckers Light ParadeDecember 12th, 2009 for info call Linda 541-863-6843 THE BLASTapartment house was located justseemed to add extra fuel to the rumor. Idont recall how long it took for themto reopen the Oak Street bridge, butwhen we were finally able to drivethrough the Blast area, we knew that itwould be awhile before life returned tonormal.The biggest deviation from normallife for me was a happy, fortuitous one.Central Junior High sat on the North-east corner above Highway 99 andWashington Street, across from WilburThompsons Signal service station. Theparking lot for the late Safeway grocerystore is located on the site now. It was ascant two blocks from the epicenter ofthe blast and though the structure wasstill erect, it was irreparable. Lacking ahome, a decision was made to haveCentral students double-shift at JosephLane. During the two years we double-shifted, Fullerton Grade School wasconverted to a junior high and a newFullerton IV was built farther out Har-vard in a big, vacant field across fromour house on a new eastern extension ofBradford Court. What that meant forme was that the school bus camearound noon to take us across town toJo Lane. I have many happy memoriesof those two years of sleeping in,spending the mornings playing baseballor fishing the South Umpqua off theend of Broccoli. That was vastimprovement over spending the morn-ing sitting at a desk in a schoolroom. Inthe words of fellow classmate JimMichalek, it was like a gift from God.In September of 1961 we startedschool at the new junior high as thefirst freshman class not to attend Rose-burg High School in our memory. Theprevious system had been a 6-2-4, 6years of elementary school, 2 years ofjunior high and 4 years of high school. Idont know what prompted the change,but 1961 was the first year of the new6-3-3 system. One of the first orders of businesswas to come up with a name for ournew school. We held a contest with thestudents submitting their suggestionsfor a new name along with an essayabout why they thought that nameshould be chosen. The faculty chosethree finalists and, at an assembly,those three students read their papers tothe student body. Dave Leiken, son ofState Rep. Sidney Leiken, submitted thewinning name, John C. Fremont JuniorHigh School. The other submissions, according tothe collective memory of Denise Doyle,Dave Leiken and Stan Smith, wereNebo and Lewis and Clark. Unfor-tunately, the names of the students whosubmitted those names werent record-ed anywhere and even an extensivephone poll to more than 80 of theremaining students didnt locate them.With the new school completed and theBlast two years behind us, the transitionto normalcy was complete.Greenley:Continued from page 17Friday, August 7, 2009The News-Review, Umpqua Edition Roseburg Oregon, Page 19 THE BLASTJOHN SOWELLThe News-ReviewThe Roseburg Blast didnt giveDavid Hume Kennerly his startas a globe-trotting photojournal-ist. However, it may have pro-vided the onetime Roseburg residentwith a certain fearlessness that during hiscareer drove him continuouslyinto dangerous situations.Kennerly, then 12, was asleepin the back bedroom of his fami-lys home at 848 S.E. BlakelyAve. in the early morning hoursof Aug. 7, 1959, when the loudwail of emergency sirens roust-ed him. He peered out the openwindows of his room and sawflames consuming a portion ofdowntown Roseburg.Fire had engulfed the Gerret-sen Building Supply building onSoutheast Pine Street and Oak Avenue,eight blocks from the Kennerly home.I could see the flames. It was a hugefire, Kennerly said during a telephoneinterview from his home in Santa Moni-ca, Calif.Moments later, at 1:13 a.m., a truckparked on the street outside Gerretsensloaded with 6 1/2 tons of dynamite blewup.The blast leveled several blocks ofdowntown Roseburg and caused thedeath of 14 people. Another 125 peoplesuffered injuries.It was like an exploding flash oflight, Kennerly said in describing amushroom cloud that developed. Itknocked me back across the room.Burning debris landed on the roof ofthe house and showered the neighbor-hood. Kennerly said his family sprayeddown the roof with water from a hose toprevent the house from catching on fire. The force of the blast broke all of thewindows in the house, except for the twoopen ones that Kennerly looked out, hesaid.At first, no one knew whatcaused the fire and the explo-sion. Kennerly recalled thinkingit might be an invasion.There was this whole Com-mie thing, the Russians arecoming scenario, he said.The truth was far less sinister,but equally devastating. To thisday, the Blast remains one ofthe biggest events of Kennerlyslife.During his career, he hasphotographed the Vietnam war, served asthe White House photographer for Presi-dent Gerald Ford and has covered assign-ments in more than 130 countries. Hisphotographs have served as cover shotsfor Time and Newsweek more than 35times. The Blast ranks up with all ofthose.It was like the most amazing thing Ihad ever seen, said Kennerly, who wona Pulitzer Prize at age 25 for a series ofphotographs taken during his time inVietnam. Its one of those events whereyou dont need to embellish anything. Itwas that big.He just wishes he had been a littleolder.Its too bad I wasnt a photographerthen. I would have gotten some greatphotographs, he said.While he was still 12, Kennerlywatched a garage burn down near hishome. As he stood behind a police lineand watched, the firefighters attacked theflames. He watched as a News-Reviewphotographer crossed the line and startedsnapping photographs. He was able to go across the line andI thought that was just the most wonder-ful thing, he said, still amazed 50 yearslater at the access the press was given togo places others couldnt.That, he said, started him on his career.He had his first photo published in 1963in the Orange R, the Roseburg HighSchool paper. His family later moved tothe Portland area, where he graduatedfrom West Linn High School in 1965.Watching The Blast unfold from hiswindow didnt cause the young DavidKennerly any concern about his ownsafety. Looking back on his career, hesaid that may have been one of the cata-lysts that allowed him to go into poten-tially dangerous situations without think-ing about the possible personal harm.I found I wasnt afraid of goingplaces, he said.And he still isnt. You can reach reporter John Sowellat 957-4209 or by e-mail atjsowell@nrtoday.com.Blast set off explosive career for photojournalistKennerlyCourtesy of Marilyn LewisPATRICIAPATMATTHEWS LALIBERTEIfollowed the truck in to town thatnight, it parked and I parked behindit. The driver got out, locked thedoors, walked around the truck andleft. I thought nothing of it. The truckwas well marked explosives. My husband was a driver-salesman forCoca-Cola. I was waiting for him andwas told he was going to be late gettingin, so after about one hour I went hometo wait for his call. About 10 p.m. hecalled for me to come pick him up. WhenI got there he took his billfold and keysinto Mr. Unruhs house and left them ona table, and we went home, had a laterdinner and then went to bed. It seemed a short time later I heardsirens and more sirens. I went into thekitchen and saw smoke (our house wason a hill and you could see toward town). I woke my husband and told him itlooked like it was the Coke plant and hesaid it couldnt be as we had just leftthere. I went back into the kitchen towatch when it went, straight up, purewhite and beautiful, right up into thedark sky. At the time, I thought, This iswhat an atomic bomb looks like, butdidnt think for one minute that it was. My husband dressed and started for theplant to see how he could help. We didntknow what it was. Later in the nighteveryone on our street started to bringcoffee down for whoever needed it. In the morning when my husbandcame home he told me all hell had bro-ken loose but we still didnt know whathappened. Two days later his billfold wasfound embedded in the fence betweenUnruhs house and the gas station withthe money still in it. The keys werefound later as a mess of twisted keysexcept for three that were fine. It wasstrange those three did not have anycopies. We still have those keys. We were put on National Guard patrol.The town was closed unless you had apass. I volunteered nights to work at theArmory to help feed the guards and thebasement smelled heavy of gas. Themess sergeant said that in case of fire, wewere to run any way out. Every time welit the stove we wondered. The back door was open and Sargetold me if I heard shots not to go out. Weheard shots and I stuck my head out tosee what was happening. He pulled meback in (so much for following orders onmy part). The food brought in was unbe-lievable. Fresh corn, tomatoes and all the veg-etables and fruit you could think of werebrought by all people for the guards. Onelittle older lady brought a pound of but-ter. She said it wasnt much, but thoughtwe might be able to use it and we did.Everything was used. There are so manythings you remember. I would work until about 5 a.m. thengo home to be with the children so myhusband could go to the plant, what wasTown came together to sift through the ruins, rebuildTurn to LA LIBERTE, page 25Page 20The News-Review, Umpqua Edition Roseburg Oregon, Friday, August 7, 2009THE BLASTARETABASSIn 1959 I was a young 26-year-old mother offour children. I had left my undesirable,unloving husband of nine yearsbehind. I found a basement apartmentclose to town and close to a school.We would not be far from DiamondLake Boulevard. The area was per-fect. I was hired at a hole-in-the-wallcafe close to the train depot. Theboss was teaching me to fry cookon a big grill. In about two weeks Iwas getting the hang of flippingsteaks and hamburgers. I closed upabout 7 p.m. I had no car, but thewalk made me feel relaxed by thetime I arrived home. After lettingthe baby sitter go, I fed my youngones hamburgers I had broughthome. We watched some TV. Wealways went to bed by 9 p.m.The three girls had bunk beds in a large bed-room. They had wanted the bed in front of thewindow, but I had told them no, it was too danger-ous. One of them might hit the window glass inher sleep and break it. My son slept on a cot in the same room, but thatnight he did not feel very well, so I put his cot inthe living room. Off the living room I had a smallbedroom with a 4-by-4 window. After tucking mygirls in bed, I let my 3-year-old son go to bed withme until he fell asleep, then I tookhim to his cot. I always left mydoor open so I could hear the kidsif they needed me. I do not know what time it waswhen my window blew out, cover-ing my floor and bed. The bedtipped on its side, with the doorwedged open about 2 inches. Icould hear my babys screamingand crying. I was crying andscreaming myself. I just knew the bomb had beendropped. Everyone had been talk-ing about it for a good while. I pulled and yanked on that dooruntil I could squeeze out. Runningbarefooted into the living room Icould see everything looked red. Iscreamed, Everythings on fire.The smell was acrid, burning my nose and throat.It looked like light smoke in the air. Three win-dows were covering the floor in shards. The livingBlast has young familyscared for their livesAreta Bass stands with her daughter, Jenine, in the late 1950s.I was screaming,They dropped thebomb on us, thedamned foolsdropped the bomb.Areta BassTurn to BASS, page 24CONSTANCE HAMMONS We stood, choking and cryingas we clung to each other,not taking our eyes off themorbidly fascinating fieryblast. The blood-red heat seemed to be ema-nating from a raging, fire-breathing drag-on. Mommy and we four children stoodon the porch locked in a quakingembrace frozen like a vibrating statue,a monument to the bewildered. Our wail-ing merged with that of sirens. Our glow-ing skin crawled as soot and perspirationaccumulated and merged to make a sortof mud that began to slip down ourcheeks with the tears. I heard my mother sob. Oh! Please,God! No! she groaned. They droppedthe atom bomb! I knew what that meant. My class atBenson School,where I was in thesecond grade, hadmore bomb drills thanfire drills. I was aboutto suggest that we getunder the kitchentable and put ourheads between ourknees when I waskicked by the 2-year-old, who squirmed inmy smotheringembrace. My two younger siblingsgripped our mother with the same inten-sity. I relaxed my hold and kissed thetoddler. As our crying subsided, we began tolook around and finally disengaged; thenwalked around aimlessly, stumbling overbroken windowpanes, pictures, andknickknacks. Our mother flipped thelight switch and got no response. Itripped over the deadbolt that still had alarge chunk of the front door attached. AsI examined it in the fading glow, I imag-ined and half believed that a mon-ster had bitten the lock off the door. Atthe image of blazing fangs, my own teethbegan to chatter. I jumped and screamed as a voice overa bullhorn screeched from a police carpatrolling the neighborhood. Evacuate! I looked at my mother, expecting somesort of duck-and-cover bomb drilldesigned for those times when it isnt adrill at all, but the real thing. We dont have anyplace to go, wasall she said. Aknock at the door wasaccompanied by a flashlight, and a voice.Is anybody in there? The officer shout-ed instructions to go into the most shel-tered room in the house and stay until wewere given the all clear signal. No, hedidnt know what had happened, but weshould take precautions. We huddled in blankets in the kitchenaway from the windows, listening in thenight. People outside yelled and scam-pered around, and drove away. I rubbedmy bruised elbow, injured when the bunkbed fell, ejecting me from the top berthand my sisters from the lower one. Years later, our mother told us how,there in the darkness, she contemplatedthe vulnerability of her offspring. Shewondered how long it would be beforethe radiation poisoning would begin tomake us sick. How long would we live?How much would we suffer? She wasdeep in thought and yet incapable ofthinking. Woman remembers the night a monster ate her houseHammonsTurn to HAMMONS, page 25Friday, August 7, 2009The News-Review, Umpqua Edition Roseburg Oregon, Page 21 THE BLASTMARYLOU JOHNSONOn the night of the RoseburgBlast, I had just gone to bedand was lying there when thefire sirens started blowing. I satup in bed and was watching the flamesthat were about a block from our house.The home was next to the Oak StreetBridge, which is now a park. I decided to wake my 8-year-old son,Kirk, who was sleeping in a screenedporch next to my room. I knew if therewas a big fire nearby and I hadnt awak-ened him to watch it with me, he wouldbe unhappy. I was making my way from the bed tothe doorway when the Blast went off. Igrabbed Kirk out of bed and hurriedthrough the debris to the room where myyounger two children were sleeping. Thebaby, Deanne, was in her crib, which wasfilled with glass and plaster. My middleson, Grant, who was 5, had put ButchWax on his crew cut prior to going to bedand the plaster dust that had filled thehouse was stuck in his hair, giving himthe appearance of a little ghost. We managed to get out of the houseand met up with our neighbors, Joe andCordelia James, and their three boys,Melvin, Larry and Stephen. They werecoming across the lawn to see if wecould all get away in my car, as theycould not find their car keys. We piledinto my car, which had severe damage,but was still operable. Alarge piece of the truck that hadblown up lay in my front yard. Webelieved it to be the axle. We then droveacross the Oak Street Bridge toCordelias mothers place. Fortunately, none of my children washurt. The only injury in my family was adeep gash on my knee that I received as Iwaded through the glass and rubble tomy children. The James family wasnt aslucky. Joe James, a policeman at thetime, never fully recovered from theinjuries resulting from the Blast thatnight. It was several days before we wereallowed to go back to our homes, andthen we were forced to walk across thebridge, only removing what we couldcarry. All of our doors, windows, andcasings had been blown out. The chim-ney was blown off and bricks were allover the house. The framing of the interior walls wasall that remained standing inside. When Imade my way through to my bedroom,there were big daggers of glass in thewall directly across from where I hadbeen sitting. It was obvious that if I had-nt gotten up to go into the other roomthat night I would surely have died. Thesole death in our family was a green andyellow parakeet. Our furniture was completelydestroyed, except for the piano, whichmy daughter still has. And for manyyears after the incident we picked outglass and bird feathers that had beenblown into the piano from the explosion.Both our house and a neighboring homewere so badly damaged they had to betorn down. Many years passed before we stoppedlooking for a safe place to hide wheneverwe heard a fire siren. It was a terrifyingexperience. Parakeet the only family casualty of BlastCourtesy of Summer JamesGENEE PARR COONFifty years ago on Aug. 7th a bigchange occurred in our lives asit did for many people living inRoseburg. All in all, we werevery lucky.I was 9 years old, Karen was 5 andJulee was 2. We lived on AlamedaStreet three houses from StephensStreet. Now it is the first house. The night of the Blast, my Momwoke up and told Daddy that it felt likethere had been an earthquake. She wasfrom Southern California where earth-quakes were common. They got up and looked out the win-dow toward town and saw smoke andflames. They turned on the radio andheard the first reports. Daddy gotdressed, jumped into his 35 Ford andwent to town. He was partners in aUnion 76 station on the corner ofStephens and Washington streets. Cen-tral Junior High School was right acrossthe street, The Dairy Queen was onanother corner and right behind the sta-tion was Als Bike Shop and the housethat the Kuykendall family lived in. When Daddy got to town the policewouldnt let him through. Not to bestopped, he took a different route,parked the Ford and snuck into town.He got down to the station and therewasnt much to be done there. It waspretty well destroyed. He then got on ahose and with a bunch of other peoplehosed down a bunch of buildings tokeep them from burning up. He wasdown there all night long and into thenext day.Meanwhile, Mom was at home withher three little girls asleep and listeningto the radio saying that the gas tankscould blow up at any time. At that timeon Stephens there was a service stationon almost every corner. She was, need-less to say