It was a dark and stormy day.
This isn't the start of a bad mystery novel or a book by Snoopy, but the actual description of a schoolday at St.William when i was a third or perhaps fourth grader.
Storms seemed a little bit more rare back then but the one coming to that school near me on this day was shaping up to be a most unpleasant one.
It was about 2 pm when a tornado warning was issued for our area. We students as well as the faculty were properly concerned. Teacher shut the windows and closed the drapes. The only way we could measure the darkness starting to envelop us was via the skylights that were located above the first vertical row of desks. They were transitioning from light to dark.
The sixth row of desks was located nearest those windows and the teacher instructed that row to move with their desks,into the cloak room which was schooltalk for the coat room,located behind the blackboard. We were told over the P.A. (school talk for the intercom,a speaker square located near the ceiling at the front of the room) that we would not be dismissed at the usual time unless a parent or guardian came to pick us up.
While most of that incident is still vivid in my memory, I honestly can't recall if I requested my mom be called (I lived just across the street) or she called the school. In any case her call was taken by the previously referenced Father Ubowski who invited her to "come ahead."
. I remember clearly experiencing the power and the fury of nature probably for the first time as my mother and I walked across the parking lot ,the charcoal sky making the illuminated school full of students and staff behind us look almost like a spaceship. The wind was whipping,the thunder rolled and I remember seeing,out of the corner of my eye in the northwest portion of the sky a whirly patch of light, i remember it being of orange hue,moving quickly. I dont know if it was a funnel or the start of a clearing line,a brighter sky...but by this time I was in a dead run, mom walking purposefully but well behind.
I let myself into my house, left the door open for mom and got to my room,flinging myself onto my bed,beset with fear. I heard my mom come in and thats all I remember.
As far as I know,a tornado did not touch down in our area that day but whatever angry storm stalked us left this third grader scarred for years afterward.
Rumbles of thunder,darkening skies and flashes of lightning gave me a form of PTSD. MY childhood years were never the same. BUT ,on the plus side that incident sparked my interest in weather and its effects. I studied it on my own and became aquainted with the great Chicago meteorologist Harry Volkman with whom I spoke to on the phone before many a storm after that incident. That was heady stuff for an 8 or 9 year old because Mr.Volkman was more than a weather forecaster he was a bonafide television personality who took my calls.
My interest in weather never waned and today I have at least an elementary knowledge of the science and can read weather maps and fashion a forecast.I learned why the atmosphere does what it does and made my peace with it. I abhor those forecasters who use storms to get ratings and frighten their viewers , while deeply respecting a forecaster like Mike Caplan who is four square against using weather as a weapon.
It is because of St.William that I was able to meet meteorologists Amy Freeze, Dr.Dave Eiser,Phil Schwarz and Bill Bellis TV personalities all,and a reflection of my interest in meteorology born that stormy day as a young student. A silver lining to a very dark cloud.
Because I was part of these St.William fundraisers as an adult those fine people visited our school and I resumed contact with Mr.Volkman who did me the honor of appearing at St.William on three occasions. Turns out this weather legend never forgot me and eagerly would tell the people that came up to him as we made our rounds "I remember Jeff from when he was eight years old! He used to call me!" I might have been a little embarrassed but I was also very proud that I had a connection to this media giant. And I was also thankful he stopped the recollection there instead of adding "He used to be scared (wit)less!"
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