Palm Sunday – a day that changed everything

Here is the farmstead of Edgar Lewis Lowry and Floe Ethel (Carnes) Lowry. The Chester Township farm was located a mile south of Southern Wells High School and then a half mile east. The house and buildings were located on the north side of the road. The house and all the building were destroyed on April 11, 1965 when one of the Palm Sunday tornadoes came through the southern part of Wells County.

Most everything was flattened and destroyed except for the back portion of the house (upper left) and part of a small barn. Floe was still at Sunday night church services at Chester Center Church and Lewis had just laid down early to go to bed for the night when the tornado hit. About 30 minutes earlier, the Arden & Helen (Lowry) Kunkel Family with their six children (Sharon, Sue, Linda, Lew, Bob and Annie) had left the farm to return to their home, northeast of Bluffton. The family stopped in Bluffton at Macy’s which was a popular drive-in restaurant. While there, they noticed storm clouds to the south of Bluffton.

Here is another angle of what is left of the house. It would be determined later that the tornado that raced through Wells County was a F4 with winds of 201 -250 mph.

One of the neighbors, Glen Kirschner witnessed the tornado as it struck the Lowry Farm. He came to the aid of Lewis and was the first on the scene. The tornado continued to the east where it would hit Keystone and the Friends Church and the James Harris family home where Susan Harris (wife and mother) along with daughter, Deborah age 9 would be killed. The tornado continued into Adams County with a direct hit to Linn Grove.

Many people helped with the clean-up of the debris during the next few months. Grandson, Lew Kunkel remembers spending the summer that year helping with clean-up and building fence on the farm. Many of the other grandchildren remember spending time at the farm helping to pick things up. Lewis and Floe lived in a camping trailing while Arden Kunkel (son-in-law) who had a construction business, built the new home which remains today.

Shown here is a portion of one of the barns which is all that remained. Another barn contained several head of sheep with young lambs which many were found dead or injured across the pasture field. Some of the animals had to be put down because of their injuries. One family member remembers that those animals that lived, the wool could not be used because there was some many splinters and other small things in the wool.

Pictured above is the cedar tree (cone shaped tree that is visible in the first photo of the homestead) which was in the front yard. Note the box spring which came from one of the bedrooms is now leaning against the tree. Family members mentioned that some of the trees looked like they had been twisted off which emphasizes the force of the tornado.

Lewis Lowry was known for his herd of Registered Shorthorn cattle which he was very proud of. He had sold numerous calves through the years to area 4-H members and Shorthorn breeders who wanted to improve their herd. During the tornado, the cattle were in the large barn and most survived thanks to the strong beams that held up everything that had fallen in. The family remembers getting the trapped dog out that night but the cattle remained inside and were freed the next day. Jeff Friar helped Lewis and others to get the trapped cattle out and they were later taken to a neighbor’s farm since all of the fencing was destroyed at the Lowry farm. Sadly, the Shorthorn cattle had to be sold at the end of the summer since there was no barn for winter shelter.

Photo – Courtesy of the American Shorthorn Association.

This is another view of the Lowry Farm before the tornado destroyed it.

This photo shows the newly constructed home. Notice the lack of large trees and all of the barns are gone.

A special thank you to Sharon (Kunkel) Woods and Sue (Kunkel) Harris for sharing these photographs and their memories of the Palm Sunday Tornado that destroyed their grandparents’ home. Thanks also to Annie (Kunkel) Hoffmeier for sharing that her sisters had some photos and stories. Thanks