The Waco High Class of 1953 never had a prom, thanks to the May 11 tornado that counted two seniors among its 114 fatalities.

The school district even canceled final exams for the stricken student body that year, recalled attorney Rollin Khoury, a ’53 grad.

Graduation ceremonies took place May 28 at the school at Ninth Street and Columbus Avenue, while downtown was still in splinters and the victims’ graves still fresh. 

“One of those killed was a lovely girl who sat in front of me in homeroom, Barbara Johnson,” he said. “When they let us come back to school after (a week), Mrs. Olson told me to move up a row because ‘I can’t stand to see that empty chair right in front of me.’ ”

Johnson was killed when Texas Seed on Austin Avenue collapsed. She’d gone downtown with a friend, Gloria Dobrovolny, to purchase seed for her pet parakeet. Dobrovolny’s father was also killed.

Another senior, Felix Villarreal, was killed while playing pool at the Torrance Recreation Hall in the alley behind the R.T. Dennis Building. The five-story building at Fifth Street and Austin Avenue fell on the pool hall and crushed it, killing 18 people. Another 22 people died in the R.T. Dennis Building itself. 

Several Waco High students were downtown that day since school had been dismissed early because of the threat of bad weather. Despite being ordered to go straight home, some students instead headed to malt shops, movie theaters and department stores, unaware that the deadliest tornado in Texas history was headed toward them.

Sarah Lou (Graves) Bracken, another member of the Waco High class of ’53, recalled that in the weeks leading up to the tornado, her life was a constant social whirl of formal dances, teas, festive brunches and the like.

Unlike many of her classmates, Bracken said, she followed the principal’s advice and went home with her mother. Just after the tornado hit downtown at 4:39 p.m., her father called from his store, City Tire and Battery, at Third Street and Washington Avenue. 

“Dad called and said, ‘The Square’s been blown away.’ Then the phone went dead. We jumped in the car and went to look for him. It turned out everything was OK at his shop. There was just a little rain damage. But he was very lucky.”

Staff writer J.B. Smith contributed to this story.

tjryan@wacotrib.com

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