Our Miracle In The Night, it was May 7th,1961, in Harrison, Arkansas. A small town in northern Arkansas. There is no evidence apparent to strangers that such a calamity had befallen the town that night. Eighty percent of the businesses and houses had been hit, so practically everyone in the town had been affected. Eighty percent of the town had to rebuild or quit. Four lives and lots of property were lost that night.
Volumes could be written about what happened that night and the months following. What has been done to combat a recurrence?
The Story of Our Miracle In The Night
There were many acts of heroism, hundreds of “nearly tragic” and very miraculous escapes. Our story is just one of many, but it is our “true story”. One we will never forget. It was Our Miracle In The Night.
Crooked Creek today is a beautifully landscaped park. Mother said the creek was spelled “Krooked Kreek” in 1938, an unusual spelling for a most unusual creek.
From our second-story “loft home” windows (which were over my parents’ flower and gift shop), we could enjoy the beauty of the creek directly behind the shop.
Growing up by Crooked Creek
Growing up, I enjoyed the stream and walking to school on the levee. But at 14 years of age, that night of the flood, the stream that was usually shallow enough to wade and deep enough at the Old Mill Pond to swim, having great spots to fish, that night it was ugly and out of hand.
At the same time, this beautiful creek that gave moisture to pastureland and one of the richest cattle-producing sections in Arkansas, one that could be seen running adjacent to the Scenic Highway No. 7 for many miles that night, got out of hand.
The Flood…Our Miracle In The Night
It had rained steadily that first week of May 1961. All of the grounds were full of water. There were tornado warnings out, and our creek was already acting up on May 5, 1961. I remember the staff at the shop discussing the unusual weather predictions as I helped them unpack crystal and wrapping plants, making arrangements, etc., as the shop prepared for Mother’s Day on May 14th that year. Mother’s Day is one of the biggest flower and gift days for a florist. Although the shop was larger than most, because of the number of supply deliveries and merchandise for that event, there was no more room in the shop for plants. We had lined the garage walls with plants to fill the large number of orders.
We were all exhausted, so we went to bed early that Saturday night. Vaguely, I remember hearing noises, sirens, and confusion.
Tornado Warnings
Sirens shrieked tornado warnings, so Daddy got up and went to investigate. Not being too afraid and enjoying the rain that made sleeping so pleasant, Mother and I stayed in bed. Shortly, he came running up the stairs shouting, “Get your clothes on. The creek’s going over the levee.
Firemen want all merchants to get merchandise off their floors, and I need your help.” The firemen’s warnings to merchants brought nearly every businessman to their store and nearly cost them all their lives. No one could have anticipated the suddenness or force of that May 7th water! The tornado hit nearby towns killing three, and they thinkit hit the creek upstream, causing trees and debris to make a dam. No one could imagine a 7′ wall of water coming down our beautiful creek.
Into the shop
I remember Daddy saying that is creek water, the levee isn’t holding, there isn’t anything we can do, let’s get out of here. We’ll have to go up the back stairs. We started from the front of the shop to the back stairs. I remember how scared I was seeing swirling, angry, muddy water literally from the rear door, meeting the water that had been coming through the front doors. All the lights went out. It was pitch dark! We grabbed hands and made a chain to try to work our way out together.
A large object came zooming past us, missing us by inches. It was our large refrigerator, filled to capacity, hitting our bridal display tables! We could hear crashing, china, and crystal. We heard the refrigerator hit the big crystal case. The biggest of all crashes was as it went through the big plate glass window!! One of the heavy work tables was picked up like a tin can in a swift stream, bolts of ribbon, chairs, and objects we couldn’t identify zipped past us.
The Darkness…Our Miracle In The Night
In total darkness, everything was being swept away. As the water came faster and rose higher, we became petrified. Daddy said, “Don’t panic,” but we couldn’t get to a door, we couldn’t get on anything, we had no place to go. We were being swept through the shop like pool toys.
I remember that Daddy said we had to get out before the water got higher than the door, or we would be trapped. So, we headed to the only door we had time to reach, the west door, which led to the alley. Out into the middle of that torrent of raging water.
We had death grips on each other. The force of the water had opened the wooden door and had torn the screen from its frame.
Mother wedged herself in the door with her feet on one side and her butt on the other so Daddy could push me through the doorway. I got loose once, and they thought I was a goner. But Daddy caught me. How we had the strength to get all three of us out of the shop into the alley, I really can’t say.
The Rising Waters
We were standing on that screen door and couldn’t move our feet or be swept back into the shop to drown. The water was above our shoulders, getting higher and higher. We couldn’t climb higher;r there was nothing to stand on. Feeling we were going to drown.
They could see and hear us. Others could hear our cries for help, but there was nothing they could do. The water was between 14 and 16 feet, and so strong that buildings were collapsing. People were shouting back and forth between buildings. We could hear cries for help from folks across the creek, but because of the darkness could see no one, not even each other. We saw our shop van float by us like a cork. There were chickens from upstream farms and other things we could not identify floating by us.
We could hear the screams for help from others trapped in their business or on rooftops. Some had made it to the second story of buildings, and our minister and another man had made it to the second floor of the Presbyterian Church across the alley from our shop.
The water rose past Mother’s mouth, nearly to her nose. We couldn’t stay on the screen much longer. Poor Daddy was grieving because he had made us get up and come downstairs from our beds. He blamed himself thinking he hadn’t made the right decisions by leading us into the alley, endangering our lives, and now trying to save our lives We were freezing to death too, tired of holding on and getting weaker. He was trying to keep us calm.
The Rescue…our miracle
Reverend Tomlinson had found a rope and a board, which they threw to Daddy and said we’ll try to pull you across the alley into the second-floor windows of the church. Daddy told Mother to go first since she was the shortest and was going to drown first if we stayed where we were. Mother did not swim, but she grabbed the rope with one hand and let go of the door, grabbing the other end of the board. She was tossed immediately into the torrent of swirling waters.
Mother went under and then came up bobbing like a cork. I heard someone say, “There she i.s ” She had the board, but the rope was gone. She would go down and up, hitting the building walls in the swirling waters. “There she is agai,n” I heard. All kinds of things were floating by us. It was pitch black in the swirling, rising waters. Mother was on her own and surely would drown.
Then the miracle happened, she caught hold of a wire that did not move. It was anchored in the wall of our building. Mother was able to hold on and pull herself into a window transom. She was afraid that if the lights came back on, the wire might electrocute her. She remembered hearing the minister say the Lord’s Prayer. Daddy and I could not see her, but they yelled “She made it, she is safe” in a window transom.
The Cries for Help… everyone needs a miracle in this night!
We could hear calls for boats to rescue us, but we were told that boats could not make it because of the swift churning currents. In the meantime, people on buildings were watching Dadd,y and me work our way against the wall toward the telephone pole, trying to get to a higher level. If we didn’t, we would either be washed away or drown standing on the screen of the door.
The rain continued to come down in torrents, there was lightning and thunder at intervals then intense darkness. We had all shed our shoes and heavy wet robes in order to hold on. Daddy and I helped each other to the telephone poll but were exhausted and afraid we’d wash away. We could hear each other saying prayers and others saying their goodbyes.
The Only One … a miracle
Then we heard people yelling that a boat was trying to get to us, followed by wails of distress when the current swept it past the alley into the main channel. We didn’t want anyone to drown trying to save us. We heard a voice saying the boat was trying again, trying to get into the alley out of the main channel. The water slammed the boat from side to side into the walls of the two buildings but they were determined to help us.
We wondered who it was. Who wedged the boat by the light pole? Who was helping Daddy get me into the boat? Holding my legs and body propelling me against the wall using my body as a rope the men got me into the boat. Daddy was too exhausted and weak in his wrists and arms to help himself. He was helped into the boat by these men as he was ready to collapse. Who were these men? It was hard to tell in the darkness. But there was Terry Pillow, handicapped from birth, and his only son, 17-year-old Eddie. Terry owned the shoe shop across from the front of our shop.
We all considered Terry to be the brave man in Harrison for risking not only his life but the life of his only son to save us.
The Boat Ride to Safety
Mother held on to the wire, waiting. She finally was in the boat after multiple tries to reach her. Mother had stepped on a rusty nail, adding to her other injuries,s and was in pain but safe.
We rode in the boat for 3 blocks in the swirling water. Taken to the Methodist Church that sat on a hill. Arriving at the glare of flashlights and car lights. We were aware of how scantily dressed we were and how many folks were watching us. We looked like dirty, drowned rats. And were too weak to walk alone. The mayor’s wife was there, and she helped us into her car.
We were taken to my Aunt Helen and Uncle Paul’s home. They were asleep and unaware of the devastation of the town, of people drowning. Aunt Helen filled a hot bath, fixed us coffee, and found our clothes. They called our doctor, Dr. Ross Fowler, who came immediately and gave us sedatives and tetanus shots. His historical office was directly across the street from our shop and was completely underwater. He hadn’t been caught there and was helping everyone he could.
Daddy’s sedative did not work, so he cleaned up and went back downtown while Mother and I slept. He had rested some but was anxious to help anyone he could and to thank Terry and Eddie for saving us.
The Clean Up
What were we to do? What was Harrison as a city to do? First, we had to clean up the mess. People came from everywhere to help. The Red Cross and Salvation Army were there pronto, and the National Guard was called out to stop the looting. Everything was covered in inches of thick, nasty mud. Four lives had been lost, but it is a miracle more were not. The force of the water had taken nearly everything from us. The tornado had killed another three people.
Oddly, the flowers in the airtight display case were still good, another strange fact, although the case had been tossed up to the ceiling along with the cash register, found to contain $25 and change (as Daddy had emptied it earlier ), and the front desk.
Mother later said if she had been thinking she would have sent the flowers to other flood victims (friends), but at that time, nothing made sense. After 22 years in business, everything was gone, and no insurance to cover anything but the cars. We had to get back into business; we had no other source of income.
Our staff was asked to file for unemployment as we had no idea when we could pay them. Yet they were there working beside us every day. We asked the phone company for a phone, and the only phone working on our block, so everyone took turns using it.
Luckily, none of our personal possessions were affected in the house, so we did have clean clothes, but no running water. Farmers brought in water for us all to use. Mother’s housekeeper came in to help keep our clothes clean (taking the dirty ones home, washing them, and bringing them back), cooking, and being sure we had a clean bed at night, even though we could not pay her at that time. Community families not affected brought food to everyone and helped with the huge cleanup.
The Bible
My white zippered Bible was found 6 miles downstream. It was found and given to my mother. They had identified it by my name on the front which Daddy had stamped on it. Mother said it was a good omen from God. It had been in the shop’s wedding display room.
Starting Over to Rebuild Our Town
It took months and months just to get the mud out of our building. Everyone pitched in. We used the flowers and plants that we could salvage. My two half-sisters, both florists, came to help us. Daddy said we lost 95{477c12a06aa340844bd238bd63a4c4c86860c77e7d6962902c68bb2474926930} of all that we had in stock, equipment, fixtures, and records.
Many Did Not Rebuild
The damage to our building was bad, but not as bad as that of others. My parents borrowed $30,000 from the Small Business Administration. Who knew how much things had gone up after being in business for 22 years? Fixtures and windows, etc., were so much more expensive to purchase and replace. They mortgaged the building to get the SBA Loan (to be paid back monthly for years), but each business owner had choices to make: (1) Borrow money and start over, (2) Quit, (3) Go elsewhere and find a job.
Many did quit, while others found new locations, but we started over. Harrison is “home”. I watched my parents and staff work day and night; it wasn’t easy. They got up early and worked into the night, day after day. My parents could have found jobs. They had won many awards with the State Floral Association, with 22 years of experience. Daddy was a licensed mortician, and my mother had worked in government and teaching before they started the business. But chose to stay and begin again. Money had never been that important to Mother and Daddy as they put everything back into the business. Florists work long, hard hours without many vacations. They had become “homebodies”. They loved seeing the smiles from what their work brought to others. From birth to death, they knew almost everyone in the area.
Our City Was Changing
Our city was changing rapidly as progress was being made. In the meantime, the headlines read that the total construction cost to rebuild the city was over $500,000.
The town did rebuild. Almost every building, new streets, and parks were made. Flood controls were put in place. Today, those who stayed (because the town was “home”) can be very proud of the cleanliness and beauty of our town. Always mindful of what 1961 cost in lives and damages.
The Mural
The picture above is the mural on the wall of The First National Bank that remains today. Painted by an artist, Louis Freund, of Eureka Springs, Arkansas of OUR MIRACLE IN THE NIGHT.