A Storm Cellar, a Cancelled Graduation, and a Do-Over

With all the tornadoes in the news these days, I'm reminded of growing up among twisters, and sleeping under the bed many nights, rolled up in a quilt. We were fortunate we never lost anything, but we knew plenty of those who did.

In 1970, my husband and I still lived in Levelland, about twenty miles west of Lubbock. We had two young children at the time. In that year, I was to graduate from Texas Tech University. Yes, I was a late-bloomer, waiting until I was almost thirty to finish college.

I had bought my black disposable cap and gown for the ceremony in the university coliseum. However, a week before the ceremony, the night of terror struck us. The storms were so horrible, and we did not have radar nor did we have good radio reception for someone to inform us we were in danger. We had a concrete storm cellar in our back yard—it was there when we bought the small house. Not once had we used it, being afraid of going down there and closing the heavy cast-iron door.

But in the middle of the night, we heard pounding on our back door. Our neighbors and their son stood there yelling for us to get our babies and head for the cellar, that killer tornadoes were all around. They rushed on to our cellar, and we obeyed them. We ran through driving rain and pounding hail and stumbled down the steps. We kept a kerosene lantern down there, so we weren't in total darkness.

The next day, in calm weather, we learned that Lubbock had been hit by an F4 tornado, and it was possibly a double one, as two had criss-crossed the city. We felt horrible for the town and the people.

I received a letter with a note that graduation had been canceled because the coliseum would be used for refugees. My cap and gown went into a drawer. A few weeks later, I received my diploma in the mail with an embossed letter from the university president. "Dear 1970 Graduate, I confer your degree upon you, etc." So, that's how I graduated.

Twenty-five years later in 1995, I received another letter from the president. "Since the Class of 1970 failed to enjoy a graduation ceremony, you are thereby invited to be a part of the 1995 ceremony. Instead of black caps and gowns, the 1970 graduates will wear red. (Buy the cap and gown in the university bookstore.)"

I did not attend. It seemed like a lot of trouble, but I read the articles about it afterward and viewed photos. Wasn't it lovely for the university to do that? I was pleased that at least I had been invited.

One more note. The Class of 1970 was the first one with the distinction of graduating from "Texas Tech University." Before that, the college was "Texas Technological College." I was very proud of that fact.

Celia Yeary-Romance...and a little bit 'o Texas
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