The Xenia Tornado Story

This was in 1974, part of the "super outbreak" that was a huge deal until these things started happening bi-weekly all four seasons of the year.  This was probably the start of my childhood fear of storms, which lasted until I grew to love storms and then worried about nuclear war constantly.  Some tornado facts:

1.  My friend Ray was in this!

2.  My 4th grade teacher Mrs Montgomery was, too.  She wasn't my teacher then, I was not in school, but by the time I was in school there would sometimes be lunchtime awed pointing: "She was in the Xenia tornado!"

3.  The day after the storm I remember being at our neighbors' around the loop and it being a very blue-skied day with puffy cumulus clouds.  I also remember being transfixed by an object which you will remember but I don't know what to call it:  an upside-down glass light bulb looking thing that sat on a window sill and which had a sort of propeller inside.  When the sun hit it, the heat inside rising would cause the arms/wings of the propeller to spin, but it didn't have a little solar panel as later types of these gizmos would have.  What is this called and where can I get one?  Plus it was the house of the then high-schooler who grew up to be the voice of Bart Simpson.

4.  I will also probably never have one of those Italian restaurant-style "oil lamps":

but the fact is you never can say what is going to happen, so maybe I will.

And that is the Xenia Tornado Story.