Roupp Story
Collection: Tornado Stories
Title
Roupp Story
Scroll down to view the document; press Ctrl+F (Windows) or Cmd+F (Mac) to search within the PDF file.
Subject
Tornadoes--Hesston (Kan.)
Description
Account by Paul and Anna Roupp, with photographs and excerpts of articles.
Creator
Roupp, Paul
Roupp, Ana
Publisher
Hesston Public Library
Date
3/30/1990
Rights
Format
application/pdf
Language
English
Type
Correspondence
Identifier
TornadoStories_Roupp.pdf
Citation
Roupp, Paul and Roupp, Ana, “Roupp Story,” Hesston Public Library, accessed April 19, 2024, https://hesston.digitalsckls.info/item/122.
Text
316-327-2420 Dear Family
3/30/90
67062- Hesston, Ks. Schowalter Villa, members & friends:
In response to the many calls inquiring as to whether we were all right, I have put together some information about the great storm TORNADO. It spent it's fury over 150 miles long on the ground with other storm damage over a wide area other than the Hesston area.
March 13, at 5:35 the tornado passed through Hesston complet-ly destroying many homes as well as businesses. A number of which will not be rebuilt. This includes my 10 Towne Houses that are pictured in some of the pictures. I suffered some damage to a duplex as well as a single fam-iley dweling. These are repairable. Lossed were covered by Ins,
There were no casualties in Hesston and only a few were hurt. Hesston had advance warning of the storm so people prepaired & found shelter. At the Villa we were instructed to go to the bath rooms with a flash light & blanket. Anna & I did that be-for going to the basement which has a concrete ceiling. Only a small boy SW of Hesston & a lady NE were killed by the tornado. Credit is due to Hesston as
well as to the county for the good warning system. Many people have given thanks to God for the safety of the poeple in our communnity.
The storm spared. the church-es, (only damage, minor to one church) factories for places of work, the business district, the schools and retirement homes.
With Affection- Paul + Anna Roup
A powerful tornado, reportedly packing wind force up to 250 miles an hour, rips through Hesston March 13. This picture, looking from Commercial Street west across Old 81, with Excel Industries at right, was taken by Wade Balzer. He is the son-in-law of Sue and Bill McGhee of Homestead Wood
Products. Persons interested in purchasing this tornado picture should contact Balzer.
'
Paul Roupp, longtime builder and owner of some apartments on the west side of town which were destroyed noted:
“If this storm had happened Dec. 31, you’d have been in good shape. But if your property was here on Jan. 1, you will be taxed for the whole year.
“I’m going to have to pay $10,000 in taxes and not have a dime coming in (from the property). I think there should be (tax) concessions for victims of a disaster.
Roupp said the land where his apartments were would be available. For Sale
“I’m not coming back,” he said. “I’m 83 years old. That’s too old.” Brickley chimed in: “Ah, Paul, you’re a spring chicken.”
Roupp responded, “Yeah, but the spring’s broken,”!
10 tOWNE HOUSES - West view
Close up to Towne Houses -Looking South
MDS Salvage for Auction 3/31/90
Artistry* - " 4 SALE CHEAP - AS IS"
So- view of duplex with neighbors raftors from across the street.
$60,000 Loss.
I
had lived in unit behind the red car for 4 years.
East view of Town houses looking south
North & West view of Duplax
Rimers Plumbing ?
18 wheeler loaded with grain rolled
Kropf Lumber material building
Motel-Resturant, Pizza Hut, Conv- Heavy equip ment, trucks, cleanup ience store-filling station.
Was Auto Supply & Electrician
Was Hesston Concrete
Paint store, Photo shop, dry cleaners
General destruction
This is left from Paul's Plumbing
East view of Kropf Lumber on Lancaster St. West view of Lumber Co.
SW view of M.C.Bandy House,
Gerties sister's home. SE view from Weaver St.
Daughter-in law consouling Dessie.
Creation by Zimmerdale ' s. Joe Kaufman from rubble from the Tornado. Roupp St. sign at left.
The Salvation Army
Major Harry Brocksieck, Wichita City Commander, stands with Paul Roupp in front of Mr. Roupp’s apartment complex which was devastated by the tornado March 13 in Hesston, Kansas. A dedicated Mennonite, Mr. Roupp said, regarding the damage, “The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” The Salvation Army, in cooperation with other agencies and volunteers, served 1500 people per meal following the deadly storm.
My witness to a larger audance in Kansas & Western Missouri.
Preparing for the Auction Sale, Grand-daughter Leann, Arden and
Salvage from the Towne Houses. daughter Nadine Stapleton, Watch.
Towne Anna and Paul watch as Towne Houses
ouses. come down. ...
FROM MENNONITE GOSPEL HERALD PUBLICATION
Kansas tornado affects hundreds of Mennonites
Unbelievable, devastating, and overwhelming were some of the adjectives Hesston, Kans., residents used to describe the destruction of the tornado which hit their 3,000-member community on Mar. 13. One summed it up curtly, “It’s bad.”
The tornadoes (as many as 25 of them), which were first sighted in Pretty Prairie, continued on their southwest-to-northeast route of destruction for 100 miles and were last sighted near Latimer. Tornadoes stayed on the ground for 2 1/2 hours and at some points were a half-mile wide. In Hesston, the tornado’s path ranged from 1-3 blocks wide. It hit Hesston with 250-mile-an-hour winds—twice the average tornado’s fury.
The miracle is that no one in Hesston was killed. Only 17 people were taken to the hospital. The four who were admitted have all been released. The city’s alarm sirens and the public’s willingness to take heed are credited with sparing lives in Hesston.
The tornadoes caused two deaths in other areas—six-year-old Lucas Fisher in Burrton and 68-year-old Ruth Voth in rural Goessel. Voth had been a missionary in Mexico with her husband, Harold, in the 1950s and was a member of Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church.
In Hesston, the tornado damaged or destroyed $9 million of real estate. Some 202 residences and 23 businesses were hit. Up to half of the 202 dwellings were leveled by the storm or damaged beyond repair. The latter are being razed as soon as their contents are salvaged.
The governor of Kansas visited Hesston shortly after the tornado and declared Harvey and seven other counties disaster areas. Homes and farm buildings and machinery in Burrton and throughout the rural areas in the tornado’s path were
destroyed. Fields were littered with debris.
Hesston College president Kirk Alliman testified that in spite of all the destruction—which included his own home—he is “thanking the Lord endlessly that the college and Schowalter Villa weren’t hit.” Hesston’s three Mennonite churches and Methodist church, the middle and high schools, Cross Wind Conference Center, and the two major factories were spared. The Mennonite Brethren Church and the elementary school sustained damage.
Neighbors, friends, and strangers almost immediately offered help. Emergency crews from Hesston and neighboring cities responded quickly. Power companies restored electricity to parts of the city within five hours. The Red Cross and the National Guard set up a shelter in the high school. However, most of Hesston’s new homeless spent the night with friends whose homes were spared.
By the next morning, Mennonite Disaster Service volunteers arrived and took charge of the clean-up. While shocked Hesstonians hardly knew where to start, MDS dispatched volunteers to the hard-hit areas with farm trucks and pickups to begin hauling away the rubble. Others helped victims retrieve and pack up their personal belongings. (Ironically, the idea for MDS, now a large national organization, originated in Hesston in the 1940s.)
Under the Red Cross’ umbrella of service, the Salvation Army, Seventh-Day Adventists, Southern Baptists, and Brethren offered food, first aid, clothing, counseling, and supplies to tornado victims. Students from the three area Mennonite colleges— Hesston, Bethel, and Tabor—volunteered in Hesston and Burrton. 4-H clubs organized to spread out across wheat fields to clear the debris. High school youth formed groups to help their neighbors. Some children accompanied their parents and helped serve meals or clean up debris. Others were cared for by volunteers trained to help children deal with trauma at Hesston Inter-Mennonite Church.
Some 202 residences and 23 businesses were destroyed or damaged in Hesston, Kans.
Restaurants, individuals, and businesses donated enough food to feed the volunteers and homeless. On the second day after the disaster, around 1,500 persons ate lunch in the high school where meals were served for the first week after the disaster.
Prairie View Mental Health Center, a Mennonite facility in nearby Newton, offered literature and personal counseling. Business persons donated their time and the use of huge cranes, backhoes, and payloaders to clear away the destruction. Ham radio operators helped with communication.
Volunteers at Hesston and Whitestone Mennonite churches urged any Hesston resident to take some of the donated clothing and food that filled Sunday school rooms and fellowship halls. Hesston Inter-
Mennonite Church took an offering to help its needy members. It totaled $5,000.
“Folks, you may think, ‘I don’t need any help,’ ” one man told his congregation. Urging them to utilize the help offered, he emphasized, “We’ve gotta throw our pride away.”
After four days of clean-up, Hesston residents and their family members who had come to share in the tornado’s after-math filled the churches. “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” and “O God, Our Help in Ages Past” were sung with new meaning. Sermons were short, sharing times long. At Hesston Mennonite Church the children and their Sunday school teachers talked about the tornado. The toddlers’ Sunday school paper for the day was titled “The Wind Is Busy.” __________________
At Hesston Inter-Mennonite Church, members read Hebrews 13:14, “For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.” Several churches read psalms of lament. Though moods were somber, there was rejoicing that God had spared lives.
As television crews filmed church services, Mennonite Brethren pastor Lynn Jost reminded his congregation, “One of the most remarkable results of this disaster has been that a number of you have been able to give testimony in print and on television in a way that would never have been possible for you in any other situation. You’ve been able to speak clearly the testimony that God is with us—that he’s the source of our help.”—Susan Balzer
Student volunteers help with tornado clean-up In Hesston, Kans. Located on Roupp Paul Roupp's 10 Towne Houses destroyed. street,
Original Format
typed document
Title
Roupp Story
Scroll down to view the document; press Ctrl+F (Windows) or Cmd+F (Mac) to search within the PDF file.
Subject
Tornadoes--Hesston (Kan.)
Description
Account by Paul and Anna Roupp, with photographs and excerpts of articles.
Creator
Roupp, Paul
Roupp, Ana
Publisher
Hesston Public Library
Date
3/30/1990
Rights
Format
application/pdf
Language
English
Type
Correspondence
Identifier
TornadoStories_Roupp.pdf
Citation
Roupp, Paul and Roupp, Ana, “Roupp Story,” Hesston Public Library, accessed April 19, 2024, https://hesston.digitalsckls.info/item/122.Text
316-327-2420 Dear Family
3/30/90
67062- Hesston, Ks. Schowalter Villa, members & friends:
In response to the many calls inquiring as to whether we were all right, I have put together some information about the great storm TORNADO. It spent it's fury over 150 miles long on the ground with other storm damage over a wide area other than the Hesston area.
March 13, at 5:35 the tornado passed through Hesston complet-ly destroying many homes as well as businesses. A number of which will not be rebuilt. This includes my 10 Towne Houses that are pictured in some of the pictures. I suffered some damage to a duplex as well as a single fam-iley dweling. These are repairable. Lossed were covered by Ins,
There were no casualties in Hesston and only a few were hurt. Hesston had advance warning of the storm so people prepaired & found shelter. At the Villa we were instructed to go to the bath rooms with a flash light & blanket. Anna & I did that be-for going to the basement which has a concrete ceiling. Only a small boy SW of Hesston & a lady NE were killed by the tornado. Credit is due to Hesston as
well as to the county for the good warning system. Many people have given thanks to God for the safety of the poeple in our communnity.
The storm spared. the church-es, (only damage, minor to one church) factories for places of work, the business district, the schools and retirement homes.
With Affection- Paul + Anna Roup
A powerful tornado, reportedly packing wind force up to 250 miles an hour, rips through Hesston March 13. This picture, looking from Commercial Street west across Old 81, with Excel Industries at right, was taken by Wade Balzer. He is the son-in-law of Sue and Bill McGhee of Homestead Wood
Products. Persons interested in purchasing this tornado picture should contact Balzer.
'
Paul Roupp, longtime builder and owner of some apartments on the west side of town which were destroyed noted:
“If this storm had happened Dec. 31, you’d have been in good shape. But if your property was here on Jan. 1, you will be taxed for the whole year.
“I’m going to have to pay $10,000 in taxes and not have a dime coming in (from the property). I think there should be (tax) concessions for victims of a disaster.
Roupp said the land where his apartments were would be available. For Sale
“I’m not coming back,” he said. “I’m 83 years old. That’s too old.” Brickley chimed in: “Ah, Paul, you’re a spring chicken.”
Roupp responded, “Yeah, but the spring’s broken,”!
10 tOWNE HOUSES - West view
Close up to Towne Houses -Looking South
MDS Salvage for Auction 3/31/90
Artistry* - " 4 SALE CHEAP - AS IS"
So- view of duplex with neighbors raftors from across the street.
$60,000 Loss.
I
had lived in unit behind the red car for 4 years.
East view of Town houses looking south
North & West view of Duplax
Rimers Plumbing ?
18 wheeler loaded with grain rolled
Kropf Lumber material building
Motel-Resturant, Pizza Hut, Conv- Heavy equip ment, trucks, cleanup ience store-filling station.
Was Auto Supply & Electrician
Was Hesston Concrete
Paint store, Photo shop, dry cleaners
General destruction
This is left from Paul's Plumbing
East view of Kropf Lumber on Lancaster St. West view of Lumber Co.
SW view of M.C.Bandy House,
Gerties sister's home. SE view from Weaver St.
Daughter-in law consouling Dessie.
Creation by Zimmerdale ' s. Joe Kaufman from rubble from the Tornado. Roupp St. sign at left.
The Salvation Army
Major Harry Brocksieck, Wichita City Commander, stands with Paul Roupp in front of Mr. Roupp’s apartment complex which was devastated by the tornado March 13 in Hesston, Kansas. A dedicated Mennonite, Mr. Roupp said, regarding the damage, “The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” The Salvation Army, in cooperation with other agencies and volunteers, served 1500 people per meal following the deadly storm.
My witness to a larger audance in Kansas & Western Missouri.
Preparing for the Auction Sale, Grand-daughter Leann, Arden and
Salvage from the Towne Houses. daughter Nadine Stapleton, Watch.
Towne Anna and Paul watch as Towne Houses
ouses. come down. ...
FROM MENNONITE GOSPEL HERALD PUBLICATION
Kansas tornado affects hundreds of Mennonites
Unbelievable, devastating, and overwhelming were some of the adjectives Hesston, Kans., residents used to describe the destruction of the tornado which hit their 3,000-member community on Mar. 13. One summed it up curtly, “It’s bad.”
The tornadoes (as many as 25 of them), which were first sighted in Pretty Prairie, continued on their southwest-to-northeast route of destruction for 100 miles and were last sighted near Latimer. Tornadoes stayed on the ground for 2 1/2 hours and at some points were a half-mile wide. In Hesston, the tornado’s path ranged from 1-3 blocks wide. It hit Hesston with 250-mile-an-hour winds—twice the average tornado’s fury.
The miracle is that no one in Hesston was killed. Only 17 people were taken to the hospital. The four who were admitted have all been released. The city’s alarm sirens and the public’s willingness to take heed are credited with sparing lives in Hesston.
The tornadoes caused two deaths in other areas—six-year-old Lucas Fisher in Burrton and 68-year-old Ruth Voth in rural Goessel. Voth had been a missionary in Mexico with her husband, Harold, in the 1950s and was a member of Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church.
In Hesston, the tornado damaged or destroyed $9 million of real estate. Some 202 residences and 23 businesses were hit. Up to half of the 202 dwellings were leveled by the storm or damaged beyond repair. The latter are being razed as soon as their contents are salvaged.
The governor of Kansas visited Hesston shortly after the tornado and declared Harvey and seven other counties disaster areas. Homes and farm buildings and machinery in Burrton and throughout the rural areas in the tornado’s path were
destroyed. Fields were littered with debris.
Hesston College president Kirk Alliman testified that in spite of all the destruction—which included his own home—he is “thanking the Lord endlessly that the college and Schowalter Villa weren’t hit.” Hesston’s three Mennonite churches and Methodist church, the middle and high schools, Cross Wind Conference Center, and the two major factories were spared. The Mennonite Brethren Church and the elementary school sustained damage.
Neighbors, friends, and strangers almost immediately offered help. Emergency crews from Hesston and neighboring cities responded quickly. Power companies restored electricity to parts of the city within five hours. The Red Cross and the National Guard set up a shelter in the high school. However, most of Hesston’s new homeless spent the night with friends whose homes were spared.
By the next morning, Mennonite Disaster Service volunteers arrived and took charge of the clean-up. While shocked Hesstonians hardly knew where to start, MDS dispatched volunteers to the hard-hit areas with farm trucks and pickups to begin hauling away the rubble. Others helped victims retrieve and pack up their personal belongings. (Ironically, the idea for MDS, now a large national organization, originated in Hesston in the 1940s.)
Under the Red Cross’ umbrella of service, the Salvation Army, Seventh-Day Adventists, Southern Baptists, and Brethren offered food, first aid, clothing, counseling, and supplies to tornado victims. Students from the three area Mennonite colleges— Hesston, Bethel, and Tabor—volunteered in Hesston and Burrton. 4-H clubs organized to spread out across wheat fields to clear the debris. High school youth formed groups to help their neighbors. Some children accompanied their parents and helped serve meals or clean up debris. Others were cared for by volunteers trained to help children deal with trauma at Hesston Inter-Mennonite Church.
Some 202 residences and 23 businesses were destroyed or damaged in Hesston, Kans.
Restaurants, individuals, and businesses donated enough food to feed the volunteers and homeless. On the second day after the disaster, around 1,500 persons ate lunch in the high school where meals were served for the first week after the disaster.
Prairie View Mental Health Center, a Mennonite facility in nearby Newton, offered literature and personal counseling. Business persons donated their time and the use of huge cranes, backhoes, and payloaders to clear away the destruction. Ham radio operators helped with communication.
Volunteers at Hesston and Whitestone Mennonite churches urged any Hesston resident to take some of the donated clothing and food that filled Sunday school rooms and fellowship halls. Hesston Inter-
Mennonite Church took an offering to help its needy members. It totaled $5,000.
“Folks, you may think, ‘I don’t need any help,’ ” one man told his congregation. Urging them to utilize the help offered, he emphasized, “We’ve gotta throw our pride away.”
After four days of clean-up, Hesston residents and their family members who had come to share in the tornado’s after-math filled the churches. “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” and “O God, Our Help in Ages Past” were sung with new meaning. Sermons were short, sharing times long. At Hesston Mennonite Church the children and their Sunday school teachers talked about the tornado. The toddlers’ Sunday school paper for the day was titled “The Wind Is Busy.” __________________
At Hesston Inter-Mennonite Church, members read Hebrews 13:14, “For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.” Several churches read psalms of lament. Though moods were somber, there was rejoicing that God had spared lives.
As television crews filmed church services, Mennonite Brethren pastor Lynn Jost reminded his congregation, “One of the most remarkable results of this disaster has been that a number of you have been able to give testimony in print and on television in a way that would never have been possible for you in any other situation. You’ve been able to speak clearly the testimony that God is with us—that he’s the source of our help.”—Susan Balzer
Student volunteers help with tornado clean-up In Hesston, Kans. Located on Roupp Paul Roupp's 10 Towne Houses destroyed. street,
Original Format
typed document
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