Fifty Years After the Oak Lawn Tornado, Daughter Still Haunted by Dad's Early Death

OAK LAWN, IL -- Frieda Mobley Gaydos can hardly believe that it has been 50 years since her father, John Mobley, was killed in the tornado that struck the Oak Lawn area on April 21, 1967. To Frieda, the tragedy seems like it happened two days ago -- not a half century.

John Mobley was the first name to be released to the news media as a fatality of the Oak Lawn Tornado. Like many motorists, Frieda’s dad and older brother Roger were trapped in their car at 95th Street and Southwest Highway when they saw the tornado charging toward them. As the tornado hurled John Mobley's car through the air, he told his son to take care of his mother because "it's my time to go," his daughter recounted.

Although the tornado only touched down for a few seconds at the busy intersection, it managed to sheer off half of Oak Lawn Community High School, level a small grocery store, and tossed buses and cars into the air with its brute force. Eighteen people were killed at the intersection, where the greatest loss of life occurred.

The Johnson-Phelps VFW post was quickly put to use as a temporary morgue where survivors went to identify the dead.

Bodies were laid out in the VFW hall, which had been decorated with pink streamers for a Friday night dance. News stories of the day said that the children who died at the Oak Lawn Roller Rink still had skates on their feet when they were brought to the post.

John Mobley had just bought a new Fairlane Ford a few months before. The father of nine and a skilled carpenter and craftsman, he told his wife that before he died he would own a brand new car. The car was later found crushed on the football field at Oak Lawn High School after being hurled hundreds of feet into the air. He was 46 years old.

Throughout the week, Patch has been interviewing survivors and witnesses to the 1967 and featuring them on the Oak Lawn Patch Facebook page. Frieda was about to turn 13 when she lost her father. Her older brother Roger was found wandering through the rubble in shock.

Although the tornado tore through several towns, Oak Lawn was the only community that sustained loss of life. Here is Frieda’s story.

Photo: John Mobley's crumpled car where it came to rest on the Oak Lawn High School football field after being picked up and tossed by the 1967 tornado.