Helen Charlotte Jones (1922 - 1937)

Born 5 Dec 1922 in Oklahoma, United States

Ancestors

Died 18 Mar 1937 at age 14 in New London, Rusk, Texas, United States

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Space:New London, Texas, School Explosion

Biography

14 year old Helen and her 17 year old uncle Paul both died in the New London School explosion. Her sister Carolyn survived. Daughter of Walter Jones & Eulalee Greer. A stepfather, Samuel Lowe, was listed on her death cert.

"My sister Helen Jones, an honor student and member of the high school champion debate team, was not so fortunate. She and my uncle, Paul Grier, a senior who planned to study medicine, were both taken from us in this awful explosion that killed so many of the future generation of East Texas." "My teacher, Mrs. Sory, pushed Barbara Page and me out a classroom window and crawled through after us." -- Carolyn Jones Frei, 1937 (5th grade student at the time of the explosion)

The New London School explosion occurred on March 18, 1937, when a natural gas leak caused an explosion, destroying the London School of New London, Texas, a community in Rusk County previously known as "London". The disaster killed more than 295 students and teachers. As of 2017, the event is the third deadliest disaster in the history of Texas, after the 1900 Galveston hurricane and the 1947 Texas City disaster.

London School did not publish a yearbook in 1937, instead substituting a memorial book that recognized all of the students and teachers who had died during the disaster.

Sources

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19845046/helen-charlotte-jones

• 1930 US census

• Texas, Death Certificates, 1903-1982

• https://www.findagrave.com/virtual-cemetery/367568?page=3#sr-13698618

• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_London_School_explosion

• http://nlsd.net/Cenotaph.htm

• https://www.thestoryoftexas.com/discover/artifacts/1936-london-school-yearbook

• http://lessonsofthe1937texasschoolexplosion.blogspot.com/2015/01/set-aside-special-day.html

• http://allthingssabine.com/revisiting-a-towering-monument-which-carries-so-much-meaning-and-remembering-to-not-forget/

• https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/oh-my-god-its-our-children/