Marcella B Cummins (1924 - 1937)

Born 13 Sep 1924 in Oklahoma, United States

Ancestors

Died 18 Mar 1937 at age 12 in New London, Rusk, Texas, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Dolores Maxwell [send private message]

Biography

Marcella died in the New London school explosion.

"My sister and two cousins were killed in this terrible accident. Their names are Marcella Cummins, Betty Mussetter Rider and her brother Oliver Mussetter Rider.

I was six years old and had just gotten home from first grade when we felt the explosion. My Mother and Aunt took me with them to the High School immediately after the explosion. The building was crumbling as we arrived. This was a horrible sight for a child (or ANYONE) to see. There were parts of bodies lying were they had been blown. There were rows of bodies lying on the ground, some covered, some not. There were hysterical parents, relatives and survivors every where, it seemed. It was hours before we found out that my brother, Earl Dean Cummins, was not been among the dead. He had been helping remove the injured and dead from the ruins (he has since died.) My sister and two cousins funerals were held at the same time in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Gaskill Funeral home held the services.

This accident was particularly terrible for my mother because she had just lost my father in an oil field boiler explosion in Andrews, Texas on December 21, 1935. I had nightmares for years, needless to say." - Nelda Cummins

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/97767019/marcella-b-cummins

• https://www.facebook.com/newlondonmuseum/posts/1526226070812870

• 1930 US census

• Texas, Death Certificates, 1903-1982

• Texas, Death Index, 1903-2000

• https://www.findagrave.com/virtual-cemetery/367568?page=1#sr-10395720

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

• http://nlsd.net/Cenotaph.htm

• http://nlsd.net/Recollections19.htm

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