Ledell (Dorsey) Carpenter (1921-2014) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree

Ledell Carpenter formerly Dorsey

Born 5 Aug 1921 in Rusk, Texas, United States

Daughter of Zack Henry Dorsey and [mother unknown]

Sister of Alice Barnett Dorsey and Ethel Barnette Dorsey

[spouse(s) unknown]

[children unknown]

Died 15 May 2014 at age 92 in Texas, United States

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Profile last modified 7 Oct 2023 | Created 20 Mar 2020

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Space:New London, Texas, School Explosion

Biography

Ledell and her brother survived the New London school explosion, but their two sisters, Ethel & Alice, were killed. Ledell was in 8th grade at the time.

"I heard a boom and a hissing sound, just like splintering wood. I jumped out of my seat and started a step or two. That was the last thing I remember for a while.

All that plaster and mortar formed a white haze, like a thick fog. While I couldn’t see my way around, I could hear people talking by the teacher’s desk. So I started stumbling over there, but I was walking on injured children, because I couldn’t see where I was going. I heard some girls by the window talking, so I walked over to them. Two of the pupils in my class were fixing to push another one out, but I thought it was too far for them to jump since we were on the second floor. I said, “Come back down! Somebody will find us and rescue us.”

We had a hard time finding caskets, but once we got the affairs in order, we had a combined funeral for my two sisters at the First Baptist Church in Overton. All of us were in shock. My mother had to be sedated. My daddy took it hard; all of us did.

"I didn’t know Bill Thompson from Adam or Eve. He told me he had asked my little sister, Ethel, to swap seats with him just before the school exploded. He said if she had been in her seat, she wouldn’t have been killed. I told him, “Well, Bill, it was her appointed time. I could have gotten killed, but it wasn’t my time. My brother was in the explosion and he survived. This was Ethel’s time.” He said he had never looked at it like that."

By Jamey Boyum | March 19, 2014 at 9:35 PM CDT - Updated July 1 at 11:50 PM KILGORE, TX (KLTV) - It has been 77 years since an explosion killed nearly 300 people in New London, but to survivors like Ledell Carpenter, the memories are very clear.

Carpenter's last name was Dorsey before she was married, and she attended what was one of the richest rural school districts in the United States back in the 1920s and '30s; rich because of oil discoveries in and around New London.

On March 18, 1937, a gas buildup in a crawlspace under the school caused a devastating explosion that changed the small community forever. Ledell was in school that day.

"It was like the school there just went up in the air and came back down," she recalled.

She and her brother survived, but she lost two sisters. One sister had just ordered a class ring.

"Her class ring didn't come in until after she died, and we gave it to momma," Carpenter said.

She says people caught her when the only way out was through a window. In the aftermath, she was interviewed by a young Walter Cronkite.

There are many things she'd rather forget about that day, but there are many good memories too, like the New London Fight Song, which she's happy to sing at the drop of a hat. "Hit them high, hit them low, watch the wildcats go when the wildcats are carrying the ball. 'Tis a high, high hee - a London victory! Shout out your colors one and all! The lines won't hold when we're headed for the goal as the Wildcats are carrying the ball."

Obituary

Mrs. Ledell Dorsey Carpenter was born to the late Zach & Maggie Dorsey. She attended New London School and was a survivor of the tragic explosion that occurred on March 17, 1937. Ledell married Fred Carpenter and they made their home in Kilgore Texas. She loved gardening, reading, playing dominos, puzzles and spending time with family and friends, as well as the publicity she received from the many interviews regarding her experience in the New London explosion.

Mrs. Carpenter was a member of Bethel Baptist Church. She worked in the hotel industry as a housekeeping supervisor.

Ledell is preceded in death by her husband Fred Carpenter; daughter Gloria Cubine; six sisters: Carie Sims, Mae Silvey, Pauline Mizell, Clara Prestige, Ethel Dorsey and Alice Dorsey; two brothers, Gordon and George Dorsey