New London School Survivors Reunion

Wednesday March 14, 2007
Henderson Daily News

Submitted by Robert Hall

New London School survivors set reunion for 70th anniversary of deadly blast

From Daily News Staff, wire reports

NEW LONDON - Survivors of a 1937 gas explosion that claimed the lives of about 300 students and faculty at the New London School will gather next weekend for a reunion marking the 70th anniversary of the disaster.

While the reunion is for all alumni of the New London School and what has become the West Rusk County Consolidated Independent School District, much of the focus will be on remembering those who died and survived, said Jean Davidson, secretary-treasurer of the school's alumni association.

“We expect several hundred people to attend part of the functions,” Davidson said.

Davidson, who said that the school's reunions are held every two years, said that events for the three-day reunion will be held in Longview and at the school auditorium in New London.

“Each time we gather we think of those who died that day,” said Bill Thompson, a 1943 graduate of New London High and a survivor of the explosion who plans to attend the reunion. “It's both a joyous time and a sad time. And each time we meet, we know that the next time we get together some of us won't be around.”

“I haven't missed one since the first reunion was held in 1977,” Thompson said.

He said that before that first reunion, neither he nor most of his fellow survivors talked much about the explosion.

“That first reunion was an experience we all needed to go through to gather, to talk and to share our love for each other,” Thompson said.

Thompson said he was in a fifth-grade English classroom with about 30 other students at 3:17 p.m., March 18, 1937, when leaking, odorless natural gas in the basement ignited and ripped the brick structure apart.

About 300 of the 700 students and staff inside at the time were killed. About half the students in Thompson's classroom did not survive.

The London Museum, located across from the school, will also be open Sunday for people who want to view exhibits about the disaster.