Longview News & Journal Longview Tx  March 18, 2001

For many years, Amos S. Etheredge couldn't remember the name of the girl who sat in front of him in math class at the London School.

It was that girl he helped to safety March 18, 1937, after a natural gas explosion jarred the entire campus. That explosion killed more than 300 people.

The blast's force caused the roof over Etheredge's math class to cave in. He escaped serious injury, but the girl in front of him, Doris Beasley Dorsey, was trapped underneath the rubble.

She suffered a fractured skull and lost hearing in her left ear.

"I just remember waking up under some debris and I couldn't move," Dorsey recalled Saturday at a reunion assembly at West Rusk High School. "I heard some boys talking, and I called for them."

Etheredge answered, helping Dorsey get out from under the debris. Both jumped from the second-floor classroom to safety.

Investigators found the explosion was caused by a gas leak from the school's gas-steam radiators.

Life has since taken Etheredge to California, where he retired. Dorsey remained in East Texas and lives in Kilgore.

It's been almost 64 years since the explosion. For 62 of those years, the two never realized the past they shared.

It was at the London Ex-Students Reunion and Memorial Association gathering in 1999 that Etheredge and Dorsey finally made the connection.

"We were just talking about (that day), and I mentioned (somebody) had helped me and he said, ‘That was me!’,” Dorsey said. "It was just fun knowing it was him and being able to meet like that (after all that time)."

The two now ensure that they see each other every two years, when the reunions are held. But talking about the explosion at the reunions isn't always high on Etheredge's list.

Though he remembers where he was and what he was doing when the explosion occurred, he said he'd rather talk about good times — such as how many grandchildren and great-grandchildren people have.

"I was sitting in my math class leaning over my desk ready to work on a math problem," Etheredge said. "It (the explosion) blew the whole end of the building off. But we just don't talk about it much. It's not that we don't want to, we just think there is no need for it."

Dorsey's and Etheredge's story is just one of many the explosion survivors have.

Like Etheredge and Dorsey, Dorothy Box and Pearl Holbert share an experience from that day. Both were working in the school library checking out books when the blast occurred.

"I was knocked under a counter. ... And a steel filing cabinet that was behind me (tipped over)," Box said. "That cabinet shielded me from the roof (debris)."

But Box said she wasn't able to get out from underneath the counter, and when she called for Holbert, she got no response.

That's because Holbert also was under debris.

"I felt a tremor underneath my feet. ... Then I was covered with cement blocks," Holbert said. "I felt guilty about not answering (Box) ... but it (cement dust) was like smoke. I just couldn't make a sound."

Holbert finally was able to free herself, and when finding a way out went back to help her friend. Both made it out without serious injuries.