It was a humid night. As we moved down the hall toward the auditorium, I remember thinking about how weird the sky outside looked. I knew a storm was brewing but I had no idea just what was ahead for us. I did the lighting and sound for the events in the high school auditorium from the time I was in 8th grade. They had a habit of kicking the main breaker when left on a long time so I had tested them over and over to make sure they wouldn’t go out during my graduation.
We entered the auditorium and took our places on stage. The ceremony had just begun when the lights began to flicker. Someone behind me shoved me in the shoulder and commented that ‘my lights’ were going to ruin graduation. I whispered “Its not my lights…” Sure enough the lights went out. The choir was singing. I know this because I have multiple photos in my scrap book that Mom and my aunts took of them singing in the dark lit only by the Emergency Exit sign. News that a tornado was headed for our school reached the stage. We asked to evacuate the stage into the gym. I thought that was odd at the time because the gym roof had been replaced at least once from a high wind storm. The auditorium roof was reinforced. We moved off stage in the dark to the gym.
Several of us went outside and watched as the tornado headed out into the township. It was apparent that some of my classmates might lose their homes that night. There were many emotions flowing in the gym. We were fortunate that our families were in attendance at our graduation and at home. Several of our classmates would spend hours trying to get home, only to find that their homes had been damaged or destroyed. The following weeks were to be spent attending our Open Houses and rejoicing in the fact that we had made it through High School. Some of the parties were cancelled. Some where held by candlelight as they had no power otherwise.
I was a volunteer firefighter at the time. Myself and one other classmate who was also a firefighter scrambled to the fire department. We would spend the 
next couple weeks helping with search and rescue and clearing local roads. We checked on the elderly and dug through rubble. It really wasn’t the way I had envisioned spending my first month out of High School but we did what we needed to. My Mom and aunts took pictures in my cap and gown because I took them off and jumped in my car to get to the station. My only post graduation picture is me speeding out of the parking lot in my car with the blue light flashing.
As the years passed, debris could and can still be found in the trees along the tornado’s path. The debris it caused in our lives will never be completely cleaned up either. We were fortunate that, in 2005, our class was able to ‘Graduate’ during our 20th year reunion. I was out of town and unable to attend but I created a website for the event. Http://www.wmhsclassof85.com is maintained to this day partly as a future place for class information to be posted and partly as a memoriam to that fateful day in 1985 when we stepped out of our High School life and into a Hell that noone imaged would ever happen here. I have other pictures of the aftermath and of graduation that I rumage through from time to time. The memories of a night that should have been a very happy time are sometimes haunting.
To my classmates… I wish us all a Happy 28th Anniversary of our Graduation. We survived some ‘rough weather’ getting here, but we made it. Ironically, there is a small chance of storms predicted for tonight. The day is much the same as it was 28 years ago. Let’s hope it ends differently. I wouldn’t mind seeing blue sky and a starry night, myself.
Curtis Farster
West Middlesex High School Class of 1985