On March 13, 1990, an F5 tornado struck Hesston, Kansas, destroying homes and killing two people. In response, the Hesston Public Library collected artifacts and stories about the tornado. Twenty-five years later, the library digitized its collection and organized events to commemorate the anniversary. These events included walking tours along the tornado's path, sharing memories, and recording oral histories to preserve first-hand accounts. The digitization project and week-long remembrance helped the community remember the impact of the devastating tornado.

1. 10 may/june 2016
Extreme environments are
characterized by a sudden and
catastrophic
change in daily
life, such as
those caused
by natural
disasters—or
may be places
only a few dare
to venture, due
to the inherent
danger to
human life. On
March 13, 1990,
a 100-mile corridor of south-central
Kansas was transformed into an
extreme environment as a series
of tornados bisected the state. The
storms were so long-lived and moved
so slowly that news crews gathered
along Interstate 135 and Highway 50
and waited.
Waited and watched.
At 5:37 pm, the F5 tornado reached
Hesston, Kansas.
Morning, March 13, 1990
In Hesston, it was unusually warm
and humid for a day in March.
A young couple stood on their
apartment balcony and snapped
some photos of the sky while cloud
watching, imagining animals and
characters racing across the horizon.
Before the school bell rang, an
elementary teacher walked across
the street to chat with her neighbor.
“Somebody is sure in for it tonight,”
the neighbor remarked as they
discussed the strange heat of the
morning.
The preschool teacher, Ms. Judy,
also thought the warm weather was
an ominous sign. On the spur of the
moment she decided to do a tornado
drill with her young pupils.
Many high school students had
traveled two hours north to Topeka
for the “Close-Up Kansas” program,
during which students discuss
government current issues with
political leaders from their districts,
while the Junior High Band had taken
a bus to Lyons for a music contest.
The National Weather Service
already warned of potentially severe
storms for the day.
Late Afternoon, March 13, 1990
At 4:34 pm, a tornado touched down
in Pretty Prairie, Kansas, about 50
miles southwest of Hesston.
l i bby a lbers
DuaneA.GrahamG.Voth
Devastation
Interpreting

2. Legacy 11
Two off-duty first responders
hopped in their pickup truck and
left Hesston to make some field
observations.
The tornado was moving slowly,
but Hesston was projected as its
destination.
At 5:00 pm, the storm hit Burrton,
toppling a chimney of the Fisher
home, killing six-year-old Lucas, who
was sheltering with his family in their
basement.
In Hesston, the local teen crowd
had gathered at the Pizza Hut along
Lincoln Boulevard to eat and hang out
after school. Twenty-year-old Jason
Reynolds, was the manager on shift.
Tornado Sirens
The tornado sirens in town were
screaming. Jeff Herzer was quoted
in the The Missouri State Trooper
in 1990 as saying, “By 5:37 pm, the
sirens had already blown three times
in Hesston. Unfortunately, loud
sirens do not ward off tornadoes like
evil spirits.”
Hesston College staff were
desperately trying to get students to
take the warning seriously and take
cover. A few dorm residents still stood
outside and stared at the approaching
black wall, sure it would turn.
Eighteen-year-old Donnie H. had
stayed late at Kropf Lumber to get the
evening’s delivery put up in case of
rain. As he worked, he couldn’t help
watching the black cloud in the west.
The tornado seemed to be standing
still, while at the same time growing
larger.
Dean Alison had just picked his
children up from their grandma’s
house and arrived home. He still
had his video camera in the backseat.
Grabbing it, he trained the camera
on the storm. (Original video can be
viewed at: http://hesston.digitalsckls.
info/items/show/462 )
Jason Reynolds quickly moved as
many of his Pizza Hut customers into
the walk-in refrigerator as he could.
He described the scene years later on
local radio station KMUW: “We ran
out of room, so I took the majority
of my staff and a couple of other
customers with me, and we rode out
EldaRouppEldaRouppJayWieland
Humor after disaster: A sign reads, “Due to circumstance beyond our control
t[he] Roupp family dinner Sunday has been chan[ged] to a picnic on the slab.
Bring your own food, dri[nk], tableware, tables, and chair. Slab will be furnished.”

3. 12 may/june 2016
the storm in the men’s bathroom. It
was pretty scary, and I was praying
pretty hard.”
5:37 PM
As the tornado moved into Hesston, it
increased to F5 intensity. It appeared
to head straight for Hesston College
and the surrounding retirement
communities before a microburst, a
powerful downdraft of air, pushed
the storm’s track slightly to the north.
That no one was killed within the
town of Hesston seems unfathomable.
Heartbreakingly, the storm took the
lives of Ruth Voth of Goessel and
young Lucas Fisher of Burrton as
they sheltered from the weather.
Interpreting Extreme
Environments
The Hesston Tornado was a significant
milestone in the history of Hesston. It
continues to be a defining moment for
residents and the community—people
remember where they were, what they
were doing, how it affected them and
those they knew and loved. However,
the number of firsthand participants
has dwindled as people have moved
from the Hesston community or have
passed away.
At the time of the storm, the
Hesston Public Library staff
understood the community-altering
nature of the tornado and had to
the foresight to collect photos, flyers,
church bulletins, and stories related
to the event. But by 2014, library
staff had twice turned over and
the institutional knowledge of the
tornado collection had been lost. The
artifacts had quietly been stored away,
largely inaccessible and forgotten.
In January 2014, the library
initiated an ambitious 14-month
project (1) to transform the boxes
of tornado photos, scrapbooks, and
ephemera into a digital archive
that would (2) culminate with a
25th-anniversary remembrance event
of the Hesston Tornado in March 2015.
Using Freeman Tilden’s principles of
interpretation and the National Park
Service’s interpretive equation, library
staff knew the anniversary event
required a knowledge of the potential
audiences, an understanding the
sensitive nature of personal tragedy,
and a multi-faceted event to connect
the diverse audiences to the resource.
Knowledge of the Audience:
The remembrance event(s) would
attract audiences who:
• had firsthand experience
• were born after 1990 but grew up
with firsthand stories
• were new residents who knew very
few details
• were international residents
who resided in Hesston for a
short period to support the local
industry
Knowledge of the Resource:
Preservation and Access
The Hesston Public Library’s
immediate need was to transform
the original archived material into
a resource that improved audience
accessibility and increased the
cultural competency of users. With
both financial assistance and
professional training from the South
Central Kansas Library System and
the Kansas Humanities Council,
the library digitized its collection
of images and papers, converted
outdated analog formats such as VHS
and slides, displayed the digitized
collection both online and within
the library, and made user-friendly
duplicates of select items for use in
library displays.
After meeting the library’s goals
for the original tornado archives
in January 2015, the library staff
reached out to the community with
a request to expand the digital
library by scanning and then
returning privately owned photos
and memorabilia. By the time the
archive was completed, 44 audio
recordings, 1,033 documents, 2,072
photos, and 42 videos had been
added to the digital library. (The
Digital Special Collections can be
viewed at http://hesston.digitalsckls.
info or through the library’s website:
hesstonpubliclibrary.com.)
Appropriate Techniques for
Interpretive Opportunities
In order to forge meaningful
intellectual and emotional
connections between the diverse
audiences and the storm event, the
library staff knew that a single
anniversary program would not be
enough. The remembrance activities
needed to offer several ways that the
diverse audiences could connect with
a storm that had passed 25 years
before.
The Hesston Public Library
partnered with the local expertise of
The author holds one of several artifacts that were donated to the library’s
permanent collection during the 25th Anniversary Remembrance week.

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Jointheagency andsave
usingpromocodeNAI2016
the Hesston Community Foundation,
Hesston College, the Hesston
Record, local churches, and USD
460 to organize a week-long series of
remembrance activities:
Walking the Path: March 7–22, 2016
An estimated 300 participants saw
the scope of the tornado’s size, the
impacted neighborhoods, and the
change in tree canopy as they walked
the path of the tornado. The library
created an interpretive trail map
and partnered with Hesston College
Disaster Management students to
place orange flags along sidewalks
within the tornado’s footprint.
Share the Memories: Tuesday, March
10, 2016
Roughly 150 attendees watched Dean
Alison’s iconic tornado footage and
heard from a panel of community
members who were first responders
in the hours immediately following
the storm. Light refreshments and
time for sharing personal experiences
followed the presentation.
Record the Story: March 12–13, 2016
The library contracted with an
oral historian to give residents an
opportunity to record their firsthand
experiences. All of the interviews will
be added to library’s Digital Special
Collections archive once they have
been transcribed.
Hesston USD 460 Students: Friday,
March 13, 2016
Several community members shared
their experiences at local elementary,
middle, and high schools. Two of the
presenters were high school students
at the time of the tornado and one
was the high school band instructor.
Their stories were personally relevant
for the students in attendance.
Twister Twila & the Rodeo Queen:
Wednesday, March 18, 2016
The Hesston Public Library hosted
a tornado-themed story time and a
special program that included Abbey
Pomeroy, Hesston’s own Miss Rodeo
Kansas 2015.
Both the digitization project and the
week of remembrance events have
garnered positive responses and
support.
Extreme environments are a
favorite plot line in books and
movies as they feed the human
need for adrenaline and our
fascination with the unusual. The
challenge for interpreters is always
to find the personal stories and the
opportunities for meaning within the
context of the event.
For More Information
Hesston Tornado Digital Collection.
Hesston Public Library Digital
Special Collections. http://hesston.
digitalsckls.info/
Inglish, Howard. Year of the Storms.
1st edition. Hillsboro, Kan: Hearth
Pub, 1990.
“‘Monster on the Prairie, Hesston,
Kansas 1990 Tornado’, Newton
Amateur Radio Club.” Accessed
March 12, 2015. http://www.
newtonarc.net/weather/hesston.
html.
“Twenty Years after the Hesston
Tornado: An NWS Perspective.”
Steadham, Randy. http://www.
crh.noaa.gov/images/ict/hesston/
hesston_nws.pdf
“The Hesston Tornado 25 Years
Later” KMUW, NPR Radio, April
2, 2015, http://kmuw.org/post/
hesston-s-recovery-25-years-after-
f5-tornado-hit
abo u t t h e au t h o r
Libby Albers is the director at the
Hesston Public Library in Hesston,
Kansas. She combines her passion
for interpretation with her love of
local history, natural resources, and
of course—the library. Reach her at
hesstonpubliclibrary@gmail.