Deedy.com Blog

Worcester Telegram
June 10, 1953

His Home Wiped Out; 'We Start Again' Today
By Agnes M. Drummond

"It defies description...fantastic. ... I arrived home to find my home in what was apparently a bombed-out area... my wife was gone, the baby, too. People were talking hysterically going around dazed."

This is the way John G. Deedy Jr., of 16 Hapgood way described the disaster, as he saw it upon returning to his Shrewsbury home from his Catholic Free Press editor's office at The Chancery.

"I saw my house, one wall standing. Neighbors said my wife was at the first aid station. I finally found her at the top of the street... a strange man was carrying the baby. Both were cut, had black eyes, but thank God they are safe.

Wife Ran To Save Baby

"My wife ran to get the baby and threw her on the floor and lay on top of her, when the storm struck. That's all she remembers. She was hit by a window casing, and blacked out. When she came to, she walked right through the rubble to the lawn, through what was once a wall. She's aged ten years in twenty minutes.

"People kept walking around looking for members of their families," when I arrived, Mr. Deedy explained. He had run from the foot of Shewsbury hill to his home, when traffic was jammed.

All Homes on 'Flats' Gone

"I was on my way home when it struck. All the homes on the 'flats' - from Jack Barry's house to the Shrewsbury Post Office are levelled... gone. Barry's is partially gone. On the left side of the road there was a wooded area on and beyond the Brewer estate. Now it is flat, nothing shows but a few sticks...wires are down..."

"The storm cut a path about 250 yards wide right down through the town. Autos were 100 yards from the neighbors home, either upside down, on their sides or crushed...there's not a tree, nor a chimney standing," he added.

Sticks Driven Into Wall

"I went in to the house after I had done what I could for my family. There were sticks driven six inches deep into the one wall standing...if they had stuck anyone they would have been fatal. Every window casing in the house was ripped out. I had more than 2000 books. The pages were completely ripped out...the covers remained...some on the shelves. It was unbelievable.

Painting Undamaged

"A choice oil painting by the 17th Century Italian artist, Correggio's Holy Family, was ripped from its frame over the fireplace...and lay face down on the floor...undamaged. The frame was in a thousand splinters. I saw the tomato patch in the back yard...there was nothing there...it looked as though it had been smoothed out with a fine tooth comb...cleaned out, it was smooth as skin."

"We went to the Warren Smith's on Oak avenue. Their house wasn't touched. The Army is down there now, trying to help people. The baby cries for her doll, but there will be no dolls for her tonight."

"Men coming home to supper were frantic looking for their families, thankful when they found them. They looked at the ruins of homes and cried. What else could you do? Or say?"

"I saw Steve Donohue (city editor of The Evening Gazette) who is a neighbor. He had not worked and was away for the day. He and his family drove up to see what was left of their home...less than two feet from the ground...there was nothing...nothing."

'We Start Again In Morning'

"We are completely wiped out, I can't realize it yet. But we are together. We start again in the morning to rebuild the efforts of years...wiped out in a few minutes," Mr. Deedy declared.

The Deedy's are staying with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John G. Deedy of 12 Wabash avenue.

= Original newspaper article can be downloaded here.

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