John Henry "Johnnie" Gerdes

John Henry Gerdes, known as "Johnnie", was born December 2, 1899, in Cabool, Texas Co., Missouri; and he died Sunday, April 21, 1912, in Perry, Noble Co., Oklahoma, at 12 years old, as a result of injuries received during a tornado on April 20, 1912, in rural Perry, Oklahoma. The family farmhouse was in the direct path of the tornado. Johnnie was buried in Mt. Carmel Catholic Cemetery in Perry, Oklahoma.

Johnnie was the oldest child of William John "Bill" and Mary Elizabeth "Liz" (Clark) Gerdes. His parents moved to the Perry area in 1909 and lived there until about 1917.

From another news article at this time: It said that Bill and Mary Elizabeth had been in Oklahoma for three years prior to the cyclone and had had failing crops for all three years. So these times must have been terrible for this family. Mary Elizabeth's daughter always told her family that her mother had died of a broken heart because of losing her children, but she did have children at a later date and continued to be a loving mother to her other children. She died a few years later (1918) in Cabool, Missouri, during the influenza epidemic.

From the news article in the Perry, Oklahoma Enterprise Times, Monday,April 22, 1912, about the tornado in Perry, Oklahoma, that killed Margaret and fatally injured Johnnie and in which Mary Elizabeth had sustained serious injuries:

"Death Dealing Tornado Sweeps Southwest Taking Life and Destroying Much Property... Noble County's Loss $150,000: Two are Dead and Scores Injured, The Dead: John Gerdes, age 12; Mary Gerdes, age 3 yrs. and 6 months. The Injured: Mrs. William Gerdes, cuts on head and neck, (and fourteen more people were listed)." Also from the article: "About 5:30 Saturday evening while business, streets and stores were yet filled with city and country customers" (everyone thought the clouds would bring a welcome rain, then the tornado hit) "... and at a point six miles northeast, it struck the home of Wm. Gerdes with fatal effect, killing a boy and girl. The house was in the direct track of the storm and when torn to pieces, a wall fell on their little daughterMargaret crushing out her life at the first crash. The twelve year old son Johnny was hit by a broken joist, a splinter of which ran through both his legs pinning them together. The boy lived through the night but after great suffering died Sunday morning." " The funeral of John and Margaret Gerdes was solemnized Monday at the Catholic Church conducted by Father Willebrord and attended by many friends of the bereaved family after which the remains of brother and sister were laid side by side in one grave in the Catholic cemetery...."

From a copy of a photograph showing the wreckage of their home, they have made an arrow pointing to where there was a cellar close to the door that they tried to get to but the tornado hit before they could get to it.

Survivors included: his parents; two brothers, Fred Herman Gerdes, and Leonard William Gerdes (who was the youngest child); and two sisters, Mary Rosellen Gerdes, and Anna Elizabeth Gerdes; his maternal grandmother, Sarah E. (Mitchell) Clark of Cabool, Missouri; his paternal grandfather, John William Gerdes; and aunts, uncles and cousins.

He was preceded in death by his little sister, Margaret M., who died in the same storm; and his maternal grandfather, William Clark; and his paternal grandmother, Rose (Fischer) Gerdes.

A photo of the gravestone shows a handmade concrete slab with the children's names and dates handwritten in the slab. There is a slender cross that stands in the handmade slab that is also concrete. John Gerdes was buried in Section Southwest 1/4 plot M9 Grave #1 and Margaret Mary Gerdes buried in Section Southwest 1/4 plot M9 Grave #2, this is from the burial documents.

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Noble County, Oklahoma Bio