Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 100

CHICAGO TRIBUNE, SUNDAY, APRIL 21, 6 Section 10 SC Hi mi 1 i ft A Rise from Rubble: Oak Lawn Rebuilds After Killer Tornado lems," said Karl Faitz, the village building commissioner. "And each problem was vitally important, altho all cropped up simultaneously. We had to make snap decisions on the spot." Faitz Is Expert Faitz probably knows better than any other person what happened during and after the tornado. He had to personally inspect all damaged buildings and approve all repair and building plans. A small, wiry young man, Faitz blond crew cut and boyish features hide the toughness that's inside him.

He had to be tough. He was the final judge in condemning homes and businesses. He had to personally push contractors and insurance adjusters to get their work done. For three weeks after the damaged and destroyed buildings in the community are repaired or rebuilt. Oak Lawn is a town of new roofs.

It is a town with new homes sitting side by side with older homes that somehow avoided the tornado's destruction. Grim Reminders Remain A few grim reminders of the storm remain. The intersection of 95th street and Southwest highway is a desolate concrete prairie where a super market, two restaurants, a motel, a gas station, and a bar once stood. Eighteen persons died at this intersection. Construction will probably come to the corner soon, Faitz said, because several develooers are competing for the land.

Just off the intersection, Oak Lawn's high school still doesn't have the swimming pool jind gymnasium destroyed by the Hi II NVY IH Hi 1 1-f "1- JrT Wi'JU yw II nil I li 1 I SMS 1 i 4 A Tt Mfc MvST "'tBJJM'" BY WILLIAM MULLEN It didn't take 18 months, as federal authorities predicted. It didn't even take a year. A long strip thru the middle of Oak Lawn was crushed a year ago today by one of the most damaging tornadoes in the state's history eight months, most of the damage was repaired. Touching down at 5:30 p. m.

on a muggy, sultry Friday, the tornado hit the village's southwest side, and within minutes cut a deadly swath to the community's northeast side. In its path, the funnel cloud left 32 dead and hundreds injured. Other Areas Damaged The storm went on to wreak havoc on Hometown, Evergreen Park, and southwest Chicago, but Oak Lawn was the hardest hit. That rainy cold evening after the storm, amid ripped and twisted debris, stranger worked beside stranger under ghostly battery lamp lights in search of casualties. Young and old.

man and woman, everyone did anything they could do to help. The camaraderie of that night was to grow into a community spirit which enabled the village to rebuild quickly. Village President Fred Dumke was in charge of a community with $20 million in property damage, including 900 buildings damaged or destroyed. To get it back on its feet, he asked for and received full cooperation from his trustees, his staff, and village Hi1 HARDEST HIT When a tornado hit Oak Lawn last April 21, the 9400 of the homes were splintered to uninhabitable shells, leaving residents of the block of Massasoit avenue was one of the hardest hit residential areas. Most block homeless and virtually without clothing or food.

ITRIBUNE Staff Photos -1- tornado. Last week-end, a construction worker at the school was killed by a falling beam at the swimming pool site, as a grim footnote to last year's disaster. St. Gerald's school, at 94th street and Central avenue, is still in the process of replacing a wing destroyed by the storm. Residents Trade Stories On a happier note, dozens of driveways in a temporary trailer home court on Tripp avenue lead to lots.

Last week-end, the last resident temporarily installed at the court was moved into his new home. People in Oak Lawn still trade stories of human kindness that took place after the tornado hit. They are stories of families taking in orphans, of individuals ignoring their own hardships to help others. Faitz has a favorite which perhaps typifies the community spirit which was born out of Oak Lawn's tragedy: Truce Was Called "There were two women living next door to each other who had been doing battle with each other for years. They were constantly putting the neighborhood into an uproar with their fights.

"When the tornado hit, it leveled one woman's house, and left the other's in pretty good shape. Apparently a truce was called, because the woman who still had a house took the other's family in until a new home could be built." zfp pv Karl Faitz tornado, Faitz averaged four hours of sleep a night. Directing a small army of volunteers, he and his staff assessed damages, licensed bona fide contractors, and got reconstruction underway long before a month had passed. Job Was Difficult "We had a hell of a time getting settled," Faitz said. "We had to push a lot of people to get their jobs done, but somehow we did it." Faitz was tough, but looking back at "what Oak Lawn has accomplished in a year, he is softened considerably.

"I'm pretty proud of this town," he says with real emotion. "Even tho people got clobbered, they came right back and rebuilt, usually bigger and better than what they had before the storm." Today, more than 800 of the residents. Problems Were Huge The immediate problems faced by Oak Lawn were gargantuan: clearine the streets of storm-strewn debris and garbage. Building an emergency staff to inspect damaged and destroyed buildings. building a staff to license bona fide contractors, and to rid the town of bilko artists preying on storm victims.

excavating destroyed buildings, often by burning. relocating displaced families in temporary homes. getting contractors and insurance adjusters to complete their work as fast as possible. distributing disaster relief funds to those most in need. "There were so many prob SfeTT nii i.

i NIGHTMARE SCENE From the street, Massasoit avenue looked like an unbelievable nightmare the morning after the storm. But residents were already picking thru the wreckage and making plans to rebuild. BIGGER AN'D BETTER The same scene on Massasoit avenue today, a year later. Not only did residents rebuild, they rebuilt bigger and better than before the storm. i HWiiSLai.

5, I i I. fril.i!W3g&rtT ifi8C2' wiil.aa.t..;..f,.'-L. 4Mt.ot.l BEFORE AND AFTER Two persons died in a roller rink at 93d street and Cicero avenue, at left, when the tornado lifted the roof and collapsed the walls. With nothing left, the owner quickly rebuilt, above, and the rink has bee in operation for several weeks. I I III a 1-kS-.

I 4s.tWr: CAMP RUINS Nothing remained of a trailer home park at 92d and Cicero after the tornado dashed the trailers together. The park was a maze of rubble and rubbish the morning after the storm. si REBUILDING PROJECT Today St. Gerald's school is one of the few tornado-damaged buildings not yet rebuilt. But when the new addition replaces the old, the school will have 24 classrooms instead of the 12 it had before the storm.

WRECKED CHURCH Much of St. Gerald's school at 94th street and Central avenue was damaged beyond repair by the storm. With the roof blown off and the walls weakened, this section had to be destroyed by wreckers. St. Gerald's church, near the school, was spared by the tornado.

NEW TRAILER PARK The trailer park was cleared of the storm-strewn debris within weeks after the tornado, and new trailer homes were moved in. People have been living In the parks for several months..