Bobby Ray Jennings (December 15, 1938 – June 25, 2011)

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I usually try to stick to a weather subject when I write in my blog.  There are times I may stray with various family or garden or home items – but usually, it goes back to weather somewhere.

It is with regret that I talk about the passing of my friend – Bobby Ray Jennings “Bob”.  Bob passed away on June 25 at the age of 72 years old.  He was born in Heavener, Oklahoma and graduated from Howe High School.  He worked most of his life in Oklahoma City – which included a complete career with the Oklahoma City Fire Department.

Bob lost an eye in a hunting accident while he was on the job and got assigned to the fire dispatch office where I worked with him for several years until his retirement.  He had a sense of humor as dry as my dads and you never knew what he was going to say, or how he was going to say it.  It was always a fun time working with Bob.

I will never forget the first time that he found out I was a storm chaser.  “What in the world would make you go near one of those things?”  I then found out that his dad was killed by a tornado at Howe, Oklahoma on May 5, 1961.  Bob was working in Oklahoma City at the time and received the call saying that the family had been hit by the storm.  To this day, he is the only person I have ever known (friend or otherwise) that has ever had a family member killed by a tornado.

The entry in Thomas P. Grazulis, “Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991” is a simple one:
520 p.m. – 16 killed – 58 injured – 500 yards wide – 30 miles long – F4
Moved northeast from 1 mile south of Talihina to Reichert and Howe.  Twelve people were killed at Howe, as houses were leveled.  Four Deaths occurred at Reichert.  A total of 70 homes were destroyed.
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Bob and I never talked about the event very much.  I didn’t want to dig up anything – and he never offered.  Fair enough.

Then came April 19, 1995.  A fucking nut-job and his friends decided to blow up a federal building in downtown Oklahoma City.  Bob had retired before this but was in our office during the few hours after the event.  I caught up with him as he stared out the window toward the gathering of rescue workers that assembled in front of our building just blocks away from the Murrah bombing site.  You could tell that something was weighing heavily on his mind – other than the fact that this happened in his hometown.  He told me that the rush, confusion, and people scattering reminded him of just what he saw when he returned to Howe the evening that his father was killed.

In a weird way, it’s probably the closest I have come to feeling like someone that has lost a relative to a tornado.

Bob left the job to enjoy his retired life and I have continued on working in fire dispatch and enjoying my hobby as a storm chaser.  I have always contributed my observations, reports, video, photos and anything else I can provide to the National Weather Service and various researchers with the hope that some of it helps toward the warning process.

In this day in age where warning and information dissemination is as good as it’s ever been – I almost take it personally when people get killed by tornadoes.  No doubt, some of this goes back to Bob.

Bob Jennings – everyone should have had the chance to know him… rest in peace my friend.