Melvin Vinson
from an email

I graduated from London High School in 1955.

I was born about a month after the explosion. Mama and Daddy lived about a mile east of the school. Daddy had cut down a dead tree in the yard and was cutting it up. He heard the explosion and turned to look. He said he saw debris in the air above the trees. He dropped the axe, told Mama he would be back when he got back and started running to the school. He was there 2 or 3 days.

I had a first cousin, Mary Emily Lloyd, killed. She is buried at Pleasant Hill. She was in the 7th grade. Her mother, Annie Loyd (Mrs. Emery Loyd) was teaching at Gaston when the explosion happened.

Lena Hunt, a teacher married Mama's cousin. She and two of her children were killed. The Maxwells who were killed were distant cousins.

It is said that Lena Hunt was in the back part of the building that was left standing. Her desk was backed to a wall. There were 2 students standing at her desk when the explosion happened. The wall behind the desk caved in, and she and the two students were killed. Nobody else in the room was injured.

Lena is buried in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery. Her husband, Charley Hunt (I think) was my mother's first cousin and never remarried. Her 2 children are there too.


Vin Vinson's Website