Woman who survived 1953 Waco tornado discovers her table is from furniture store she took shelter next to
WACO, Texas (KWTX) - A dining room table, the center of the King family’s gatherings for decades, now revealed to be a piece of history.
The table was bought from the RT Dennis Furniture store before it took the brunt of the 1953 Waco tornado, both in damage and lives lost.
The discovery of the branding on this table is a historical find in and of itself, but the King family matriarch is a survivor of the tornado and was next door to the furniture store on that fateful day.
“It kind of shocked us because no one in the family knew that that’s where it had originally come out of,” says Sean King, the son of tornado survivor Carolyn King.
The table has been a focal point in their home, but now it’s a historic keepsake and a reminder of survival.
WEB XTRA: “Monster From The Sky” documentary by Brady Taylor
“She was in the theater right next door to the Dennis building when it was crushed,” Sean explains.
Carolyn was just days shy of turning nine years old when she was caught downtown during the tornado. And less than 10 years later, in 1961, her parents unknowingly brought home the historic dining room table.
“Apparently the table had been kept out in a barn for several years before it was ever sold to us,” Sean says.
Recently, Sean went to refurbish the table after all these years when he noticed the stamp revealing the table’s origin.
RT Dennis Furniture took the biggest hit during the storm and they were never able to recover. The business was lost and forced to close for good.
Nobody knows where the table has been between being sold and ending up in the King’s home but Sean says the table has been refurbished at least twice. Which, he says, makes the discovery even more shocking.
“Nobody had thought to look at that stamp under there,” Sean says.
Sean says the table has always been more than just a table and now they know why.
“Not just family gatherings, but who knows how much homework I’ve done at that table and you know crafts because we were really into scouts. That table was just sort of the focal point of our household,” Sean explains.
Sean says the table has been sitting for a few months now because since the discovery he is a little scared to refurbish it. Nonetheless, he says he plans to pass the table down to his kids and continue to keep it in the family for at least the next six decades.
If you would like to watch Brady Taylor’s full documentary about the 1953 tornado, “Monster from the Sky”, click here.
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