By Robert Medley
Managing Editor
Ten years ago, a tornado that ripped through the Falcon Lake addition of northeast Piedmont took the lives of two of the three children of Hank and Catherine Hamil.
Ryan, 3, and Cole, 1, are buried at the St. Patrick Cemetery about 2 miles from the devastating scene in May 2011.
Today, there are two more Hamil boys in the family, born since that tragic day, who have never met their brothers, but they know what happened to them.
On May 24, 2011, about 4 p.m., an F-5 tornado crossed Interstate 40 at the Calumet exit and killed three people in a vehicle in Canadian County.
Two more people died just northeast of there, as trees, farms, outbuildings power lines and fences went down. A mass of black, tornadic wind turned enough to miss downtown Piedmont. It destroyed the home of Piedmont Fire Chief Andy Logan and 87 other homes in housing additions. It tore into the Falcon Lake addition.
The winds were over 200 mph, as the killer tornado struck.
In the semi-rural setting, homes on acreages surround the water of Falcon Lake, just south of Waterloo and east of Sara roads. The often quiet, country skies were dark in the afternoon. The strength of the spring tornado was F-4, winds still over 200 mph as it approached the Hamils’ home near Waterloo Road, the Canadian and Kingfisher County line.
In a Falcon Lake home, the Hamil family huddled together in a bathtub.
Hank Hamil was working on the wheat harvest and was not home, he had called his wife from Terral, Oklahoma near the Red River just five minutes before it hit. The cellphones then went dead.
Catherine Hamil, 36 years-old then, was pregnant at the time with her daughter-to-be Hannah. Her daughter Cathleen, then 5, and boys Ryan, 3 and Cole, 15-months-old, were in the path of the tornado.
Catherine Hamil remembers her sons she lost.
“They were so little. We go to the cemetery every holiday, every anniversary of their deaths. They are in our memories. I go to school programs and I think, Ryan would be in this class, or Cole would be in this class and that’s very hard,” Catherine Hamil said.
She said Ryan loved cows, and both boys would likely be involved in the Cashion 4-H and FFA programs like their siblings are today.
“Ryan was fascinated with cows. Cole was a baby, so he didn’t quit get into that,” Catherine Hamil said.
Hank Hamil said, “Ryan liked his farm toys, just like these boys do.” Hank Hamil pointed to Nathan as they sat at a picnic table in their yard. The boys resemble their brothers in looks, Hank Hamil said.
The Hamils attend church at St. Damien Catholic Church, located next to St. Patrick Cemetery.
“We feel that we know they are in heaven, and they are happy and we are happy for them. We miss them, but we would never wish them to come back. When you love someone you have to let them go. We don’t understand it, but we have to accept God’s will,” Catherine Hamil said. Hank finished the thought.
“There is a reason he (God) needed them up there,” Hank Hamil said.
Storms still scare the children, including Hannah, 9, Nathan, 5, and Matthew, 8.
“They’ve heard our stories of what happened to us, what happened to their brothers, and they don’t want it to happen to them,” Catherine Hamil said.
Hannah was born about five months after the tornado. She thinks about her brothers too.
“I just really wish I could see them and I think they are happy there and they can see us but we can’t see them,” Hannah said.
Cathleen, then 5, says she remembers her little brothers.
“I do miss them a lot. I do have a few memories. Not many,” Cathleen said.
The Hamils still own the lot where the house was destroyed, and they had planned to rebuild there but then decided to put the land up for sale. It has not yet sold.
Catherine said the family will remember the boys at a Memorial Day Mass.
Cathleen said she remembers a little bit of the day of the tornado.
“Before going to the hospital, the last thing I remember was being in the bathtub, and then I just passed out, and I woke up and I was in a hospital room in a bed. It kind of terrified me. I didn’t know what was going on.”
She would make a full recovery from her injuries.
Catherine Hamil said the day of the tornado, Cole was sick with a virus, and she decided to get the kids into the bathtub in the center of the house with a mattress over them.
“We got into the bathtub and I had a toddler mattress over us. The cellphone didn’t work,” Catherine Hamil said. She couldn’t reach Hank by phone. She listened to her radio as the tornado approached, and then hit.
“I heard a loud noise, and I thought, ‘Oh no!” It went dark and I woke up in a pile of house, just broken all around me, all the wood pieces were broken, boards, I could turn my head and could see everything was gone. I didn’t know where the kids were.
“I said, ‘God send someone to help me, and it was just seconds later I saw a pickup coming over the hill to the house, it was my neighbor, Phil Young, and then firefighters showed up. They started searching for the children. She was then taken to a hospital. Cole was found by searchers and still clinging to life, he was taken to Mercy Hospital. Cathleen was found about 70 yards away,and was also rushed to the hospital. Ryan was missing, and two days later, searchers found him in the water under debris near the home.
She remembers being placed on a flat board and lifted onto the back of a vehicle, then driven slowly away with others walking alongside the vehicle.
There are three police officers in Piedmont on staff who responded for recovery efforts during Piedmont’s tornado. They were Lt. Tony Jobe, Sgt. Jack Neumann, and Reserve Officer William Jacobs.
Piedmont City Councilwoman Melissa Ashford’s home was also destroyed in the tornado.
“My heart broke that day,” Ashford said. “I felt so selfish for being grateful we all survived after hearing about the boys. I will never forget them!”
On the day Ryan’s body was found, May 26, a heartbroken and shocked Hank Hamil, met with reporters and emergency workers that day.
Canadian County Sheriff Chris West was then the public information officer for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. He talked to reporters on a sunny, windy and cold day, May 26, 2011.
“Oklahoma, as well as the rest of the nation, has suffered a lot of blows in this tornado season,” West said. “Sadly ,we are going to come to you today and tell you in this storm we did locate our tenth victim. Ryan Hamil was found this morning about 7:15, near the shoreline of Falcon Lake.”
Hank then walked to the microphone.
“We found my other son this morning Ryan, he was floating in the water on the west side of the lake, and I just want to thank everybody for helping and for being there. It’s a bad deal. I lost both my little boys. I was hoping we would find Ryan alive today,” Hank Hamil said. “Ryan was my little buddy, and Cole was too. I loved them both, I just want to thank everybody again for helping for all they have done, thanks.”
Grandparents Randy and Debra Hamil then told reporters, “We just want to thank everybody concerned who helped, we appreciate all of the good help and we don’t know how to repay everybody.
Debra Hamil said, “Everybody has been kind.”
West said, “This was a very, very tragic loss for this family, as you know this is their second child they have lost.”
Today, on a Facebook is the Ryan and Cole Hamil Memorial and Prayer page. A statement reads, “Both brothers are playing on streets of gold with Jesus.”
Hank Hamil says he looks back on the day and wishes he had been home to help. He made it back from Terral, Oklahoma in less than two hours, and he was able to see Cole at Mercy Hospital before Cole was taken to OU Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
“I wish I had been there to help out,” Hank Hamil said.
Catherine Hamil said she has been able to handle the grief of losing children.
“Grief is something that is hard. Everyone handles it differently. I think it has to do with your faith, your experiences and how you cope with things in general,” Catherine Hamil said. “We believe in heaven, and we know they are at peace, so we want to be at peace. We know they do not want us to cry all the time. But if we do cry, I’m sure they understand because it is human nature to be sad.”
