“We evacuated calmly, then she went up,” Gilman Davis told Robby Trammell, then a reporter for The Seminole Producer, on the morning of Dec. 5, 1975.

Fifty years ago today Davis, who passed away in 2021, was conducting seventh grade classes at Central School in Seminole when he and other teachers smelled gas.

The late Ernest “Mac” Carter, who was principal of Central as well as the next-door Roosevelt School, received word of a gas leak and ordered an evacuation.

At 9:45 a.m., less than two minutes after the students and teachers were out of harm‘s way, the building exploded.

The blast took out the south end of the brick building, causing the roof to collapse, rendering the school a total loss.

Although all students, teachers and personnel were out of the building, one person was still inside when the blast occurred.

Carr Donaldson, one of the school’s custodians, was standing in the hallway when the building blew.

He was reportedly knocked to the floor and hit by flying debris, but other than being “shaken up,” escaped serious injury.

Maurice Martin, who was Seminole’s Fire Chief at the time, said the gas fumes were likely ignited when Carr turned a light switch off.

Becky Helvey, who was in her second year of teaching seventh grade science at Central, recalled the smell of gas that morning.

“Working in an old building like that, you kind of get accustomed to the odor of gas… it was always present,” Helvey told the Producer in 2015 as we covered the 40th anniversary of the explosion.

“The morning that it happened, the smell was overwhelmingly strong, and we knew something was wrong. I knew there was something going on that we needed to protect the kids from,” she stated.

Helvey said she and other personnel contacted Carter to make him aware of the situation. Carter began the evacuation process soon afterwards; but with one variation that most likely saved several lives. Prior to that day, students were evacuated through the south end of the building during drills.

“That day, the decision was made to take everybody through the north door, which saved a lot of lives, I’m sure,” Helvey said.

Classes Resume Quickly Superintendent Donald E. Smith, the school board and other community leaders moved quickly, and classes were moved into the nearby Presbyterian Church, which also previously housed Seminole Jr.

College.

Smith also met with then Governor David Boren and the State Superintendent within days of the loss of Central and was able to get the ball rolling for a new school building.

Northwood Elementary was constructed within two years, and students began attending classes in brandnew facilities in the fall of 1977.

Both the Central and Roosevelt buildings were eventually razed, leaving behind an empty lot at Park and College.

More coverage of the explosion is in our “50 Years Ago” column on page three.