Retired EMT Seeks Help To Restore Memorial For Victims Of Deadly 1982 School Explosion

 A retired emergency worker is saddened by the state of a memorial erected following a deadly school explosion.

One teacher and six young students died after a poorly maintained boiler blew up near the cafeteria more than 42 years ago at Star Elementary School in Spencer.

“I remember, it was just the worst thing I had ever seen,” said Tony Winston, a retired EMT.

Winston responded to the school on Jan. 19, 1982.

“I remember the children on the floor,” Winston said. “The linoleum tile was like curled up because the steam was super-hot.”

Winston has never forgotten that day.

“You do what you do when it's going on, but it's afterward that night, you just relive it over and over,” he said.

More than 40 years have passed and the corner of NE 23rd Street and North Douglas Boulevard doesn’t look the same.

“The playground was out that way,” Winston pointed at a business.

A Walgreens now stands where the school once was, and only the small memorial near the busy intersection remains. The monument of stone and brick is topped by a bronze plague naming those who died. During a recent visit to the site, Winston was disappointed in its condition.

“My heart goes out to the families of the children,” he said. “I think this is very disrespectful to their memory. Somebody ought to be taking care of it.”

The dirty stone and brick are surrounded by trash and beds that once held flowers are barren.

“It's not that big of an area; it wouldn't take a whole lot of money to make this nice again,” Winston said. “They definitely deserve a lot better than this.”

However, on a fixed income, Winston needs help to restore the memorial and honor those who were lost.

“I would be willing to work with anybody,” he said. “If anybody that has a landscaping company might like to volunteer. It just needs a good cleaning and re-landscaping.”

The City of Spencer owns the property but it's unclear who maintains the memorial. If you would like to help, you can contact Winston by emailing him at tsw5760@yahoo.com