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grain elevators schools and a hotel. In 1961, it hosted the Dakota Territory Centennial Celebration that drew performances from music and television star Lawrence Welk and a young cowboy named Clint Eastwood.
• Those who still call Manchester home plan to gather Monday evening at a monument erected at the former town to commemorate the 10th anniversary with an informal potluck. Attendees are asked to bring their own chairs and place settings.
• In 2007, the town's former residents dedicated a monument featuring a granite marker, a flag and several plaques telling Manchester's story.
• Gary Marx, who was born in Manchester in the 1930s, attended the dedication and remembers former residents sitting under the big tent and sharing memories of the community.
• "They just told stories, and one story led to another," said Marx, who now lives in Virginia. "We are, among ourselves, this huge collection of stories that we so seldom have a chance to tell."
• The Manchester tornado's 100-millibar pressure drop is the largest on record, according to Guinness World Records. It was measured by storm researcher Tim Samaras, who was killed last month chasing a powerful tornado near El Reno, Okla.
• The sky that evening fell on Manchester at about 7:30 p.m.
• Vernon and Pat Ferguson had just popped in a DVD when they heard an approaching roar, ran to the bathroom and huddled in the tub. Minutes later, they emerged to find their 32-inch television sucked out of what was once their picture window. A kitchen sink had landed in their kitchen, but it wasn't theirs, the couple recalled in a 2004 interview. The Fergusons settled in nearby De Smet.
• When the twister hit Noel and Kris Towberman's house, it threw Noel Towberman some 30 feet and knocked him unconscious. He was hospitalized and recovered, and the couple has moved to Washington state, authorities said. Manchester's two other residents, Cecelia Timm and her son Roger Timm, recovered from their injuries but lost their home to the twister and resettled elsewhere, authorities have said.
• The storm also destroyed Rex Geyer's farmstead. Loretta Yost said Geyer wound up buying the Yosts' old property and building a new house there after the Yosts moved to near Osceola.
• Marx and his sister had been looking forward to fixing up the family home after their parents died, but the tornado destroyed the house and family heirlooms that included furniture, pictures and other mementos.
• "It was a place where we intended to go back and spend time," he said. "It's one of the moments of your life you don't want to relive."

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