1932 diploma found among tornado debris

Do you recognize the name Eulah Detweiler?

If so, the Dumey family is looking for you.

Shortly after the May 6 tornado ripped through Jackson, debris was strewn about the city.

Mark and Laura Dumey, who live in the Bent Creek subdivision, consider themselves lucky that their home escaped damage. Their neighbors a few blocks away weren't so lucky.

However, one piece of interesting debris landed in the Dumey's back yard.

Tyler Dumey, 17, was riding his lawn mower near the edge of the woods behind his house some time in the days following the tornado when he almost ran over a large piece of white paper.

He found that the paper was the high school diploma of a Eulah Detweiler, dated June 17, 1932.

"I thought somebody might want to keep it, might want it back," said Tyler, who will be a senior at Jackson High School next year.

The Dumeys asked many of their neighbors if they knew the name Detweiler, but they got no results. There are no Detweilers in the local phone book. Laura Dumey contacted the Southeast Missourian on Tuesday, hoping that some publicity might help the paper get to its rightful owner.

"It could have come from the Woodland Drive area or from Bent Creek," she said. "Nobody we've talked to knows whose it might be."

Neither the local chapter of the American Red Cross nor the Federal Emergency Management Agency has assisted anyone with the last name of Detweiler.

The diploma was from Hyde Park High School, a public school in Chicago, Ill. A large portion of the top right-hand corner has been ripped, but other than that, the document is in great shape considering it has been through a tornado and rain.

"It belongs to somebody," Laura Dumey said. "I think somebody probably lost it out of their attic and would want it back."

Anyone with information can call 243-1761.

bmiller@semissourian.com

243-6635