What Happened to Joan Gay Croft

My goal with this podcast was to explore less commonly spotlighted mysteries but today I want to talk about a missing little girl named Joan Gay Croft. I think many of you right now are saying “no, I’ve heard this one before”. It was featured on the 90’s show Unsolved Mysteries afterall and what true crime fan hasn’t already seen most of those shows? But I have something to add to the story that may surprise you because… I think I know where she is. Let me tell you what I think happened and let’s decide if you agree.

     To tell a complete story I feel I need to start from the beginning. Just consider this a refresher course if you’re already familiar with it. The 9th of April 1947 started like many other days in Woodward, Oklahoma. It was warmer that day than usual but that isn’t uncommon in that area of the country but in a few hours that unseasonable warmth would be part of a very, very large problem. 

     There was a disaster brewing. That warm air was about to combine with cold air coming from Kansas to create the deadliest tornado the state of Oklahoma has ever seen. I’m serious, to this day they’ve had wider, more destructive ones but no tornado has been more responsible for the loss of life the people in the path of this one were about to experience.

     The tornado originated in Canadian, Texas which is in the panhandle. If you look at a map you can follow its path straight northeast. It struck Glazier and Higgins, Texas killing 69 people in those two towns alone. It then passed south of the towns of Shattuck, Gage, Fargo and Tangier but nine more people were killed who lived on farms and ranches on the outskirts of those towns but it saved its worst for the town of Woodward. The death toll there would be 95.

     There were many factors that led to this storm being the deadliest in Oklahoma history. It was dark, about 8:42 pm, so people couldn’t see it coming, televisions existed but they weren’t in everybody’s homes like they are now, and the warning sirens that people in the south are so accustomed to hearing all the time now, wouldn’t be used for storm warnings until the 1970’s.

     But what caused the most hindrance was the telephone operator strike. We’re used to picking up the phone and just making a call but back then you had to have the assistance of the operator to make a call and with them on strike few people had any warning until it was too late.

     The home of Olin and Cleta Croft was in the direct line of the twister. Cleta had been getting their daughters Geraldine, who was 7 and Joan Gay, who was 5 ready for bed when Olin heard the familiar train-like sound of the wind roaring towards them. According to interviews he would give to local newspapers in the days after, he and Cleta gathered the girls and ran out the front door. To me, this sounds like the exact opposite of what you should do. He claimed he was afraid the house would cave in on them and it probably would have. Their house was completely destroyed by the time the tornado passed.

     I don’t know. Being outside may have saved the children from serious injury at least. The same couldn’t be said for Olin and Cleta though. Olin explained that a wall flew over the girls heads but he and Cleta being taller than the girls were struck by it. Ironically, they had gone outside to avoid being buried in the collapsing house only to be buried under the flying debris anyway. The girls were alive but injured. 

     Neighbors started rushing out immediately from their homes to survey the damage. But it would be closer to midnight before they realized the Crofts had not been seen. When they found them, Joan had to be pulled from the wreckage. A motherly neighbor named Mary Carter came to care for them while other neighbors dug in the dark trying to find Olion and Cleta. 

     It would be Mary that was the first one to see the wound on Joan’s leg. She described it as a pencil sized splinter penetrating her right calf. Others would describe it as broom handled sized. Regardless of the size, both girls were banged up and alone and needed to be taken to a place of safety. 

     A decision was made to take the girls to Woodward Memorial Hospital. As others stayed behind to try to dig their parents out of the rubble, Mary delivered the girls to the front lawn of the hospital. She explained to newspapers that the Red Cross and Salvation Army had already arrived and was triaging the injured and taking names to add to lists of the injured and the dead. In addition to this, and this is very important to the story, Mary was adamant that she stayed long enough for the two girls to be added to that list of names and tagged for identification.    

     The girls were assessed by the nurses and it was determined that they could wait while more seriously wounded were treated. They were given a pallet on the floor in the basement. A nurse reported giving them a glass of water and a neighbor claims to have seen them there as well. There is no denying that Joan and her sister made it to the basement that night. 

     The next person to see Joan and Geraldine was their Aunt Ruth. She had arrived trying to find her mother when she stumbled across the girls. She would later report that both girls seemed to be fine, although she did see the piece of wood that was still in Joan’s leg. She left them there with plans to retrieve them after she located her mother.   

     When she returned Geraldine was there but Joan was gone. Geraldine told a story of how two men in Khaki clothing had carried Joan away. A nurse who witnessed this agreed with Geraldine and added that the two men claimed they were taking her to the hospital in Oklahoma City. Joan would never be seen again.

     Joan’s father had been found earlier that night and rushed to the Woodward Hospital but he was in no condition to even realize he was in the same hospital as the girls. His injuries would require surgery but he would recover and join the search after he was released from the hospital. Sadly, Cleta was killed that night.

     The search for Joan had begun as soon as it was found that she was missing. Members of Joan’s family had looked for her in every hospital and morgue the injured and dead had been taken. They could not find her anywhere. They were even called to Armstrong’s Funeral Home by the coroner to view the body of a young girl he felt could possibly be Joan but this too was unsuccessful.

     And that was where the story was left to history. She wasn’t anywhere her family looked but they never gave up searching. Aunt Ruth even made that appearance on Unsolved Mysteries with her daughter Marvella in the 90’s. Soon rumors began that she had been kidnapped. Some even believed she could have been taken by a family who lost their little girl in the storm as a replacement. As if children are interchangeable. I guess people were desperate to believe anything if it meant Joan was still alive and could return one day.  

     Occasionally a story was written to remind Oklahomans that she was still missing. On the one year anniversary, the ten year anniversary, the twenty year anniversary and so on but there was seldomly any new news to add. Multiple women even came forward with claims of being her but they were always disproven. 

     We may never truly know what happened to Joan Gay Croft but I do have a theory. And if I am correct I can tell you exactly where she is. Hear me out. Joan was taken to Oklahoma City just as the two men in Khaki claimed, then at some point she passed away and was buried under the wrong person's name. How could that happen though?

     Let’s start with the first part: She was taken to an Oklahoma City hospital. Nobody believed that was the case because if they took her there she would have been found there when her family looked for her. I feel I have found proof she was there and they just didn’t find her. 

     Do you recall that the Salvation Army took Joan and her sisters names down when the neighbor took them to the Woodward hospital? Well, that list was published in all the local papers and guess what. There is no Joan or Geraldine Croft on that list of names but there is a John and Jerry Croft. John is one letter away from Joan and Jerry is a common nickname for Geraldine. 

     Why is this important though? No one said they weren’t at the Woodward Hospital. I feel it’s important because the next list of names printed in the papers were of people taken to Oklahoma City. Per the list, Jerry Croft was taken to the Oklahoma Children’s Hospital just as we know Geraldine was. There is no listing for John Croft but now there is a listing for a John Craft. Again, just one letter away. I feel there was another easy mix up in the name that prompted the hospital staff to say no, we don’t have a Joan Croft because they didn’t, they had a John Craft.

     Okay, but why did she pass away? Everybody said that her wounds were not that bad. I feel the wound in her leg was worse than anyone believed. We have arteries in our calves. What if that shard of wood nicked her artery. Or it could have even pierced the artery. This would have caused her to bleed out slowly and in the darkness and chaos it might have been difficult to tell how dire the situation was until it was too late.

     Okay, but how could they bury her under the wrong name?  Here is my theory on that. Sadly, Joan wasn’t the only one killed then separated from their families in the chaos. There were actually three little girls who died and were never identified. Their ages were estimated to be eighteen months, five years and twelve years. They died in the storm and were buried in unmarked graves in the Elmwood Cemetery there in Woodward. This is the same cemetery where many of the victims of the tornado were buried, including Joan’s mother Cleta.

     A little girl named Kay Frances Holcomb, six years old, was among those who lost their lives that night. Her remains had been sent to Armstrongs Funeral Home where they were kept for days awaiting positive identification. Unfortunately, both her parents and her siblings were severely injured and unable to look for her. An aunt and cousin from Oklahoma City were asked to step in and search. It was them that identified the unclaimed body at the funeral home.

     Do you remember the name of the funeral home Joan’s family was called to view an unclaimed body. It was Armstrongs. What if Kay’s aunt and cousin were mistaken? What if that little girl was actually Joan? She could have been taken and buried before anyone was the wiser. Then when Joan’s family came to view the girl the coroner called about they were actually shown Kay. When they denied it was Joan, Kay became the six year old girl that was unidentified and buried without a name.

     We’ll never know if I’m correct. All the girls are resting peacefully and that’s how it should stay. But I’m still left wondering about the other mystery…If we have identified the middle girl, then who were the other two girls? Their names have been lost as well.

     The answer given at the time of their burial was that all three unidentified girls belonged to a poor family that lived somewhere on the outskirts of town. It was suggested they had no money to pay for their funerals so no one claimed the bodies. That seems absurd to me. Many of the victims were buried with the costs being taken care of by the red cross, the salvation army or donations that came flooding in to help the victims. No, I don’t believe that somebody would not have stepped up to keep these girls from spending eternity with no names. 

     Yet, it appears, every effort was put into finding their identities. Especially the twelve year old who would have been school aged. Teachers from around the area were asked to come to the funeral home to view the body, many came but no answers were found. Perhaps the one teacher that could have given us her name was also a victim of the tornado. Maybe she lost her home and was preoccupied. Maybe she lost her life as well.  

     It was surmised that the baby estimated to be 18 months old could have belonged to a family passing through town when the tornado struck but that seems ridiculous to me too. That would have to mean there was no family left wondering where that child was and no parents left to claim her. That would mean a whole family was gone and nobody noticed. Stranger things have happened but I don’t believe it.

     No, I think that the mystery can be accredited to the same thing I feel Joan’s was. Confusion. Any mass disaster causes chaos but perhaps none more so than a tornado. Tornadoes can cause anything and anybody in its path to be picked up and taken somewhere else. It’s as if the world as you know it is placed in a blender. Where you start and where you finish are up to fate.

     We may be the only ones left to care. Joan’s parents are both deceased now. Of course they are, it’s been nearly 80 years since that terrible night. Geraldine, Aunt Ruth and her daughter Marvella, Mary Carter the neighbor who carried Joan to the hospital are all gone as well. I’m sure anyone left that remembers that night would rather forget it. 

     If you would like to visit the graves of the three girls buried without their names you will find them at the Elmwood Cemetery in Woodward, Oklahoma. They can be found in a section all by themselves with only each other for company. Except for one other person. Kay Francis Holcomb is buried right beside them. Odd coincidence don’t you think?