Seminole residents begin recovering after tornado

Oklahoman Larry Jernigen, 62, spent much of Tuesday retelling his near-death experience of riding out a tornado in his pickup.

BY ANN KELLEY | Published: May 12, 2010

SEMINOLE — Larry Jernigen, 62, spent much of Tuesday retelling his near-death experience of riding out a tornado inside his pickup.

Jernigen is already a celebrity of sorts in Seminole for having lived to tell about two other brushes with death. He survived an airplane crash in 1985 and a car accident with a tractor-trailer rig in 1995.

photo - A small airplane rests on its top Tuesday afternoon after being blown out of a hangar at the Jimmie Austin Airport when a tornado touched down on the north side of Seminole on Monday night. Photo by Ann Kelley, The Oklahoman.

A small airplane rests on its top Tuesday afternoon after being blown out of a hangar at the Jimmie Austin Airport when a tornado touched down on the north side of Seminole on Monday night. Photo by Ann Kelley, The Oklahoman.

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Jernigen was about to leave his cabinet shop on State Highway 99 when a tornado hit Monday.

He took cover on the floorboard of his 1999 Chevy pickup while debris battered its metal...
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