Time stood still on an early spring afternoon 48 years ago, and life was forever impacted in my hometown of Xenia, Ohio. April 3, 1974. Those of us who lived in Xenia and are old enough to remember vividly recall where we were when the clocks stopped around 4:40 p.m. That is when a tornado packing 300 miles-per-hour winds splintered neighborhoods, reduced schools and businesses to piles of rubble, shredded graceful Victorians like paper dollhouses, and ripped apart historic landmarks that had stood for more than a century. Xenia was caught in the grip of one of the most violent single-day tornado outbreaks ever to strike North America. In an 18-hour period on April 3—or Black Wednesday, as it is called—148 twisters ravaged parts of 13 states, killed more than 300 people, injured nearly 6,000 others, and caused about a half-billion dollars in property damage. It was the deadliest tornado …