May 03, 2008 10:02 pm
—
John Thomas, 76, and his wife, Marjorie, 75, emerged from their cellar only to find that their home in Lawrence County was gone.
Everything they had worked for — gone.
As they walked in disbelief, Marjorie Thomas spotted something in the debris. It was one of her favorite things — a music box that played “Down by the Old Mill Stream.”
She twisted the key and the music played again.
It’s been five years since that May 4, 2003, Sunday afternoon when thousands of homes in our readership area were destroyed and lives interrupted for months, and in some cases, years.
By the end of the day, the most catastrophic weather event in the history of Southwest Missouri and Southeast Kansas had taken its toll.
Three tornadoes killed six people in Kansas and 18 in Missouri. The fatalities include 19 in the immediate area. A total of 187 people were injured.
Yet, we have made our way back from one of the nation’s deadliest storms in history.
There are new homes and new businesses. Towns like Pierce City and Franklin, Kan., which were practically destroyed, didn’t give up and rebuilt where others might have given up and moved on.
Still, there are plenty of reminders that life is fragile and Mother Nature is relentless.
Today, on this anniversary, we recognize the spirit of community that brought us all together on that destructive Sunday afternoon.
Are we better prepared today than we were five years ago?
We believe so.
Equipment used to track storms is becoming more and more sophisticated. Warnings are going out days before severe storms are expected.
And, what have we learned?
Julie Johnson, the city clerk in Pierce City, who has been faithful to her town as it continues to rebound from the destruction says:
“What I have learned from this is that good things come out of tragedy. It does not seem like it at the time, but we have come back bigger and better.
“It just takes time.”
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