The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

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  • Timothy Buelow (left), pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Carthage, and Wendy Wright kneel by a memorial garden built to honor people with Carthage ties who were killed in the Joplin tornado. Wright is the chair of the committee in charge of building the memorial garden. Globe | Anne Brown

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January 1, 2012

Memorial garden pays tribute to tornado victims with Carthage ties

By Rich Brown Globe Columnist

CARTHAGE, Mo. — The effects of this year’s catastrophic tornado has reached far beyond the Joplin city limits, as a Carthage church memorial will testify.

Not only does Faith Memorial Garden take its name from Faith Lutheran Church at 2134 Grand Ave., but faith plays a greater role in another sense. It is through Christian faith that the garden was established in memory of the eight individuals with Carthage connections who died in the May 22 Joplin tornado.

“It is a garden where all can come for a quiet place to have rest, peace and prayer,” said Wendy Wright, chairman of the Faith Tornado Committee established by the church to find a way to memorialize the eight tornado victims who either worked or lived in Carthage.

The brochure handed out at the dedication service on Dec. 4 listed the eight victims as Charles Gaudsmith, Iona Hull, Melissa Johnson, Randall Mell, Natalia Puebla, Grace Sanders, Sandra Thomas and Martha Webb.

“We wanted this to be a living memorial,” Wright said. “We built a cross out of landscape bricks because the cross is at the heart of everything we do, and we also planted eight evergreen trees dedicated to each one of the victims. We also put in a plaque in memory of them.

“The cross, which is in the center, is in the shape of a planter to be a living memorial that will be ever changing with different flowers for each season. A crew from our church built the whole thing.”

The bottom line, Wright said, is to make an impact.

Although the memorial centers on the Carthage victims, Wright emphasized that the garden is open to all.

“Everybody is welcome to come and have the prayer and reflection that they need,” she said. “The garden is open to the public and not just to church members.”

Wright said that two families from Joplin who attended their church were also directly affected by the storm.

“One person lost her apartment and everything she owned and another, a newlywed, was renting a home that was severely damaged,” she said.

Donations from Faith Lutheran, as well as churches in several other states, poured in to help them out, but there were still funds remaining. So the Faith Tornado Committee then decided to assist others in the Carthage community affected by the twister.

“We were all saying what more can we do and how can we help,” Wright said. “We went out into the community and figured out who else we could help. We wanted to reach out and touch others and show them the love of Christ from us to them.”

Wright said as many as 60 individuals and families were helped with monetary donations, as well as gift cards.

Following that assistance, the committee then went one step further with the creation of the garden.



Address correspondence to Rich Brown, c/o The Joplin Globe, P.O. Box 7, Joplin, MO 64802, or e-mail rbrown@joplinglobe.com.

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