JOPLIN, Mo. — Wayne Logsdon and his wife, Cindy, are well on the way to restoring and expanding their storm-damaged business, Tint ’N More, at 2230 S. Main St. The business specializes in window tinting, and auto and truck accessories.

They have repaired a building they bought nearly 21 years ago when it was an ornamental-iron shop. A two-story metal building they added west of that building was damaged, too.

 An office on top of two bays for vehicles was blown away. They have put a new roof on that building, sans the office. Repairs are continuing there.

They also owned the 1935-era building north of their store.

It took a hit, too, but thick concrete walls helped keep some of it together. They hired local people, including Gary Fox, of Webb City, to put a brick facade on that building to give its three storefronts a more traditional appearance.

The brick was used to tie both buildings together to create a unified look for the northwest corner of that intersection.

Said Logsdon: “We’re not going anywhere. We wanted to come back bigger and better. We’re here for the long term.’’

The new storefronts are not for rent. The Logsdons will use them for storage and office space. But people have noticed those empty storefronts.

“I have had a lot of phone calls from people asking: Is that space for rent?’’ he said. The calls suggest to Logsdon that people would lease an attractive storefront if it were available in the damage zone on Main Street.

The road to recovery for the Logsdons has not been an easy one.

They have done much of the work themselves while keeping their business together.

At the same time, they have had to come to terms with things they saw and experienced the night of the tornado. That has been the hardest part.

When the tornado hit, the Logsdons raced from their home in north Joplin to their daughter’s home near 27th Street and Iowa Avenue. They drove over debris to get to their store. When they got there, they found blood inside their building and bloody handprints on a bathroom wall, but there was no one there.

Cindy Logsdon picked up some towels and took them with her.

When they went farther south on Main, they discovered a woman’s body. They used a towel to cover her. At El Vaquero, they encountered a young man who was trying to turn off the motor to a van. They helped turn off the motor. Towels were used to cover the bodies of a man and a woman in the van.

“What I remember was the noise,’’ Wayne Logsdon said. “The stereos in vehicles were on. Alarms were going off. And there was that smell of natural gas and gasoline.’’

They made it to their daughter’s house. She and her family were fine. But the Logsdons were haunted by the memory of the bloodstains in their business. Search dogs found nothing. Whose handprints were they?

About three months after the tornado, Logsdon was tinting the windows of a 1939 Willys coupe. A red convertible pulled up on the lot next to his business and a man got out.

“He was just standing there. This guy didn’t look like a gawker,’’ Logsdon said. “He came over and asked me if I was the owner. I told him I was.

He told me his psychiatrist had told him to come here to get some closure.’’

The young man told Logsdon that he and his girlfriend and her 2-month-old baby were traveling on Main when they realized they were in a tornado. This is something that’s difficult to explain to people. How do you drive into a tornado? Many people did. It must have been so big and so disguised by rain that people did not realize what was happening until it was too late.

When a cement block slammed into their windshield, the man and his girlfriend realized they had to seek shelter.

They got out of their vehicle and found their way inside of Logsdon’s business. The blood came from the woman who was hit by debris.

Logsdon had a molded image of the face of Jesus in his business. He had found it a few years ago and decided to hang it on a wall.

Said Logsdon: “When they came inside, they saw Jesus on the floor. The guy told me: ‘I knew I was in the right place when I found Jesus.’’’

All three survived in the bathroom.

“We worried about what had happened for a long time — three months. We’re glad he decided to get some closure. It gave us closure, too,’’ Logsdon said.



If you have news about something that’s happening on Range Line Road or Main Street, call 623-3480, ext. 7250; or send an email to wkennedy@joplinglobe.com; or send a fax to Wally Kennedy at 623-8598.