By Mike Pound
Globe columnist
mpound@joplinglobe.com
Five years later, Beverly Turner can still remember the phone call from her husband.
“He said, ‘I’m standing where our house was trying to figure out how to tell you that it’s gone,’” she said.
I waited for a second and said, “When you say ‘gone,’ what do you mean?”
Beverly gave me a hard look and then smiled.
“Gone,” she said emphatically.
Gone, as in not there. Gone, as in completely blown away. That’s what Beverly meant when she said her house was gone. Tornadoes will do that sometimes. Especially tornadoes like the one that blew through Franklin, Kan., on May 4, 2003. It was part of a system of three tornadoes that struck the area that day.
Beverly wasn’t home when the storm hit. She was the director of a nearby nursing home and had been called to work to help make sure the residents there were OK. Her husband wasn’t home either. After the storm, he arrived at the spot where their home had been.
The Turners opted to rebuild on their lot in Franklin. Six months after the storm destroyed their home, they moved into a new one. I asked Beverly why she opted to remain in Franklin, and her answer was pretty matter of fact.
“We owned the land. Where else would we live?” she said.
This Sunday, the Globe will feature a number of communities that were hit by the tornadoes that day. We will talk to people who lived through the storms, and see how they and their communities have changed since the storms of 2003.
A lot has happened in Franklin in the five years since the tornado, which killed longtime resident Josephine Maghe, and destroyed dozens of homes, the post office and the community center. Many, but not all, of the residents who lost their homes have rebuilt. There is a new community center and a new park, and plans are under way for the construction of a fire station. But more importantly, there is a renewed spirit of accomplishment in Franklin. A spirit that is behind the community’s drive to rebuild itself.
Craig Stokes, president of the Franklin Community Council, is an unabashed Franklin backer. He is among a host of residents and former residents who have been working tirelessly since May 4, 2003, to not only rebuild the community but to make it bigger and better than it was.
The new Community Center and Heritage Museum has played a key role in reviving the town’s spirit. The center is an anchor for the community. It not only serves as a meeting place for community organizations and a location for town celebrations and get-togethers, it also acts as a caretaker, if you will, for the town’s history. Along the walls are photos depicting the town’s past. There are several displays honoring the military service of many current and former Franklin residents.
The new city park also gives the residents of Franklin a place to gather. The park, built entirely by volunteers, contains new playground equipment, a picnic shelter, a large outdoor grill and a bocce ball court.
The town’s water system was rebuilt and upgraded, and work continues on plans for a citywide sewer system. Yep, things are happening in Franklin.
This Sunday, to help mark the anniversary of the 2003 tornado, the Franklin Community Council is hosting a Crawford County Severe Weather Symposium. Representatives from law-enforcement and emergency-management agencies will be on hand, along with area TV meteorologists and representatives from the National Weather Service. Tyler Costantini, a local storm chaser, will speak. The symposium gets under way at 1 p.m. at the Community Center. At 5 p.m., the Community Council will conduct a remembrance ceremony in observance of the five-year anniversary of the tornado.
On Wednesday, while Craig and I drove through Franklin, he couldn’t help looking forward. The town is on the verge of big things, he told me. It won’t be long, he said, before more and more people opt to move to Franklin. He has visions of new businesses in town. Franklin is back, he told me, and it’s growing.
“Who knows?” Craig said. “We might even annex Arma.”
Then he smiled.
Local News
Mike Pound: A renewed spirit of accomplishment in Franklin
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