By Seth Putnam
news@joplinglobe.com
MIAMI, Okla. — Christi Patel’s eyes say it all. Saturated with tears, they reflect her nauseating grief.
Patel lost her son and daughter-in-law in the tornado that struck Picher on Saturday. Their bodies were found on Mother’s Day.
Samuel Don Berry, 20, his wife, Tracie Dawn Berry, 19, and Tracie Berry’s uncle, Darrell Edward Patterson II, 28, were killed when they drove into the path of the EF4 tornado. The storm killed three others in Picher and was linked to another death attributed to carbon monoxide poisoning.
“They were supposed to meet me for a Korean dinner on Saturday, but they didn’t show up,” Patel said. “The more I kept calling, the more I knew that my son was dead.”
Tracie Berry’s sister, Kenna Garrison, was the only survivor of those in the vehicle. She turned up in a hospital, Patel said, but at first couldn’t remember what had happened. Gradually, she came around.
“Kenna said that the next thing they knew, they were getting hit by hail, and the windows blew out,” Patel said. “Then they were spinning and spinning and spinning up off the road. She doesn’t remember anything else besides crawling in a field. They found two four-leaf clovers in her hair.”
When Patel heard Garrison’s account, the reality of her son’s death hit home.
“I knew I wasn’t going to get to talk to my best friend anymore,” she said. “I’m just so mixed up.”
The Berrys left behind an 8-month-old son, Lucas Don Berry.
“I want custody,” Patel said, “and (Tracie Berry’s parents) want custody. They need to see him just like I do, and I know they love him, but I need to have him with me.”
Samuel Berry finished a program at the Wil Lou Gray Opportunity School, a junior military academy in Columbia, S.C., when he was 16. Afterward, he went to welding school in Tulsa. Shortly after the couple married, Samuel Berry enlisted in the Army. He served as a military policeman in Seoul, South Korea.
Before Samuel Berry left on his first tour of duty, his wife got pregnant. After eight months of duty, he switched to the active reserves and returned home in March of this year to see his then 6-month-old son.
“That’s why he came home,” Patel said. “He wanted to be with his child.”
Patel said she will remember her son’s work ethic.
“He was a very, very hard worker,” she said. “He learned to run a cash register when he was 5. He always had so much he wanted to do. He always had so many plans.”
Patel described Tracie Berry as a happy homemaker.
“She was just happy staying home and being a wife and mom,” she said. “And Samuel wanted her to be able to do that. I can’t see someone not liking her. The baby just adored her.
“They (her son and his wife) were two peas in a pod. It’s amazing that such young people could get along so well together. The fact that they went together shows it was God’s will.”
But her belief that their deaths were part of God’s will doesn’t make the loss easier to bear.
“It’s the worst thing that a parent can ever imagine,” Patel said. “You think that you would never be able to deal with something like this, but you find a way.”
Patel’s grief is compounded by the fact that she has suffered other losses recently. Her uncle, who had cancer but was in remission, died unexpectedly. And a cousin was killed in a car accident.
Patel said the deaths of her son and daughter-in-law have elicited a touching response. She pointed to a banner made for her by patients at a children’s hospital in Miami where she works as a nurse.
“I love you, Mrs. Christi,” wrote one of her patients. “Sorry for your loss; get to feelin’ better.”
The banner was covered with similar encouraging notes.
“Sorry for your loss,” wrote another, “but with every loss comes an opportunity to shine and share.”
Emmanuel Berry, Samuel’s 17-year-old brother, said he feels an overwhelming loneliness.
“I was always with them,” he said. “It broke my heart that I was never going to see them again.”
Services
Funeral services for Samuel Don Berry will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Commerce Community Church in Commerce, Okla. Tracie Dawn Berry already has been buried, according to Paul Thomas Funeral Home.
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