When the May 22 tornado hit, Mary Grissom’s family business, like a host of other Joplin businesses, took a severe hit.
That business, Inside Out Designs, specializes in home ponds and landscaping and the storm temporarily wiped out 65 percent of its customers. Rather than sit around twiddling their thumbs until new construction began, the family looked for ways to help.
“They needed us in other directions,” is how Mary put it the other day.
Family members helped with the rebuilding of Cunningham Park. They helped out on “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” and they put a pond in at the Freeman Cancer Center.
When I chatted with Mary on Tuesday the family was installing a pond at Parr Hill Park as a memorial to the children who were killed, injured or otherwise impacted by the storm.
“We are putting in the basin right now and tomorrow we will work on the waterfalls. It will have five waterfalls,” she said.
Money for the project came from donors, and the Grissoms are giving their time as are a host of volunteers. Mary said that once the waterfalls are complete work on landscaping will begin.
“We hope to be done and out of the park by the end of the week,” Mary said.
I told Mary that I loved Parr Hill Park and that when I first saw the park shortly after the storm I was heartbroken.
Mary told me that if I loved the park before the tornado, I will also love the new park.
“It makes us feel good to be putting water back in the park. When the city gets finished it will be just gorgeous,” she said.
Mary doesn’t seem to be one of those “woe is me” types. She also doesn’t seem to be the type to get too wrapped up in the past. Nope, Mary and her family seem to be the “let’s get going, let’s move on” sort of folks
“That’s what I like about Joplin. We didn’t wait for help. We just went to work and now we’re moving on. We aren’t going to let that tornado stop us,” she said.
On June 23 area residents can get a look at how some people are moving on.
For some time, the Grissoms have sponsored home pond tours as a fundraiser for the Joplin Business Women’s Association. What the Grissoms do is put together tours of home ponds in Joplin. For obvious reasons, there was no ponds tour last year but the fundraiser is back this year.
Stephanie Everitt, with the group, tells me that this year’s tour will include nine home ponds throughout Joplin. The event will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 23. Tickets are $5 and may be purchased at Inside Out Designs, 1416 Virginia Ave.; Dixie Printing, 1418 S. Main St.; and the Wild Flower, 1932 E. 32nd St.
Stephanie says tickets will serve as maps to each pond on the tour. Proceeds will assist women’s education. For more information, call Mary at 417-483-4319.
For Mary, the return of the tour is just one more sign that Joplin is moving forward. Many of the ponds on the tour are new but two of the ponds hold a special place in Mary’s heart.
“There were destroyed in the tornado and were on opposite ends of the storm. One is on West 28th Street near where the storm began and the other is out by Flying J near the end of the storm,” she said.
Mary hopes the tour will give folks ideas for their own backyards. She also hopes it will boost morale and help folks look forward rather than backward.
I think it will.
Local News
Mike Pound: Local landscapers help tornado victims move forward
- Local News
-
-
Jasper County to start enforcing newly adopted nuisance ordinance
Jasper County has received 15 complaints based on a new nuisance ordinance adopted earlier this spring, members of the County Commission said Tuesday. John Bartosh, presiding commissioner, said he and the other commissioners reviewed the complaints during a meeting last week with workers at the Jasper County Health Department.
-
Neosho School Board votes to boost custodians’ salaries
Action taken Monday night by the Neosho Board of Education on salaries was designed partly to retain custodians. The measure approved by the board gives custodians, with a starting salary of $8.77 an hour, a 10 percent raise.
-
Mike Pound: Carthage holding parties for a good cause
When my wife told me that we were going to host a party, I had only one question: Why? My wife might be the party-hosting sort of person, but I am not. She said this party was for a good cause. She also told me that our friends Lana and Bill, Lee Ann and Rob, and Amy and Jimmy were going to help host it.
-
Proposal would reduce 20th Street to two lanes
A design proposal that would convert much of 20th Street into two lanes instead of four from Main Street to Campbell Parkway to make room for streetscape and green features did not draw much public support on Tuesday.
-
Local runners show support for Boston in cross-country relay
After completing the Boston Marathon on April 15, Ashleigh Beyersdorfer made her way through the throngs of runners to retrieve the bag she had checked in and was on her way to meet up with her family when she heard the explosions.
-
MSSU board to complete terms of president’s departure
The Board of Governors of Missouri Southern State University will meet Wednesday to complete the terms of the agreement that terminated President Bruce Speck’s contract, board Chairwoman Sherry Buchanan said.
-
State’s key witness testifies in murder trial
The fate of Dustin Boggs may ultimately depend on the credibility of Arturo Council. If jurors believe Council, then Boggs, 25, could be convicted of first-degree murder in the 2012 stabbing and shooting death of his ex-girlfriend, Danyel Borden, 21, at his trial this week in Ottawa County District Court.
-
Swimmers attempt to set world record
Even before the instructor had finished giving his direction to the class of young swimmers, 4-year-old Alexa DeBerry had dunked herself underwater and had come up giggling.
-
Missouri moves to lift ban on foreign farm owners
Weeks before a Chinese conglomerate agreed to buy Smithfield Foods Inc. in the largest such takeover of a U.S. business, Missouri lawmakers quietly approved legislation removing a ban on foreign ownership of agricultural land.
-
Neosho Board of Education approves 10 percent raise in effort to keep custodians
School custodians are receiving the biggest percentage raise among salaries approved Monday by the Neosho Board of Education.
- More Local News Headlines
-
Jasper County to start enforcing newly adopted nuisance ordinance
