It was a series of fortunate coincidences in an unfortunate time.
Donna Moss, the do-everything person in the Globe newsroom, received a call from a guy who had found some papers that he thought belonged to a victim of the May 22 tornado.
Donna sent the caller to reporter Jeff Lehr. The guy on the phone told Jeff that he found military paperwork that apparently belonged to a man named Glenn Holland. Jeff knew that Glenn and his wife, Lorie, were killed in the tornado. Jeff also knew that Glenn used to be Bill Caldwell’s brother-in-law. Bill is the Globe’s photo clerk and librarian, so Jeff put the caller in touch with Bill.
Later, Bill was telling me the story of how the missing paperwork made its way to him and how it eventually would make its way to Glenn’s family.
Bill thought it was a neat, but sad, set of coincidences. I agreed and asked Bill for the name of the guy who found the papers. Bill jotted down the guy’s name and phone number on a sheet of paper and handed it to me.
I looked at the name Bill had written on the sheet of paper and smiled.
Bill had written the name Richard Beydler. I know Richard.
Later in the day, I phoned Richard up. He told me that he and his wife had been in Arizona attending baseball great Harmon Killebrew’s funeral and got home late last Wednesday night.
On Thursday, Richard, who lives in Stotts City, found Glenn’s paperwork in his driveway.
“I picked it up,” he said. “It was a tri-fold. It was wet, so I took it in and laid it out to dry.”
The papers were Glenn’s military discharge papers. When Richard read the name on the papers, he was pretty sure the name matched one of the names on a storm fatality list he read in the Globe.
Richard checked the paper looking for an obituary that might lead him to a family contact. He then made an appeal on Facebook and finally, on Tuesday, he called the Globe.
“I thought they (the family) might need the paperwork to get a flag and military honors,” Richard said.
Turns out Richard was correct.
Jenny Smith is Glenn’s youngest sister and is acting as the executor of his estate. Jenny already had been in contact with the military folks.
“They said if we had a copy of it (the discharge papers), it would really help,” Jenny said. “At this point, any paperwork we can get our hands on will help.”
Richard insists that he didn’t do anything special. As far as he is concerned, he is just returning something that doesn’t belong to him.
But the thing is, Richard did something special. He saw a piece of paper and, rather than tossing it, he figured it might be important to someone. And it was.
It’s really an important thing to remember. Right now, there are important documents, photos and mementos scattered all over the area, and those documents, photos and mementos likely belong to someone who would love to have them back.
In some cases, found documents might help untangle what could become a bureaucratic nightmare. In other cases, a photo or memento might restore a sense of order when order seems to be far away.
Jenny and I chatted about that Tuesday afternoon. Jenny said there are likely thousands of people doing the same thing that she is doing: scrambling to find parts of a life in a pile of rubble.
“When my brother died, I didn’t know it was going to be a scavenger hunt,” Jenny said with a laugh.
By the way, Jenny laughed several times during our conversation, and when I mentioned that, Jenny said she had to laugh every once in a while.
“If you don’t laugh, you cry,” she said.
Can I get an amen for Jenny?
Tornado: Mike Pound
Mike Pound: Stotts City man finds ‘air-mail’ delivery
- Tornado: Mike Pound
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Mike Pound: Saying nice things about St. John’s folks is easy
Francis Williams called me Wednesday morning and told me she reads my column “most every day.” I then waited for her next sentence, which usually goes something like this: “And I think you are a moron.”
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Mike Pound: Joplin Habitat looking for eligible families
A quick drive on Missouri Highway 171 near the Joplin Regional Airport tells you all you need to know.
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Mike Pound: Woman’s effort snags scrubs for Joplin
It was an idea so simple and so obvious that it makes people slap their head and say “Why didn’t I think of that?”
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Mike Pound: Veterans bearing gifts coming to Joplin
Robert Marrone told me that a planned trip to Joplin by a group of veterans from California University of Pennsylvania is just another way for them to give back to the community.
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Mike Pound: Minot, N.D. needs Joplin’s support, too
I tend to go through life without thinking. Or without thinking too much. I always felt that deep thinking was for folks ... well for folks who were deep thinkers. I tend to be a shallow thinker.
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Mike Pound: Winning teams in place before the tornado struck
We don’t have many big meetings here in the newsroom. I think, in part, that’s because nobody wants to spend much time in a room full of newspaper people. That’s what I think.
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Mike Pound: Group comes together for mother, child
The women all knew each other but they didn’t know each other well. They grew up in the same town, and they graduated from the same high school, but because of their slight age differences none of them were ever close friends.
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Mike Pound: There is no stopping the St. Mary’s backers
For a woman who is raising some serious cash, Tracey Welch doesn’t like to talk much about money. In response to a question this week about how close she and the other folks raising money for St. Mary’s Catholic Elementary School were to Tracey’s $25,000 goal, she sort of dodged the question.
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Mike Pound: Mother of storm victims getting by ‘day by day’
“Are you sleeping at night?” Crystal Whitely pondered the question posed to her for a second. Then, through a tight smile, she said, “No, not really. I don’t know if I will ever sleep like I used to.”
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Mike Pound: How can we thank all those who have helped Joplin?
I sort of got a problem. It’s a nice problem, but a problem nonetheless. The problem is I can’t keep up with all of the nice things folks have been doing for Joplin. I’m not the only one having that problem.
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Mike Pound: Saying nice things about St. John’s folks is easy
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