McHenry County Blog

About six weeks after the huge tornado devastated their home town my sister sent a long email.

The last part had the most hope.

It was about the butterfly people.

I repost it on this first anniversary of the event.

This is the final installment of my sister’s email telling what happened concerning the tornado.

It really is a miracle that not more people were killed. One of Denny’s golfing buddies, age 75, had his whole house disappear and all that was left was his car in his driveway. He was thrown around in the tornado and deposited on his front yard. His wife had a sudden illness and died in Feb. Now he is wondering why God has kept him around.

I heard the story of a mother who had been trying to outrun the tornado. She stopped when she heard a voice say to pull over and get into the ditch.

She got into the ditch, covering her four year old daughter.

After the tornado passed over them, the mother asked her daughter if she was OK.

The little girl said she was and said to her mother,

“Wasn’t it pretty?”

Her mother asked her what she meant.

She replied that she saw a lot of butterfly people.

“Did you see the butterfly people in the sky? They were carrying people in the sky.”

They were going into the sky with people and there were a lot around the two of them.

Besides the butterfly story about the mother and child taking safety in a ditch, I have heard of two more.

A mother and child pulled over at a convenience store, gas station.

The door had been locked by the people taking cover inside.

When the tornado had passed, the mother marveled at how unhurt they were.

Her child said it was because there were big butterfly wings covering their car.

The final one I have heard was about a grandfather and grandson in a field.

Sixteen days after the tornado in Joplin, this cat was found.

The grandfather covered his grandson to protect him from the tornado.

Apparently the man did have some injuries, but the child did not.

The little boy told his grandfather that he saw a lot of butterflies around him.

There are so many stories about the place that people took shelter ended up being the only place remaining in their home.

One of Lissa and Brandon’s friends found their cat alive in their rubble of a house after 16 days.

We are amazed with stories of all of the miracles, heroes, as well as tragedies.

Well, that’s what we have been up to.

Love, Ellen & Denny

Today I share with you a fund raising project of the St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Joplin, Missouri, where my brother-in-law attends church.

The Knights of Columbus Council (14,096) are selling magnets with these photos.   Here’s the web site.

Since it is a storm weekend, the message seems appropriate.

The cross is pretty much all that was left of St. Mary’s.

And, in case you haven’t read about the butterfly people seen by young children carrying people in the sky, you can read my sister’s account here.

Yesterday, before a tornado devastating Harrisburg in Southern Illinois, the McHenry County Emergency Management Agency released this press release:

Local, State Emergency Management Officials Launch Weather Alert Radio Contest

March is Severe Weather Preparedness Month in Illinois

McHENRY COUNTY, IL- Local and state emergency management officials today launched a statewide contest aimed at increasing awareness and use of weather alert radios.

The Illinois Emergency Services Management Association (IESMA) and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) are sponsoring the “Weather Alert Radios Save Lives” contest, in which participants will complete an on-line quiz for a chance to win a weather alert radio.

The contest will be highlighted throughout March, which is Severe Weather Preparedness Month in Illinois.

“2011 was one of the worst years for tornado deaths in the U.S. in the past 60 years,” said IEMA Director Jonathon Monken.

“Fortunately, Illinois didn’t experience these terrible storms, but we never know when or where the next deadly storm could strike.

“Weather alert radios are a key tool for alerting people to approaching danger, day or night, and every home should have one.”

The contest is available on the Ready Illinois website (www.Ready.Illinois.gov), the IESMA website (www.iesma.org) and on many county and municipal emergency management agency websites.

“A total of 100 weather alert radios will be awarded to participants who register after reading information about the radios and successfully completing a five-question quiz. The contest runs from Feb. 28 through March 31.

“Winners will be announced in April.

“Through this contest, we hope to make people in Illinois more aware of the importance of weather alert radios as part of their personal preparedness kit,” said IESMA President Chuck Genesio.

“Much like a smoke alarm or carbon monoxide detector alerts people to those dangers, weather alert radios warn people of hazards outside the home so they have time to seek shelter or take other actions to stay safe.”

IESMA purchased the weather alert radios in 2010 and 2011 as part of a program to increase emergency preparedness in local schools, hospitals, nursing homes, extended care facilities and government buildings throughout Illinois.

Nearly 7,300 weather alert radios were distributed for placement in these facilities through the program, which was funded with $172,420 in federal homeland security grant funds allocated by the Illinois Terrorism Task Force. The 100 radios distributed as part of the “Weather Alert Radios Save Lives” contest will help Illinois residents better prepare for emergencies.

The National Weather Service (NWS) and state and local emergency management officials strongly encourage people to have

• a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Weather Radio All Hazards with battery backup,
• a tone-alert feature and Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) technology, which allows the radio to be programmed to receive alerts for specified counties.

When an alert is issued for that area, the device will sound a warning alarm tone followed by the broadcast message.

Besides weather information, the NWS also broadcasts warnings and post-event information for all types of hazards, including natural, environmental and public safety hazards, such as earthquakes, chemical spills and AMBER alerts.

“Tornadoes do not just occur during the day,” said Chris Miller, warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Lincoln.  [Harrisburg's blew in at 1:28 AM.]

“In Illinois, 30% of all tornadoes occur at night when it can be difficult to hear outdoor warning sirens from inside your home, especially if you are asleep.

“The best way to be warned about tornadoes at night is to have a weather alert radio in your home.

“It is like having your own personal storm siren.”

IEMA and the NWS developed a Severe Weather Preparedness Guide, which provides information about tornadoes, severe storms, lightning and flooding and recommended actions to take before, during and after each of these weather events.

The guide also includes definitions of important weather terms, including watches, warnings and advisories and a list of items needed for a family emergency supply kit. The guide is available on the Ready Illinois website at www.Ready.Illinois.gov or by calling 217-785-9925.

My brother-in-law Denny Desmond, 1966 graduate of Crystal Lake Central High School, married my sister Ellen, Class of 1970. They moved to Joplin, Missouri in the early 1990′s.

The self-effacing guy ended up on the village board of a suburb of Joplin called Leawood (population 950).

Then, he became Chairman of its all volunteer Board of Trustees.

His CPA talents uncovered corruption on the part of the village’s treasurer.

Mercifully, my relatives’ home, which we call the “Hotel Desmond,” was untouched by the tornado, which stayed north of Interstate 44 in that area.

The destroyed hospital, St. John’s, was located just north and within sight of the untouched Freeman Hospital.

St. John’s made the logical decision that it should rebuild far enough away from Freeman so a future tornado would not take out the two hospitals at once…as May’s tornado most certainly could have done. (It was a mile wide and about 6-7 miles long. In contrast the first atomic bomb dropped in Japan had a blast diameter of about 6,000 feet.)  St. John’s was on the southern edge of the tornado.

The 100-acre site selected by St. John’s borders the residential village that Denny heads.

This is the final installment of my sister’s email telling what happened concerning the tornado.

It really is a miracle that not more people were killed. One of Denny’s golfing buddies, age 75, had his whole house disappear and all that was left was his car in his driveway. He was thrown around in the tornado and deposited on his front yard. His wife had a sudden illness and died in Feb. Now he is wondering why God has kept him around.

I heard the story of a mother who had been trying to outrun the tornado. She stopped when she heard a voice say to pull over and get into the ditch.

She got into the ditch, covering her four year old daughter.

After the tornado passed over them, the mother asked her daughter if she was OK.

The little girl said she was and said to her mother,

“Wasn’t it pretty?”

Her mother asked her what she meant.

She replied that she saw a lot of butterfly people.

“Did you see the butterfly people in the sky?  They were carrying people in the sky.”

They were going into the sky with people and there were a lot around the two of them.

Besides the butterfly story about the mother and child taking safety in a ditch, I have heard of two more.

A mother and child pulled over at a convenience store, gas station.

The door had been locked by the people taking cover inside.

When the tornado had passed, the mother marveled at how unhurt they were.

Her child said it was because there were big butterfly wings covering their car.

The final one I have heard was about a grandfather and grandson in a field.

The grandfather covered his grandson to protect him from the tornado.

Apparently the man did have some injuries, but the child did not.

The little boy told his grandfather that he saw a lot of butterflies around him.

There are so many stories about the place that people took shelter ended up being the only place remaining in their home.

Sixteen days after the tornado in Joplin, this cat was found.

One of Lissa and Brandon’s friends found their cat alive in their rubble of a house after 16 days.

We are amazed with stories of all of the miracles, heroes, as well as tragedies.

Well, that’s what we have been up to.

Love, Ellen & Denny

My sister’s letter on what happened in Joplin since the tornado struck continues below.

Even Pres. Obama came and gave a very nice speech.

That was during a memorial, which was televised.

The interesting thing there was that there were three clergy present, Lissa’s, Denny’s and mine. Of course, mine gave the sermon part of it and they all did a great job.

Last Sunday, he was bragging, in a fun way, about meeting Obama. That same day, truckers blocked the Westboro Baptist Church (really, a church?) from entering Joplin.

Driving down our main road today, I found myself not paying enough attention to my driving, and couldn’t help but look at our changed landscape. I try to remember what was in each spot, but cannot.

What remains of the Olympic Fitness Center in Joplin.

We have over 4000 of 7000+ students that are without a school.

85 families in my church had their homes damaged. 18,000 cars were damaged or destroyed.

8000 buildings and residences (counting every apartment) were damaged. I don’t even know how many churches were destroyed.

Our electric company now has 10 – 15% fewer customers.

153 people died.

The hospital has treated 1700 patients.

Now we have some deadly fungus affecting people with wounds from the tornado.

I now have our GPS in my car. It is really hard to tell where you are sometimes, with the landmarks all gone.

One of the things that I marvel about is the flags that are all over town. I still have a small one in my back window that I got out of a newspaper after 9/11.

Actually, that is the feeling everyone has at this moment in Joplin.

We have banded together to help each other.

Joplin High School looks like a tear down at this point, but someone put duct tape on the sign out front so it reads "HOPE HIGH SCHOOL."

Our high school is a total loss. The brick sign in front used to say JOPLIN High School. Now it says OP High School.

That is, until some ingenious person, put duct tape letters to make it read HOPE High School. I think it should keep that name.

Kelly is getting married here on July 9. Fortunately none of the wedding venues have been damaged.

Parts of Joplin look something like Hiroshima after the atom bomb was dropped.

She emailed the photographer about our contract and learned that she had lost her home, but still had her car and her camera. I guess we will be a tourist attraction, in addition to the wedding.

So we count our blessings everyday and try to find a way to help those who were not as fortunate.

One more post. Tomorrow the “butterfly people.”

This post is a continuation of my sister Ellen’s email about what happened as a result of the tornado that devastated much of Joplin.

The hospital that was destroyed has mobile units set up and is back in business. They have room for about 35 patients and have started doing surgeries.

The hospital just reported that they were keeping all of their employees and continuing to pay them.

[For an excellent article on what happened at St. John's, read this Sunday Kansas City Star article.]

Our schools sustained over 150 million dollars damage.

Fortunately our school district has insurance that has a $5000 deductible per event.

A fence how surrounds the destroyed Joplin High School.

Next year 11th and 12th grades will go to school in a former Venture store in the mall.Home Depot has a large tent up and is selling outdoor stuff such as building supplies.

How long is the right amount time to not do your regular routine?

Denny didn’t golf for almost two weeks. The country club canceled their 100 year celebration.

Joplin postponed our annual “Boomtown Days” (I know, classy name, huh?).

Our tennis facility is not having their annual professional tennis tournament.

Since the tornado, we have received more love from others than you could imagine.

Several of the big schools in MO, have sent their football teams to help. The KC Royals (a few of the retired ones) served us lunch (along with our grandkids) at Sam’s Club the other day.

Denny said the Cardinals stopped by the boys free baseball clinic today.

Three Louisiana chefs brought seafood and a fiddler. The chefs called themselves "The Taste Buds." "Three Chefs - One Mission" was also on their tee shirts.

Last night we went to a park where three chefs from New Orleans had come here to cook for us. They even brought a fiddle player and band on stage for our entertainment.

The Oklahoma casino so close to Joplin that it has Joplin water and sewer.

The Casino had a benefit concert for Joplin last weekend.

Some of the kids on the south end of town had their baseball equipment destroyed. Some organization donated 250 bats, helmets, shoes and gloves to the kids.

One boy, in the grandkid’s game tonight, broke his glove, and son-in-law Brandon, gave him a new one.

A young girl is knitting elephants for children in Joplin.

I saw in the news today that Brad and Angelina are donating $500,000 to Joplin. Pitt grew up in Springfield, MO which is about an hour away.

Home Depot, Walmart, and our local roofing company, TAMCO, are a few companies that have each donated 1 million dollars. I wonder where all of this money is going.

The governor has been here several times.

Two more days of stories in this series.

This is the third installment of my Joplin sister’s letter about the tornado that hit just north of her family’s home.

For almost two weeks a group of radio stations that one person owns (such as country, talk, lite rock) had tornado talk 24 hours a day.It was pretty addicting, listening to them and hearing the callers looking for friends and family or just information.

Then, someone else would call in to say they had seen that person, or could give someone a ride, or help them out with a place to stay, or even give a stranger a water tank.

A house standing, but severely damaged.

Several friends had most or all of their homes destroyed.

One couple had been hiding in their bedroom closet when the roof blew off of that and their bedroom. Their curio cabinet, filled with Lladros, and their china cabinet were untouched. Denny and I helped pack their breakables up and brought them to our house. I have told her she is not getting them back!

This Joplin home is definitely a teardown.

The tornado didn’t discriminate, as it also went through one area with very expensive homes (as well as others with more modest homes).

A destroyed dentist's office in Joplin.

23 dentists had their offices destroyed, including our neighbor, one of our best friends, and a member of Denny’s golfing group.Our dentist is using another dentist’s office one day a week. Then he will be renting a former Movie Gallery until he figures out whether to rebuild or not. He had just built a top of the line, gorgeous office, which was pretty much destroyed.

He was in the process of replacing a crown for me the week before the tornado hit. I have a temporary crown which I dislodged eating a gummy Dot.

I happened to see Pat (our dentist) golfing yesterday.

So I said how sorry I was about his office and, by the way, I broke my temporary crown.

I was lucky enough to get it replaced today.

That’s how it is, living in a relatively small town.

Of the twelve ladies in our Bunco group, 4 lost their homes and one more had 11 of their 18 rentals damaged.

The skeleton of St. Paul's Methodist Church.

One day at Catholic Charities, I was helping a group of college girls pack their SUV with lunches to take into neighborhoods. I asked if they had a place to stay that night, and they said their were heading home. The night before they gotten to stay at our very nice casino in a convention room.

So, I went back into the Catholic High school and offered to house volunteers.

I was thinking of a group of cute girls or boys, but instead got a middle aged man from Indiana.

He turned out to be a great guest. He helped out at two different charities and got to clear some yards and was totally worn out, but fulfilled. He said he’d like to bring his wife back in a couple of months.

More in this series over the next three days.

This is the second part of a letter from my sister, who lives in Joplin, less than a mile south of the edge of the monster tornado. Yesterday, she told of what happened to her family the day the storm did such damage to the southwestern Missouri city.

Today, she shares thoughts of those who did not suffer damage.

I sit in my home and feel like nothing has happened. We still have all of our trees, everything.

Our minister said we should not feel guilty about being spared. We should feel remorseful.

We are now having our church services at a religious college in town, since our sanctuary was blown away. The seats are more comfortable there.

St. Mary's Catholic Church, where my brother-in-law was counting donations before the tornado struck.

Denny goes to the other Catholic church until his church is rebuilt. 

The subsequent services at our churches were very emotional and well done.

Denny’s priest told him that Denny’s two-man team was the last one to count the Sunday collections at St. Mary’s and that someone had turned in the the bank deposit bag that was to be deposited on the 23rd.

Someone also returned Father’s wallet.

Also, the Catholic Bishop relayed the Pope’s well wishes.

I have gone to a couple of places to volunteer.

The University of Arkansas football team helped out at Catholic Charities.

I liked the Catholic Charities so far, but am wondering what volunteers will do after the beginning rush.

Clothes galore at Joplin's Catholic Charities.

A lot of donation centers have stopped taking donations.

We have mountains of water and apparently don’t need anymore diapers.

I helped a woman gather clothes and food one day and she was moving into a house where the water line was broken and she was just happy to have a place to stay.

I’ve gotten a free tetanus shot, Denny has not.

Denny did come home with a case of water last week and said the place practically made him take it.

Trees stiped of their leaves are reminders of Joplin's shady streets.

I think a lot of the actual survivors aren’t taking anything because they feel someone else may need it more.

Daughter Heather drove from Tulsa for a few days last week.

She drove around to see the damage, but did not want to take her kids to see it. (She can drive from her house to mine without seeing anything the tornado has done.)

I’m not sure how Lissa’s kids feel about it, but they have no choice but to see it. I just talked to Lissa and she did not think her kids were traumatized. Time will tell.

Keaton told me one of her friends gets nervous when she sees a cloud.

I know people who, on purpose, drive out of their way to avoid the devastated area. That is not an easy task, since it tore a mile wide path through the middle of town.

I have taken a lot of pictures and have copied some from the internet. I’m in the process of making one of my books about the tornado.

More installments the next four days.

What follows is the first part of a long note from my sister, who lives in Joplin. Mercifully, her family lives in Leawood, about a quarter of a mile south of the Interstate on which I saw a photo of overturned trucks. I have written previously about my niece’s brother-in-law’s experience in the AT&T Store across the main shopping street (Rangeline). The store was demolished and one of his co-workers was killed by the tornado.

If you are interested in what the eyes of a child saw during the tornado, my sister tells of a four-year old who saw “butterfly people.” You’ll have to hang in until the final installment, though, because that’s where she put it.

Hi All,

I have been thinking a lot about what we have been going through lately and I know you have been concerned about us. You don’t know how much that means to us.

During the 1965 tornado in Crystal Lake, I was in the Methodist Church being confirmed.

A friend of mine did not show up, so we went to her house afterwards. Their garage had blown into the house across the street. Their house had shifted slightly, but enough that they had to totally rebuild. I think 12 people died that day.

On May 22, Denny & I had taken our 10 year old granddaughter, Keaton, golfing in preparation for junior golf at the country club.

Tornado damage to the strip mall where Orange Leaf Yogurt is located in Joplin.

On our way home, she wanted to try out the new yogurt place, so of course, we stopped there.

We knew a storm was on the way, but we were not overly concerned. We went across town on 20th street.

Little did we know that 45 minutes later that street would never look the same.

Also several stores in the same strip mall as the yogurt shop were demolished. The yogurt shop has reopened.

The tornado alarm sounded right after we got back into the car.

Daughter Lissa was meeting us at our house to help with our youngest daughter Kelly’s wedding invites.

Then son-in-law Brandon joined us with grandsons, Fielding & Hobbs and their cousins, Maggie and Carson. They had been at a ball field practicing.

We were all in our basement watching TV about the storm.

Maggie gets very nervous during storms and ended up throwing up on our carpet. (It’s old and not a big deal.)

Then our electricity went out, and we think that’s probably when the tornado hit Joplin.

At that point, I was running up and down the stairs, looking for radios and batteries. (I’m good to go now.)

When we started to hear about damage, I began occupying the kids with stories about how I sunk my dad’s motorboat when I was a kid.

Then Denny would walk by and whisper, “Home Depot is gone.”

On the Joplin High School sign, the "J" has been replaced by an a duct taped "H" and"IN" with an "E." Nearby tree trunks have been carved into eagles, the team mascot.

A few minutes later, he would whisper, “The high school is gone.”

After the rain stopped, Denny took the kids to a neighbor’s yard, where the water rushes through a ditch. The kids like to play there after storms and they came home all wet.

Lissa was able to post on Facebook that we had not been in the tornado’s path and we were safe.

[And I was snapping photos off the TV and emailing them to Lissa.]

The AT&T Store in Joplin.

Brandon became very concerned about his brother, David, who was working at an AT&T cell phone store across from Walmart, which was also destroyed.

He was about ready to go look for him, when he heard that David was OK. It had taken him an hour and a half to get out from the rubble. One co-worker died that day.

More installments for the next five days.