Joplin Tornado Anniversary Day

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


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