Happy News

It is time for some happy news on this blog. This weekend was to be a delightful time with friends visitng, the annual art fair, tea, and other such happy surprises. Those things still happened, but all of Kansas is grieving with the people of Greensburg, knowing that it could be any other town at any time.

But, I decided to post some happy news nonetheless.

Saturday was the annual art fair in Hutchinson, They are in their 43rd year. I got to see a number of friends who were exhibiting - Jocelyn, Jeanette and Pat were all there. Greg's girlfriend, Mia, came from Joplin to do the show. I also ran into a number of people I know who were shopping. However, I didn't go until the afternoon - after Mark and I made a run to Roy's - and officials closed it down because they expected bad weather.

Mia was selling her jewelry - she does beautiful pieces and this is one of her latest. I am honored to have a bracelet she made for me and I get compliements on it every time I wear it. This blue slag glass is something Diana and I picked up in Arkansas and this looks so pretty on it that I loaned it to Mia for future shows.



This afternoon Mia and I went to tea. It was supposed to be us and Greg, but unbeknowst to us it was for "women and girls" and they were serious about it. I found out about it from a very nice lady who goes to the teas I do for the MHA. She graciously got tickets for us. It was so very kind of her.

Kim Setty, the Channel 12 noon anchor, spoke and did a wonderful presentation. Considering she had been called into work about 1:30 a.m. on Saturday because of the storms, and had worked until midnight, she was looking and sounding very good.

It was more of a "program" than it was a "tea," but it was pleasant and I greatly appreciated Juanita getting tickets for us although I felt bad Greg didn't get to stay. That was just a communication difficulty.

They had some girls from the church do a maypole and that was fun.



And, finally, in other good news... I've mentioned my great nephew, BC, on the blog before. Saturday night was his junior prom. Mary Ann sent me some photos today and I thought I'd share. His girlfriend, Kaitlyn, is a real sweetheart. They go to different high schools and next weekend is her prom so they get to get all dressed up again. Maybe I'll get more photos to share.

A Family Story From Greensburg

This evening I had an email from Stan Lewis of Marion, Indiana. He was hunting for information about family that was in the Greensburg, Kansas, tornado and found my blog.

I asked his permission to share his email here and he graciously agreed and even sent along a photo. I think it makes the story personal, and gives a different perspective than what traditional media is providing.

Stan says, The photo is of me and my wife, Carolyn, Dad and his wife, Forrest Lee. We were celebrating dad's 99th birthday the weekend of Feburary 25, 2007 in the Best Western J Hawk motel in Greensburg which is rubble now. Forrest Lee is a classy lady and few people think dad looks to be in his 100th year.
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Hi Patsy, I came across your blog when I was searching for my dad and step mom who were in the Carriage House in Greensburg. Please forgive me that this is so long, but I thought there might be some interest. I and/or my family have a lot of history in Greensburg, Mullinville, Minneola, and Hutchinson.

I was born July 19, 1939 in Mullinville. My parents were Quakers, so I was a birth rite Quaker. When a year old my family moved to Minneola. There was no Friends church so we attended the Methodist church. My dad was a farmer and we fed steers during the winter.  I attended Southwestern College for a year after I graduated from Minneola H.S. in 1957, 50 years ago May 17. I went to Asbury College for the rest of my college years and to Asbury Seminary both in Wilmore, KY. I married a Hoosier, who attended Taylor University.

We felt God wanted us to be missionaries, but after I got my seminary degree we moved to Hutchinson, Kansas to have pastoral experience. I graduated from seminary, was ordained, and married all within eleven days in late May and early June 1964.

I was assigned to the Hadley Memorial Methodist Church in the south part of Hutchinson. It was literally a church across the tracks. We were there two years. The church closed a few years later. It is on F street as I recall. I usually go by when I go through Hutchinson which isn't very often.

I loved Hutchinson, the friendly people, the kind people. Elmo and Alma Pierson were in our church. He's been gone a long time. We stopped to see her on our last visit. They were always kind to us. I was interested in Christian literature so worked for the Wesleyan Publishing House here in Marion, Indiana until the end of 1968.

We than went to Burundi, Africa as missionaries in August 1968 with World Gospel Mission, headquartered here in Marion, Indiana. We served in Africa for 13 years and for 24 years I worked in the home office of the mission here in Marion. In January 2005 I retired from World Gospel Mission.

Just two years ago, 5-05-05 (May 5, 2005) I was asked to return to the mission and work part time. It was what I had done my last two years before retirement. I work about 20 hours a week. I love it, can set my own schedule and the missionaries appreciate what I do. It was October 1981 we returned to the states to live. 

My mother got a brain tumor and was in Wesley Hospital in Wichita. The doctors told dad they opened her up but the tumor was too big and too far inside, they just sewed her up. A few days later I rode with mom in the back of the ambulance to Dodge City which was just 20 miles from Minneola where Dad lived. She couldn't communicate. She died in September 1983 several weeks later, just a month shy of their 50th wedding anniversary. Instead of celebrating 50 wedded years in her new dress she'd bought she was buried in it to celebrate forever in heaven with Jesus Himself.

Dad knew Forrest Lee Einsel and got to know her better. She lived in a big farm house just southwest of the town of Greensburg. It is separated from the town maybe by one half mile or so.

In July 1985, I was honored when I married my dad to Forrest Lee (she goes by both names) in that big house.

Regarding Forrest Lee, was married to Charlie Einsel before she married dad. Charlie was 63 and she was 23 when they married. That's like getting married to your granddaughter. After being married for 30 years he was up on a roof and fell off as I recall and died. What was a 93 year old doing up there? Several years later she met and married dad. He's 15 years older and they have been married almost 22 years. She really does like older men. :)

A year or so after Dad and Forrest Lee married, Dad had a farm sale in Minneola. I have two brothers and we all helped him with it. Dad always loved the farm and wide open spaces. He loved Greensburg and was active in the Methodist church in Greensburg and some community efforts until his health prevented it and his age. Eventually Forrest Lee moved to the Carriage House in Greensburg. She wanted Dad to go too. But he couldn't live in a small room. He liked the wide open spaces.

Greensburg is almost like a second home to me. For longer than I can remember we had family reunions at the world’s largest hand dug well. And I’ve had different relatives who have lived there during the last 50 or more years. It was  very  interesting  to me when my dad moved to Greensburg with his new bride in July 1985. His sister and her family had lived in Greensburg, my aunt had lived there and my grandma and great grandma.

As you wrote about in your blog. Greensburg is now multiple piles of rubble.  I was glued to the TV all day Saturday with unbelief in seeing what I was seeing.

The end of February my two brothers and some of their families and my wife and I were in Greensburg at the motel that was on the west side and north side of Greensburg, across from the John Deere place as I recall. We were celebrating Dad's 99th birthday.

Two weeks ago dad  finally moved to the Carriage House nursing home in Greensburg . Last Friday night as the tornado did its damage in just a few minutes hardly anyone in the nursing home knew anything had happened.

Dad and another man did not go to the basement. They stayed on the main floor in their rooms I guess. Dad is hard of hearing, never knew what happened when it did. Forrest Lee was in the basement, the people there didn't hear either.

The Carriage House is only one of a few places that  still stands after the storm with only a missing roof and some broken windows.   As you know, the schools, the churches, the city hall, the bank, the John Deere dealer, the motels, they  are gone. But still all of the residents needed to be evacuated to a safer place.  

Originally dad and Forrest Lee were going to Mullinville to stay with her niece. But when she came to get them the authorities wouldn't let her in to get them (Isn't this interesting, they were being evacuated but she couldn't get them maybe she didn't look official enough).  

Searching the internet and making calls, finally last evening (Saturday) I found that dad and mom had been moved to Augusta, Kansas  to the Lake Point Carriage House. Five others from Greensburg are also there. They don't have phones in their rooms, but the workers go find them so we can talk. Isn't this great? So early this afternoon I talked to Dad and  we  had a friend from Wichita who went out to visit them this morning. They had left Greensburg with the minimum of things needed. He was able to get some things for them.

Physically they appear great, Praise the Lord. Emotionally it has been a traumatic event.  It's interesting they only have a bed in their rooms, not even a chair. They each have a room. Forrest Lee didn't even have a change of clothes. My friend went and got her two sets of clothes. He is a great friend and is going to see them again tomorrow and plans to go to Greensburg to get their clothes and personal things if he can get permission. 

They have no idea what the future holds, but as we’ve often heard or said, we know who holds the future. I know they would appreciate your prayers on their behalf. It is not easy for a 99 year old and an 84 year old couple whose lives have been so turned upside down in just moments of time and they are moved into a new community where they know almost no one.

I am so glad we can share our burdens as well as our joys with a great family of fellow believers.

Tornado in Hutchinson Kansas

I am now officially tried of blog posts that include the word "tornado" in the title. But, today was our turn. We had a tornado touch down today in Hutchinson, Kansas, where I live.You know it's not good news when the weather channel has a note up about "Reno County Kansas" and it's where you live.

Let me start by saying that I am fine - and everyone I know is fine - and our houses are all fine. The tornado touched down at Centennial and Fourth Street, which is on the extreme western side of town.

We've had weather coverage on most of the day because there have been tons of storms all around the area. This afternoon we were watching the TV when the sirens started going off. Now, sirens generally mean you should take cover. But we were watching TV and they were telling us that the tornado was to the west of Hutchinson.

I looked over and realized how absurd the scene was - Mark was enjoying a cup of tea and we were chatting normally, while the tornado sirens went off in the background. Let me say, for the record, that I do take these things seriously, but as we all know, forecasters are a bit overzealous on a regular basis.

I now call it the Katrina Effect - if you tell people repeatedly that this is going to be the "storm of the century" but the last 87 times they left their homes nothing happened except they had everything stolen, they start to ignore you.

It's why the weather service has now come up with a "Tornado Emergency" designation, which is what they issued the other night when the Greensburg tornado happened. Today was a prime example - the sirens were going off although there was not a tornado. People become desensitized. I'm not even a Kansan and I've become desensitized in the years I've lived here. All of my neighbors were out on their porches, just like we were.

This is what Kansans do until they have some inkling that it's serious...



I keep bottled water and a few basic supplies in the basement, as well as some tennis shoes, and a radio/flashlight you can crank for power, but that's about it. However, when there is a threat of bad weather, I make a pile by the basement door to take downstairs with me if it becomes necessary - my purse with phone and car keys, the laptop and external hard drive.



Of course there are other things that are precious to me, but you can't haul your whole life to the basement. I've lived in Kansas for 22 years and I've gone to the basement less than a half dozen times. Statistically, there's a far greater chance to being hurt driving a car than in a tornado. Of course, situations like Greensburg are horrific, and they do happen, but they are rare.

Today, with sirens going, we went outside to see if anything was visible. It was just a stormy sky to the west, where the tornado eventually did touch down.



Just a few minutes later it looked like this...



You could see the swirling in the clouds - not from rotation as you find in a tornado, but just because they were moving quickly.



Shortly afterward came the rain... lots of rain...



In only a few minutes - maybe 10 minutes - there was street flooding and the rain was over.



It's raining again now, and we've had a little bit of hail, but Hutchinson has fared better than many towns today. There is serious flooding in many areas of the state.

Mia headed back to Joplin and Mark headed back to Kansas City. Hopefully neither of them have run in to too much bad weather on their way home.

I called my friend, Leah, tonight, because she has family in Osborne, Kansas, where a tornado hit yesterday. I wanted to make sure everyone was OK and she told me a story about her 81 year old grandmother that summed up the average Kansan attitude.

This is the basic conversation between Leah's mom, Jennifer, and Leah's grandmother:

Jennifer: Are you OK?

Gran: Oh yeah... I just took my cheesecake downstairs and sat on the steps and ate it while the sirens were going off.

Jennifer: What else did you take besides the pan of cheesecake?

Gran: Nothing.

Jennifer: Mom, didn't you want to take pictures of your children or grandchildren?

Gran: Oh no, I've already seen them. I just made that cheesecake yesterday.

Hutchinson Tornado

Hutchinson, Kansas, where I live, (Reno County) had a tornado today. I appreciate the phone calls from people wanting to know if I'm OK - I am, and so is everyone I know. It was minor. I will post more info but wanted to let everyone know I'm fine, my house is fine, everyone I know is fine. I will post more later.

Greensburg Kansas Tornado Part 5

Requests for information on the Greensburg Kansas tornado have slowed down, but are continuing. I will share what else I've learned since my last post. I am just trying to summarize what I'm learning from media outlets.

The tornado that hit Greensburg last night was more than a mile wide at times. It covered 26 miles, from south of Greensburg to Holyrood. (That's pronounced "holly-rude" - like the Christmas plant and people who are not nice.) Nine are confirmed dead and dozens injured. Most injuries reported by the Pratt hospital where the majority of the injured were taken were mostly lacerations, bruises and things of that nature - ranging from mild to severe.

Search and rescue was called off for the night late this afternoon. Officials have made multiple searches to look for people, but simply have to rest. Many of the people there arrived in the wee hours of the morning when the tornado hit and have been onsite for many hours. News reporters are saying there are still rescue vehicles with search lights heading into Greensburg, so obviously some work is continuing, although search will officially resume at 8 a.m.

Greensburg was evacuated last night and one of the problems has been that many people are staying with family or friends and there's no record of where they are. Officials are trying to account for everyone. Some residents have written "OK" on the side of their houses to let people know they're safe.

Power is still off and will remain off for the near future. The water tower is down, so in order to live there again some serious changes will have to be made. Town officials are concerned about the future of the town, given the extent of the damage. But historically, towns rebuild after such things. It's just a bit overwhelming initially.

I've heard estimates as high as 95% but the National Guard is saying 90% of the town is gone. Still standing are a grain elevator and the courthouse. The building near The Big Well, Greensburg's tourist attraction, was destroyed. Because the well itself is mostly underground I'm assuming it is fine.

There is a curfew of 8-8 in effect. Officials are worried about looting and will arrest anyone in Greensburg when the curfew is in effect. The media was given an opportunity to tour the damage late this afternoon and were told that would be their last chance for the day.

Many survivors are at the Red Cross Shelter in Haviland, about 10 miles away from Greensburg. One survivor there said in an interview, "Our souls are broke, but we are still here, we're alive, and I thank God for that."

Shelters include:
Barclay College
Mullinville High School
Haviland High School

Lakewood Senior Center in Wichita has 22 beds available for people who have been displaced by the Greensburg tornado. Call 316-722-6916 for more information on that.

Greensburg was the most severely hit, but there was other damage last night including two houses destroyed in Macksville and some trees down in Ellinwood.

President Bush has declared Kiowa county (where Greensburg is) a disaster area. FEMA is scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning. Governor Sebelius will tour the area tomorrow. Rep. Moran, Sen. Tiahart and Sen. Roberts were all there today.

The Greensburg tornado is being compared to the May 25, 1955 tornado that hit Udall, Kansas and killed 87 while destroying the town, much as this one destroyed Greensburg. The death toll in Udall amounted to about 20% of the population - about half the families lost one or more members. Fortunately, Greensburg had 30 minutes to prepare whereas Udall had no warning. That warning makes all the difference in the death toll. The Udall tornado inspired some changes in how people are warned of impending weather.

I've heard conflicting reports all day long of the population in Greensburg. So, I looked up the census data. In 2000, the population was 1,574, with 887 housing units. Of course, that doesn't tell us the current population, but I've heard everything from 1400 to 1800.

Today 11 counties in Kansas have had tornadoes, including some of the same areas that were affected last night. Storms are continuing as I write this.

Greensburg Kansas Tornado Part 4

One of the buildings lost in the Greensburg Kansas tornado was Hunter Drug, which included an old fashioned soda fountain. My friend, Greg Holmes, visited there a few months ago and took some wonderful photos of the soda fountain. He has allowed me to share them here. This one was his last look as he left on that February day.



For more photos, check http://www.thelope.com. He will be adding photos to his post Remembering Greensburg. He is an exceptional photographer and I can guarantee you it will be an amazing look at what once was - just 24 hours ago.

Greensburg Kansas Tornado Part 3

I've had more emails from people who found this blog and are wanting more information about the Greensburg Kansas tornado. I will continue to provide updates here for those who are having a hard time getting information from other sources. I'm not sure why the media outlets are not offering info online but I will try to summarize what I'm learning from local/state media for those of you who don't have access to that information. These posts are being written very stream of consciousness as I learn information so forgive any typos and poor grammar.

News outlets are reporting that 95% of Greensburg, Kansas has been destroyed. However, injury and death reports have not risen significantly today. Officials are searching the city grid by grid again, looking for anyone who might be trapped. They have done it twice already, but are doing it again, just to make sure. As you might imagine, the amount of debris is significant and they do not want to miss anyone. Once they complete this, they are pulling back to rest because more storms are on the horizon.

Nine deaths are now confirmed from this tornado, and one more has been reported in Hopewell but that has not been confirmed - the report is that a man was killed while taking shelter with his wife. His wife was injured.

The storms that are currently happening - right now - have NOT produced any tornadoes as of yet. The threat is there, but frankly the threat is often present in Kansas this time of year. It appears the current storm is going to miss Greensburg, although it will come close. There is hail, but nothing more serious than that yet.

Five patients from Greensburg have been taken to Wichita hospitals, others are in Pratt. The people who were in the Greensburg hospital last night were all evacuated and none were injured in the tornado.

I've had questions about the World's Largest Hand Dug well and am just now seeing the first video of it. The water tower there, as well as the shed covering it that you go down has been destroyed. Of course the well is not harmed.

A little girl - I'd guess about 5 - in Greensburg - is being interviewed now saying, "our house is in little pieces." She's part of a family that was interviewed. She said, "My mommy pulled me out of the clouds."

Death Tolls:
1 in Stafford County
8 in Kiowa County (where Greensburg is located)
1 possible in Hopewell

There is a curfew in Greensburg - 8 to 8.

If you're trying to reach family, understand there is no power of any sort. Electricity has been shut down because if you turn it back on you generally have fires to deal with. Officials are keeping it off. ATT is working to get landlines working at the command center, but there are no landlines and no cell towers left. I posted a phone number in the post below you can call about loved ones. Media are saying most people have left Greensburg now.

Also, check the comments section in the following post to find maps Walt created that show the direction and give perspective.

I will provide more updates as I have more.