A storm story from N of Kansas City
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 8:44 am
This was from the Kansas City Star...posted today on the website.
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Posted on Tue, Jun. 01, 2004
Anguish follows twister's fury
Neighbors share grief over lives lost
By MIKE SHERRY and JEFFREY SPIVAK The Kansas City Star
DAVIESS COUNTY, Mo. — John Stith and his family members raced for an old root cellar as a ferocious twister bore down on their home late Saturday.
They did not make it, even though the shelter was just 10 feet out their back door.
The tornado obliterated their Daviess County home, about 70 miles northeast of downtown Kansas City, leaving Stith's wife, Patricia Stith, and her mother, Mary Riley, dead.
Also killed by the twister was Clifford “Pete” Bethards, who lived just south of the Stiths on the gravel road running between Daviess and DeKalb counties.
Bethards, 49, a prison worker and small businessman, died protecting his granddaughters, according to Daviess County Sheriff Kevin Heldenbrand. As the tornado came, he huddled with the girls in a corner of his modular home, then held them to his chest as the house blew off its foundation and tumbled across the street.
“He probably hung on to them until he was killed,” the sheriff said.
Down the road, Stith and his daughter, Christina Sharp, lay injured in the dark, calling out to see where everyone was, while debris continued to fall around them from the twister.
Stith was in stable condition at North Kansas City Hospital Monday afternoon, according to the Daviess and DeKalb county sheriff's offices. His daughter was in fair condition at Cameron Regional Medical Center.
Sharp's two children — Derrick, 7, and Casey, 5, — were also thrown from the house. The sheriff's offices said the children were in serious condition at Children's Mercy Hospital.
Meanwhile, the law enforcement officials said the other occupants of Bethards' home were being treated at area hospitals.
Among them were 10-week-old Adriana, who was listed in serious condition, and 3-year-old Autumn, who was listed in fair condition. The two were at Children's Mercy, according to the sheriff's offices.
Up the road from Bethards, Stith and his daughter had picked up the two children in that house as they were rushing for the root cellar, Heldenbrand said. The four were found 80 yards from the house.
The two women who were killed — Patricia Stith, 60, and Riley, 79 — were thrown about half as far as the other occupants.
The deadly tornado was a quarter-mile wide with winds of up to 260 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
It was one of eight to 12 twisters that struck in seven counties northeast of Kansas City Saturday night.
Law enforcement officials in DeKalb and Daviess counties estimated as many as 20 houses were damaged or destroyed in the two counties, along with as many as 40 vehicles.
Cleanup continued Monday as volunteers and friends of the victims spent their Memorial Day wielding chain saws and hauling debris on all-terrain vehicles.
Workers were burning the debris and the smell of smoke hung in the air as the wind blew it to the northeast.
Mangled farm implements and the remnants of destroyed households littered the area.
Along one stretch, a muddy pillow with a floral case lay not far from the head of a badminton racquet — its handle nowhere to be seen.
Splintered trees stood on each side of the county line road.
The Stiths' pastor, the Rev. Ralph Davis of Fairview Community Church, said John Stith was holding up well. He is a deacon at the church.
“There are just things in life we have to face, sad as it is,” Davis said. “He understands that.”
Davis described Stith and his wife as wonderful, well-loved people who enjoyed their grandchildren and often took trips to Texas.
Bethards' friends described him as a burly man with a quick wit. He was an outdoorsman who loved to hunt and fish, said David Foster of Laredo, Mo. A childhood friend of Bethards from Linn County, Foster was helping clean up Monday.
Foster also said his friend was a generous man, quick to co-sign a loan for someone in need.
Plus, Foster said, when a person sat down at Bethards' table, “You knew you were going to eat good.”
In addition to working as prison guard, Foster said, Bethards was operating a construction company that poured foundations for modular homes. He also owned land near Chillicothe.
Dustin Rinehart also was helping with the cleanup Monday. He said he had known the Bethards family for about 10 years, and he worked for the construction company.
“That whole family is good as gold,” he said. “There is nothing wrong with any of them.”
According to Heldenbrand, the tornado blew the Bethards' modular home end over end and then slid it on its roof about 50 yards along a gravel driveway across the road. The home just “disintegrated” along the way, the sheriff said.
An army of workers was out Monday helping to clear away the destruction. Some of the helpers said they lived nearby and came to help, even though they did not know any of the residents hit by the tornado.
“It's so wonderful to see so many people coming out, giving up their holiday weekend,” said Karla Long, who was coordinating the response for the American Red Cross.
“This is the old neighbor helping neighbor.”
Food poured into nearby Alta Vista Baptist Church from restaurants and other sources. An estimated 250 people ate lunch there Monday, and more food was delivered later in the day for dinner.
Nearby residents were also dropping off clothes.
It just would not have seemed right to stay home, said Mike Bunten, who lives about 10 miles from where the tornado struck.
“I don't know if ‘guilt' is the right word,” he said, “but you feel something.”
He was working at the Stith site even though he did not know the family.
Missy Meek of Maysville was also on hand with some of her family.
They had talked about going to see a movie, but they came to lend a hand instead.
“I don't know any of these people,” she said. “But you've got to come help.”
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Posted on Tue, Jun. 01, 2004
Anguish follows twister's fury
Neighbors share grief over lives lost
By MIKE SHERRY and JEFFREY SPIVAK The Kansas City Star
DAVIESS COUNTY, Mo. — John Stith and his family members raced for an old root cellar as a ferocious twister bore down on their home late Saturday.
They did not make it, even though the shelter was just 10 feet out their back door.
The tornado obliterated their Daviess County home, about 70 miles northeast of downtown Kansas City, leaving Stith's wife, Patricia Stith, and her mother, Mary Riley, dead.
Also killed by the twister was Clifford “Pete” Bethards, who lived just south of the Stiths on the gravel road running between Daviess and DeKalb counties.
Bethards, 49, a prison worker and small businessman, died protecting his granddaughters, according to Daviess County Sheriff Kevin Heldenbrand. As the tornado came, he huddled with the girls in a corner of his modular home, then held them to his chest as the house blew off its foundation and tumbled across the street.
“He probably hung on to them until he was killed,” the sheriff said.
Down the road, Stith and his daughter, Christina Sharp, lay injured in the dark, calling out to see where everyone was, while debris continued to fall around them from the twister.
Stith was in stable condition at North Kansas City Hospital Monday afternoon, according to the Daviess and DeKalb county sheriff's offices. His daughter was in fair condition at Cameron Regional Medical Center.
Sharp's two children — Derrick, 7, and Casey, 5, — were also thrown from the house. The sheriff's offices said the children were in serious condition at Children's Mercy Hospital.
Meanwhile, the law enforcement officials said the other occupants of Bethards' home were being treated at area hospitals.
Among them were 10-week-old Adriana, who was listed in serious condition, and 3-year-old Autumn, who was listed in fair condition. The two were at Children's Mercy, according to the sheriff's offices.
Up the road from Bethards, Stith and his daughter had picked up the two children in that house as they were rushing for the root cellar, Heldenbrand said. The four were found 80 yards from the house.
The two women who were killed — Patricia Stith, 60, and Riley, 79 — were thrown about half as far as the other occupants.
The deadly tornado was a quarter-mile wide with winds of up to 260 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
It was one of eight to 12 twisters that struck in seven counties northeast of Kansas City Saturday night.
Law enforcement officials in DeKalb and Daviess counties estimated as many as 20 houses were damaged or destroyed in the two counties, along with as many as 40 vehicles.
Cleanup continued Monday as volunteers and friends of the victims spent their Memorial Day wielding chain saws and hauling debris on all-terrain vehicles.
Workers were burning the debris and the smell of smoke hung in the air as the wind blew it to the northeast.
Mangled farm implements and the remnants of destroyed households littered the area.
Along one stretch, a muddy pillow with a floral case lay not far from the head of a badminton racquet — its handle nowhere to be seen.
Splintered trees stood on each side of the county line road.
The Stiths' pastor, the Rev. Ralph Davis of Fairview Community Church, said John Stith was holding up well. He is a deacon at the church.
“There are just things in life we have to face, sad as it is,” Davis said. “He understands that.”
Davis described Stith and his wife as wonderful, well-loved people who enjoyed their grandchildren and often took trips to Texas.
Bethards' friends described him as a burly man with a quick wit. He was an outdoorsman who loved to hunt and fish, said David Foster of Laredo, Mo. A childhood friend of Bethards from Linn County, Foster was helping clean up Monday.
Foster also said his friend was a generous man, quick to co-sign a loan for someone in need.
Plus, Foster said, when a person sat down at Bethards' table, “You knew you were going to eat good.”
In addition to working as prison guard, Foster said, Bethards was operating a construction company that poured foundations for modular homes. He also owned land near Chillicothe.
Dustin Rinehart also was helping with the cleanup Monday. He said he had known the Bethards family for about 10 years, and he worked for the construction company.
“That whole family is good as gold,” he said. “There is nothing wrong with any of them.”
According to Heldenbrand, the tornado blew the Bethards' modular home end over end and then slid it on its roof about 50 yards along a gravel driveway across the road. The home just “disintegrated” along the way, the sheriff said.
An army of workers was out Monday helping to clear away the destruction. Some of the helpers said they lived nearby and came to help, even though they did not know any of the residents hit by the tornado.
“It's so wonderful to see so many people coming out, giving up their holiday weekend,” said Karla Long, who was coordinating the response for the American Red Cross.
“This is the old neighbor helping neighbor.”
Food poured into nearby Alta Vista Baptist Church from restaurants and other sources. An estimated 250 people ate lunch there Monday, and more food was delivered later in the day for dinner.
Nearby residents were also dropping off clothes.
It just would not have seemed right to stay home, said Mike Bunten, who lives about 10 miles from where the tornado struck.
“I don't know if ‘guilt' is the right word,” he said, “but you feel something.”
He was working at the Stith site even though he did not know the family.
Missy Meek of Maysville was also on hand with some of her family.
They had talked about going to see a movie, but they came to lend a hand instead.
“I don't know any of these people,” she said. “But you've got to come help.”
