Mother, daughter, granddaughter ride out storm
Wanda English Burnett - Editor

Seeing a tornado up close and personal is something Krissy Downey, 24 of Holton, her mother Ena Barrett and grandmother Emma Miller, just don't want to go through again in their lifetimes.

The harrowing event left Krissy with a greater appreciation of life; her mother happy to be able to celebrate her 41st birthday on Saturday after the tornado tore through the town of Holton Friday night; and her grandmother's strong faith in God unshaken.

Describing the funnel cloud filled with debris roaring right past the vehicle in which they were sitting, Ena said it was exactly like the movie, Twister. "I was huddled over my mother trying to protect her from the flying glass and we could hear
this roaring noise, like a train without the whistle," she described their experience.

Krissy, along with her mother and grandmother were trying to get to the church to find shelter, but had to retreat as the twister came down the path they were taking. Krissy's son Brennan wasn't with them - he was safe with other relatives. "We thought people were being sheltered at the Methodist Church," Ena explained. "We were right there at Della's when we had to turn around and head back down North Marion Street." The ladies explained they
were trying to get to Ron and Nancy Downey's house where they knew there was a basement.

"As I was driving past my house the car was hit by a limb and part of the roof that had been ripped off, " Krissy noted and said as soon as they pulled into her uncle's yard, she jumped out and ran inside straight for the basement. "I hate to say it, but I didn't look around for anyone else, I just ran." Krissy noted.

Ena and her mother, Emma, couldn't get out of the car for the suction of the wind. "Looking back, it's couple arrived home after the disaster, their dogs were missing from their outside pens and one little Beagle was no where to be found. "I just figured he had been taken up in the tornado," Joe said. Then the couple went inside their home, which wasn't damaged, and heard sounds coming from the bathroom. They cautiously opened the door to find - you guessed it - the little Beagle! How he made it in the house nobody knows. They also can't explain broken glass and debris inside the Clayton's home, since none of their windows or doors were opened.

"I never remember a tornado touching down in the town of Holton," noted Elsie Connelley, 90, who has resided in the town many years. "I've never been through anything quite like it," she noted early on Saturday as she was repairing a screen that had been knocked loose at her home on West Versailles Street. She admitted it shook her up, but said she just cuddled with her cat and trusted the Lord.

Other lifelong residents of Holton said they believed this was the first actual tornado to touch down in town.

Outside of town the Tim Tyler residence took the hardest hit on County Road 800 West as the tornado roared through taking out a hanger and two ultra light airplanes. Tim noted he had built the airplane and it was sad to lose it. His wife Judy and son Jamie were in Versailles at the time of the tornado playing bingo at the American Legion. "Tim came and got us," Judy said, and when she arrived home found the debris surrounding their well-kept property.

Jamie didn't have his card played out when he had to leave bingo, but a Good Samaritan, Mary Salyers, finished playing his card, and brought him his winnings. "People have been so good throughout all of this," noted Tim as he stood amidst the ruble in the area that housed the planes he loved to fly.

An elderly couple just passing through town stopped and asked an officer what they could do to help. "We can pick up sticks and debris," they offered, with the lady adding she'd be glad to cook. They weren't from Ripley County, just passing through and wanted to offer their assistance.

Stories of help and hope began to emerge through the debris and by Sunday morning the town was looking a lot different and pastors of the area churches were reporting that "God had been good, and Holton is a good place to live."

WANDA ENGLISH BURNETT PHOTO

The home Krissy Downey was renting from Wilbur and Wilma Myers on North Marion Street was destroyed by the tornado that went through Holton on Friday night, July 29. The roof was ripped off with the contents inside sustaining heavy damage.