City’s perseverance applauded on

tornado anniversaryBY DEBBY WOODIN

dwoodin@joplinglobe.com

Emily Tarter printed hermessage neatly in pink onthe concrete at Cunning-ham Park: “We loveJoplin.”

She labored on her chalkart Tuesday as thousandsstreamed into the park forthe Day of Unity obser-vance marking the one-yearanniversary of the May 22tornado that chewed its waya mile wide through Joplinand Duquesne. It claimed161 lives.

“I was sad,” 9-year-oldEmily said of her reactionto the storm that destroyed or damaged7,500 homes and 550 businesses, withdamage estimated to cost $2.8 billion. “Iwas very depressed.”

Even a year later, there are still tears,though Emily and others at the eventsaid they are trying to mend.

Last year’s May 22 brought thousandsof people out, searching piles of ruins forsurvivors and maneuvering debris-choked streets to get the injured to the

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Hospital officials unveil plans for memorial

BY WALLY KENNEDYwkennedy@joplinglobe.com

Eyes teared up Tuesdaymorning when Malachi Mur-dock and his mother, Susan,recounted what happened tothem on May 22, 2011.

Murdock had just finished aperformance of “I RememberMama” at the Stained GlassTheatre, 1318 W. 26th St., whenthe tornado struck. Hourswould pass before his mother

BY DEBBY WOODINdwoodin@joplinglobe.com

Hallowed ground wherepeople were born, healed anddied was given Tuesday bySisters of Mercy Health Sys-tem as a legacy to Joplin’s fu-ture.

Lynn Britton, president andchief executive officer ofMercy, announced the gifts ofland at the former site of St.John’s Regional Medical Cen-

ter for a new elementaryschool, community theater,city museum and tornado me-morial.

The hospital and other med-ical buildings on the site at26th Street and McClellandBoulevard were destroyed bythe May 22, 2011, tornado thattook 161 lives.

“If we have more dreamsthan memories, then we are

SEE FREEMAN, 8A

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SEE MERCY, 8A

ON OURWEBSITECHECK OUT thisstory at joplinglobe.com tosee video and a photo gallery of Tuesday’sevents.

‘WE LOVE JOPLIN’

Mercy donates landfor school, theater,new Joplin museum

A procession of an estimated 6,000 people participated in the Walk of Unity that traveled through the tornado zone on the one-year anniversary of the storm. GLOBE | ROGER NOMER

Freeman honors heroes

Renee Denton, director of medical oncology and pediatrics atFreeman Health System, on Tuesday releases a lantern duringthe “Morning Has Broken” service, which recognized groupsthat helped save lives after the Joplin tornado. GLOBE | ROGER NOMER

Sarah McConnell-Pinjuv, of Joplin, a member of St.Mary’s Catholic Church, on Tuesday prays during aservice held under the church’s cross. The metal crosswas practically the only remnant of the church afterthe tornado hit on May 22, 2011. GLOBE | T. ROB BROWN

Joplin City Council member Mike Seibert participates in the Walk of Unityalong 20th Street. The walk ended in Cunningham Park. GLOBE | ROGER NOMER

ThemeTHE THEME OF TUESDAY’S OBSERVANCEwas “1. One Year. One Community. One Direction.” T-shirts printed with that mes-sage are being sold on rebuildjoplin.org,with the proceeds to be used to fund asculpture as a tribute to volunteers.

FROM 1A

hospital. This year, it brought an or-derly procession of an estimated 6,000for a Walk of Unity along a 3.7-milestretch of memory lane through thetornado zone.

“This is everything we hoped itwould be,” said Gary Shaw, a citycouncilman who served on the plan-ning committee for the Day of Unity,as he watched people gather at thepark for an anniversary ceremony.

“Look at our people,” he said. “Ayear ago they were crying, and nowthey’re smiling and having a goodtime.”

Emily said she felt depressed lastyear “because I love Joplin. I wasborn at St. John’s and used to play atCunningham Park,” which also wasdestroyed by the storm and is beingrepaired. “I’m glad it’s come back,”she said of the park.

City Manager Mark Rohr openedTuesday’s ceremony at the park.

“While there’s not too many thingsI’m certain of in this uncertainworld, I am sure that I am very proudof the residents of Joplin. You shouldbe proud of yourselves,” he said ofthe turnout at the park, estimated atbetween 8,000 and 10,000.

He remembered those lost in thestorm, who were memorialized witha plaque unveiled Tuesday in thepark and the planting of the last of161 trees.

He also credited the 130,000 regis-tered volunteers who have helpedJoplin with what has been describedas a recovery start unmatched by oth-er similar disasters.

“Mere thanks are not enough,”Rohr said of the volunteers. “Pleasebe assured you are part of the ‘Mira-cle of the Human Spirit’ and will for-ever be an important part of the cityof Joplin.”

Rohr said that of the 7,500homes affected by the storm,61 percent are under permitsto be rebuilt or have been re-paired or rebuilt. He said amajority of the 550 business-es are already operating orbeing rebuilt.

One key in that recovery, hesaid, was the aid brought byConvoy of Hope, which deliv-ered thousands of pounds of food andsupplies to displaced residents andthen started helping to rebuild hous-es.

Hal Donaldson, founder of Convoyof Hope, told Day of Unity partici-pants in his keynote address that peo-ple from across the country havejoined to help Joplin. They have beenimpressed by the willingness of resi-dents to persevere and work hard torebuild.

“Tonight we stand together as one,proud to call this our adopted home,”he said.

After he came to help, he saw torna-do-stricken residents willing to dovolunteer work to help others whothey thought were hit harder thanthemselves. “It didn’t take me long tolearn that this is the Joplin way,”Donaldson said of the selflessnessand hard work he saw. “This commu-nity knows the power of a warmsmile and a helping hand. You knowhow to lift up the fallen, and how torestore hope to friends and neighborsin need. This is what America is allabout. I wish every American couldmeet you face to face.”

Lynn Britton, president and chiefexecutive officer of Sisters of MercyHealth System, told residents that theland where St. John’s Regional Med-ical Center has stood for 40 years isbeing donated as the site for a new el-ementary school, the Stained GlassTheatre and a museum. He said Mer-cy plans to rebuild the chapel thatwas part of the hospital where itstood before the storm, along with anamphitheater that can be used for

community and familyevents. He said the chapelbuilding is not meant formourning as it used to be,but for happy occasions suchas weddings. A bridge will bebuilt over 26th Street to con-nect the school, museum andtheater to CunninghamPark, he said.

It is appropriate, he said,“that a place so known for healingwill become a place where dreams arerealized.”

A plaque was unveiled in the parklisting the names of the 161 who diedas a result of the storm.

Under the plaque, six time capsuleswere placed containing items repre-senting the various sectors of thecommunity: youths, seniors, familiesof storm victims, the community as awhole, city workers and the news me-dia. Rohr said the time capsules aremeant to be opened for the 50th an-niversary of the tornado in 2061.

The last of 161 trees planted at thepark in memory of the victims wasput in place, and members of the au-dience were invited to help plant it.

As a moment of silence was ob-served at 5:41 p.m. — the time the firstreport came in to emergency dis-patchers that a tornado had hit —sobs could be heard through thecrowd.

Lashawnda Cavener, of Joplin, wasone of those sobbing. She lost hermother, Melisa Johnson, 49, and herbrother, Charles Gaudsmith, 21, inthe storm. She said they were in Wal-Mart at 15th Street and Range LineRoad when the tornado hit, destroy-ing the store and killing a number ofcustomers.

Her brother died a hero, she said,lying on top of her mother and sever-al other customers trying to protectthem.

“I think it was awesome,” she saidof Tuesday’s observance and tribute.“It makes me proud to be a part ofJoplin.”

4A | JOPLIN: ONE YEAR LATER THE JOPLIN GLOBE | WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2012C M Y

5A

Tornado timeline

2011

MAY 22: At 5:41 p.m., an EF-5 tornadostarts carving a jagged path acrossJoplin. The storm eventually is blamed for161 deaths, and destroys thousands ofhomes and businesses.

MAY 24: Superintendent C.J. Huff vowsthat school will start on time in August,despite about $150 million in damage tothe school district’s buildings.

MAY 29: President Barack Obama tours thetornado zone and attends a communitymemorial service at Missouri SouthernState University. “We’re not going to stopuntil Joplin is back on its feet,” he says.

JUNE 11: What originally was planned asthe Boomtown Days Run turns into a dayof service, with hundreds of runners, in-cluding 1972 Olympian Jeff Galloway, vol-unteering to clear debris.

JUNE 25: More than 200 dogs and 170 catsare adopted through the Joplin HumaneSociety’s adopt-a-thon, which draws peo-ple from across the country to adopt petsdisplaced by the tornado.

AUG. 6: Families displaced by the tornadobegin moving into mobile homes suppliedby the Federal Emergency ManagementAgency in two newly constructed parksalong Highway 171 across from theJoplin Regional Airport.

AUG. 17: The Joplin School District opensthe 2011-12 school year — 87 days afterthe tornado — as scheduled with no ma-jor hitches, school officials say.

OCT. 26: Crowds gather to watch as the“big reveal” is held for seven Joplin fami-lies who receive new homes courtesy of“Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”

OCT. 29: A ceremony is held to raise wallsfor 10 new homes as part of Habitat forHumanity’s “Ten for Joplin” event.

NOV. 22: On the six-month anniversary, amemorial is held in Cunningham Park toremember the victims of the tornado.

2012

JAN. 4: City Manager Mark Rohr says thenumber of Joplin homes being repaired orrebuilt has passed the halfway mark.

APRIL 3: By a margin of less than 1 percent,voters approve a $62 million bond issueto give the school district funds to rebuildschools destroyed in the tornado.

APRIL 11: Mercy Hospital Joplin opens thedoors to its $100 million component hos-pital at 2817 St. John’s Blvd.

APRIL 21: With a theme of “Once Upon aTime,” students at Joplin High Schoolwalk the red carpet for a prom at the Holi-day Inn Convention Center.

MAY 19: Thousands of runners participatein the Joplin Memorial Run, which in-cludes a half-marathon, a 5K and a one-mile run for children.

MAY 21: President Obama returns to Joplin,delivering the commencement addressfor the Joplin High School class of 2012.

BY ANDRA BRYAN STEFANONIastefanoni@joplinglobe.com

It could have been a parade.Children held balloons. Parents

pulled wagons. Spectators ap-plauded.

As crowds gathered at theDuquesne roundabout on East20th Street, people in bright blueT-shirts handed out pinwheels,stress balls and bubble wands.

But they also handed out tis-sues.

Despite the smiles and photo-graphs and festival-like atmos-phere, those who participated inthe Walk of Unity on Tuesday af-ternoon, from Duquesne toJoplin’s Cunningham Park, werewell aware of its purpose. Theroute followed the path of the his-toric 2011 tornado.

“I woke up with a knot in mythroat this morning,” said Tam-my Niederhelman, who walkedin memory of her son, ZacharyAllen Williams.

The 12-year-old was one of 161people whose deaths were attrib-uted to the May 22, 2011, tornado.He was in the bathtub when thetornado hit their house. He diedinstantly.

Niederhelman walked theroute with family members, each

wearing a T-shirt with a photo ofthe deceased East Middle Schoolstudent. They carried flowersmeant to be placed at a cross at20th Street and Texas Avenue,where the boy died.

By contrast, Duquesne MayorDenny White, sporting a“Duquesne round-a-bouters” T-shirt and a straw hat, was allsmiles as he prepared to beginthe walk and paused to speak ofthe courage and dedication of histown.

Of the approximately 750homes in Duquesne, 450 hadsome sort of damage, includingmore than 200 that were demol-ished. Nine people died in thestorm in Duquesne.

Most of the damaged homeshave been repaired, and buildingpermits have been issued forprojects to replace many of thehomes that were destroyed.

“It’s a happy day for us,” saidWhite, whose business was de-stroyed and rebuilt. “We made itthrough a tough year.”

He described the walk as “anuplifting experience. It showsyou what a little town can do ifwe put our minds to it.”

Duquesne resident and stormsurvivor Cindy Sundy offered aunique perspective as she began

the walk: “May 22 last year wasthe best day of my life. Because itcould have been the worst day,and it wasn’t.”

She and her family rode out thetornado as it leveled their home

at East 24th Street and DuquesneRoad. They have rebuilt on thesame spot. “We made the deci-sion when we were staring atwhat was left,” Sundy said.

About a half-mile into the walk

on East 20th Street, Gary Doolen,a Duquesne resident who was se-verely injured in the storm,handed out bottled water to walk-ers in front of his newly builtapartment.

“I’m still healing,” said Doolen,who suffered a crushed spleenand two broken ribs, and hadpieces of a cellphone taken out ofhis back after the tornado. “It’sbeen a long year.”

He was employed by the Mis-souri Department of Transporta-tion. His injuries and subsequentpneumonia and bronchitis madeit necessary for him to retire ear-ly.

New Joplin High School gradu-ate Jarred English walked to-ward South Range Line Roadwearing a shirt bearing the slo-gan “Proud Graduate of North-park Mall.”

Three hours after the tornadoleveled many of his friends’homes, the 18-year-old NationalGuardsman went to work in re-covery efforts. He will leave fortraining soon at Fort Jackson,S.C., but during the walk he re-flected on how much his commu-nity means to him.

“When I’m done with training,my permanent unit will be inJoplin and I’ll be coming home,”he said.

When the walkers reached theparking lot of the 15th Street Wal-Mart, employees with SNCSquared, a systems network com-puter consulting firm, posed for

photos in matching Hawaiianshirts. Earlier in the day, theyhad celebrated their store’s newlocation at 26th Street and Jack-son Avenue, and they planned towalk the route back to it.

Noting the festival-like atmos-phere, SNC employee JaredWilkinson said he believes peopleare “glad to see progress hasbeen made.”

A contingent of 78 Dillons gro-cery store chain employees fromacross the Four-State Area worematching T-shirts with “Dillons”emblazoned on the back. TheJoplin store at 1402 E. 20th St.was destroyed in the tornado.

Corporate spokeswomanSheila Lowrie said Dillons is“looking forward to coming backto Joplin. We are still consider-ing options.”

Four former employees ofGreenbriar Nursing Home, wear-ing matching tie-dye T-shirts,were walking in memory of the11 residents and one employeelost in the tornado when it boredown on 2502 S. Moffet Ave.

“We ran the 5K last Saturday intheir memory, too,” said one ofthe group, Jessica Bradham.They all have relocated to otheremployment, but they try to gettogether at least once a month

and stay connected via a Green-briar Facebook page.

“This was our family that welost,” Bradham said. “We consid-ered them that.”

As the group traveled west, DanRees, who uses a wheelchair, pro-pelled himself along by his ownarm power.

“My niece and her husband losttheir house off of 26th Street,and I have been heavily involvedin the Stained Glass Theatre,where we lost three people,” Reessaid. “I’m doing this largely insupport of that.”

Dotting the entire route, mem-bers of the Joplin club Kites OverRoute 66 kept their kites in theair. On May 22 last year, theywere flying their kites whensomeone heard a report that astorm was coming. They headedhome and escaped injury.

As the group passed OpticalOutlet at 20th Street and Con-necticut Avenue, Pam andGeorge Lockwood watched fromin front of the business theychose to rebuild at the same loca-tion. It opened earlier this year.

Walkers paused to take pic-tures of a sign on their messageboard that read: “161 prayershave been sent to Heaven.”

In a now-cleared lot on West

20th Street, Michelle Hare and agroup of friends and familymembers paused for a moment ata homemade memorial for herson, Lantz Hare, a 16-year-oldwho would have graduated Mon-day night.

“His body was found here,” hismother said. “We will finish theend of the walk. We just meethere sometimes; it is a place to sitand remember him.”

The group passed by the steepleraising at the Joplin LDS StakeCenter, 2200 S. Indiana Ave.,where the sounds of some crowdmembers singing “How GreatThou Art” silenced the walkers.The hymn mingled with distantsounds of cadences by the JoplinHigh School drumline, playing tothe west near the site of their for-mer school.

Walkers funneled between afleet of Joplin school buses to agroundbreaking ceremony therefor a new high school.

Standing at 1318 W. 26th St.,where the Stained Glass Theatrewas leveled by the tornado, JudyKorn and Lucy Pendergraft lookedover the memorial to Randy Mell:a single rose in a makeshift vasemade of a plastic water bottle heldupright by stones.

They had been Mell’s co-work-

ers at the Jasper County Court-house and were among fellow em-ployees wearing navy blue shirtswith the message: “In Memory ofRandy Mell: Nov. 15, 1961 - May22, 2011.”

Mell had attended a perform-ance at the theater on May 22,2011, and was inside, holding thedoor to the basement for every-one in the building, when the tor-nado leveled it.

As the walkers crested the hillon West 26th Street in front of theremaining shell of St. John’s Re-gional Medical Center, volun-teers with Convoy of Hope hand-ed out water bottles just as theydid in the weeks after the storm.

And at the top of the hill, med-ical staff members applaudedwalkers and shouted words of en-couragement as the walk nearedits end.

“We came out to cheer thisgroup, because people cheered uson, too,” said surgery nurseKathy Wrensch, dressed inscrubs, as she wiped away a tear.

“It’s amazing how far we’vecome,” she said. “We’re in for thelong haul. It’s not easy, but we’regetting there.”

GLOBE INTERN KEVIN GILMAN contributed tothis report.

BY SUSAN REDDENsredden@joplinglobe.com

Only three bathroom walls were leftstanding when Mary Owen’s home insouth Joplin was demolished by the torna-do on May 22, 2011.

High winds won’t be something the 79-year-old woman has to fear when shemoves in later this week to a new house onSouth Bird Avenue.

The home has walls of reinforced con-crete with roof ties anchored in the con-crete, a design that will withstand winds ofmore than 200 mph and reduce heatingand cooling costs by atleast 50 percent.

Owen was ill onTuesday, so her daugh-ter, Deloris Spurgeon,of Carl Junction, wason hand for a ceremo-ny to accept the keys tothe house from offi-cials of Convoy ofHope, which helped fi-nance the project.

Jeff Nene, public re-lations officer withConvoy of Hope, saidthe home is the first ofat least a dozen storm-resistant, energy-effi-cient homes to be built in Joplin. Volun-teers with the organization, builders andothers, including Joplin Mayor MelodeeColbert-Kean, gathered to celebrate thecompletion of the project.

“Today is about remembering and re-joicing,” Nene said, noting that other tor-nado anniversary events would recall thedevastation, those injured and the 161 peo-ple who lost their lives.

Don La Grand, a Convoy of Hope volun-teer who has been working in Joplin forthe past week, agreed: “We want people inJoplin to know they are loved and support-ed, and not forgotten.”

Spurgeon said her mother was at a grad-uation party when the tornado hit. Herbrother, Michael England, was in thehome and survived without injury bycrouching in the bathroom. “But that wasall that was left,” she said.

The new house sits on property ownedby her mother, and is on the same foot-print as the one where she and her foursiblings were raised, Spurgeon said.

“But the layout is a lot different; it’s a lotmore open,” she said.

Spurgeon said her mother had some in-surance, but not enough to enable her torebuild. She has been staying with a friendbut has been at the building site nearlyevery day since the work started.

“She’s really excited,” the daughter said.Springfield-based Convoy of Hope is an

international, faith-based relief organiza-tion that normally specializes in bringingin truckloads of food and supplies after adisaster. That happened early on after the

Joplin tornado, said Karen Benson, globaldisaster response director for the organi-zation.

But an outpouring of donations to thegroup, all designated for Joplin relief,prompted the decision to provide “gapfunding” to build energy-efficient homes.Recipients are being selected in coopera-tion with the Joplin Long-Term RecoveryCommittee.

Building partners on the project areGlobal Green Building and TF ConcreteForming Systems, both of Springfield.Joyce Meyer Ministries is a funding part-ner, Benson said.

In addition to the resistance to highwinds, the concrete construction will re-duce energy bills by more than 50 percent,according to George Van Hoesen, of Glob-al Green Building.

“Our goal is to get people back to self-sustainability, and that’s a part of it,” Ben-son said.

BY JOSH LETNERjletner@joplinglobe.com

As thousands of people streamed down26th Street as part of Joplin’s Walk of Uni-ty, the Joplin Area Chamber of Commercemarked the recovery steps taken by thetown’s business community with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday near the recon-structed Kraft Insurance Services/Wilson-Turner-Gavin.

Though the office, located east of the de-stroyed St. John’s Regional Medical Cen-ter, was severely damaged by the EF-5 tor-nado that ripped through the community ayear ago, the staff of Kraft Insurance wasfocused on helping clients.

Randy and Shelly Kraft remember thehectic days after the storm as they battledthe weather and limited communicationsto handle thousands of claims.

“We had to jump right in,” Randy Kraftsaid. “The first day, it was game on. Whenit was all said and done, we had about 2,000claims. We worked over 600 in the firstthree days using three cellphones.”

Randy Kraft said the business’s comput-er server room was spared from severedamage, and the staff was able to salvageclient information.

The Krafts rented a room at the HolidayInn and moved their entire operation intothe small space.

He said the couple quickly made the de-cision to rebuild their business, which has

been a chamber member since 1956, butthis time with a few additions. He said therefurbished building includes some rein-forced rooms, including a safe room pro-tected by layers of plywood, concreteboard and steel reinforcing bar. He said agenerator also is being installed.

In his remarks at the ribbon-cutting,chamber President Rob O’Brian recalledthe days after May 22, 2011, when thechamber staff worked to make contactwith affected business owners.

“It was difficult to get into contact withthem because phone lines were down andthe cell services were overwhelmed,” hesaid. “We had people out here in the pathof the storm contacting business people,putting information in their hands and en-couraging them to get to the resources asquickly as possible.”

O’Brian said the chamber worked withthe Federal Emergency Management

Agency, the Small Business Administra-tion, the city of Joplin, and the Small Busi-ness and Technology Development Centerat Missouri Southern State University toassist business owners in the recovery.

“I’m not sure anyone was prepared for adisaster of this magnitude, but what wedid know was that it was critically impor-tant to get information into the hands ofbusinesses and let them know the re-sources that were available to them,” hesaid.

O’Brian said the real credit, however, be-longs to the individual business ownerswho made the decision to rebuild.

“They have gone above and beyond, notjust to reopen their doors, but to keep theiremployees on the payroll and take care ofthem,” he said.

O’Brian said that of the 553 businessesdestroyed or severely damaged in thestorm, 446 — almost 81 percent — have re-opened.

Of the 5,000 jobs that were affected, thechamber estimates that 3,000 people areback to work.

Mayor Melodee Colbert-Kean said the re-turn of so many businesses has been keyto the success of Joplin’s recovery.

“Without the businesses coming back,we wouldn’t be the same,” she said afterthe ceremony. “We’re really thankful thatthe businesses are coming back, becausethey were hit so hard, but they are vital tothe community.”

10 schools were damaged or destroyed by tornado

BY KELSEY RYANkryan@joplinglobe.com

After 10 schools were damagedor destroyed a year ago, the JoplinSchool District took strides Tues-day toward rebuilding with cere-monial groundbreakings for fournew schools.

The groundbreaking for JoplinHigh School and Franklin Tech-nology Center at 2401 S. IndianaAve. was staged as part of thecity’s Walk of Unity, in whichthousands walked from west toeast in the reverse of the May 22tornado’s path.

“I can’t say thank you enough tothe support of the people of thiscommunity to put us in position ofwhere we are today to celebratethis momentous occasion,” Super-intendent C.J. Huff said at thegroundbreaking ceremony forJoplin High School.

“I want to thank the taxpayersfor having the confidence in us todo what needed to be done for ourkids, and thank you for giving usthe opportunity to bring our Ea-gles home.”

Many of those who watched thegroundbreaking were Joplin Highgraduates or future Joplin Highstudents.

“I’m really excited for the new

high school,” said RyleighLaMarr, who participated in theWalk of Unity and watched thegroundbreaking. She will be afreshman in the fall and will haveher junior and senior year at thenew school if it is completed bythe district’s goal of August 2014.

“We’ll be able to get a better edu-cation,” she said. “I think we’ll beable to make the best of our highschool years better. I came here to-

day because I’ve lived here all mylife and Joplin means so much tome, and I just love seeing all theprogress we’ve made. I love mytown.”

Randy Steele, school board pres-ident, noted that the original sitewas 34 acres when the school wasbuilt in 1954. The new site will be66 acres.

“Since 1885, we’ve had a longhistory in educating our high

school students and getting themready for colleges and careers,”JHS Principal Kerry Sachetta toldthe crowd at the ceremony.

“Today marks a new chapter inour journey. Over the last 12months, we have researched, dis-cussed, collaborated, designed, andeverything we’ve put together webelieve will be a 21st century highschool, a school that will serve ourstudents like no other school.”

The total cost for all of the dis-trict’s projects is estimated at $185million, district officials say.

IRVING ELEMENTARY

Hundreds of students, familymembers, teachers and adminis-trators gathered for the firstgroundbreaking ceremony Tues-day morning at the site of the newIrving Elementary, which willhold pupils from Emerson and Irv-ing elementary schools. Bothschools were destroyed in the tor-nado, and the students have beenattending other buildings as inter-im schools.

“What a glorious day this is,”said Debbie Fort, Irving Elemen-tary principal.

The new school will be located at2727 McClelland Blvd., on land do-nated by Sisters of Mercy HealthSystem.

“Being here today is sort of amilestone for us,” said MichelleShaner, whose family’s house wasdamaged.

Her family was selected to helpin the groundbreaking. “All of mykids have been in EmersonSchool,” she said. “I guess beingpart of history and seeing goodthings happen.”

Shaner’s daughter, Journey, 6,will attend Irving Elementary.Journey worked with the archi-tects of the new school in the de-sign phase.

“The kids are excited,” Michelle

Shaner said. “She got to be part ofthe dreaming of the school, andnow she’s going to get to see thatcome to pass.”

EAST MIDDLE AND ELEMENTARY

In the afternoon, the districtheld two groundbreakings at thefuture site of East Middle Schooland Elementary, which will sharea campus at 4594 E. 20th St. inDuquesne. The elementary schoolwill hold students from Duenwegand Duquesne.

At the groundbreaking, a repre-sentative of the General MillsFoundation announced a gift of$100,000 to the district to go to-ward the middle school and ele-mentary school.

“I went to East for sixth grade,and then I went to the warehouse(in the Crossroads Center Busi-ness and Distribution Park) forseventh grade,” said Amy Walser,who used a shovel to help with thegroundbreaking. “I just think it’samazing how much in a year, howstrong we’ve become and howmuch we’ve been resilient andcome back.”

Bond issue

ON APRIL 3, school district voters passed a$62 million bond issue that officials said wasnecessary for the rebuilding of the buildingsthat were lost and for installing permanentstorm shelters at every school in the district.

Storm-resistant home built for storm survivor

Convoy of Hope volunteers cheer Tuesday as they organize for a group portrait in frontof a completed house at 26th Street and Bird Avenue in Joplin. GLOBE | ROGER NOMER

Joplin High School staff and students help break ground Tuesday for a new high school. The event was part ofthe Walk of Unity to mark the anniversary of the tornado that destroyed JHS. GLOBE | ROGER NOMER

Schools mark anniversary with groundbreakings

Chamber notes recovery of businesses

More homesCONVOY OF HOPE maybuild more homes be-yond the 12 currentlyplanned, said KarenBenson, an official withthe organization. Torna-do victims who wantmore information maycontact any case man-ager working throughthe Joplin Long-TermRecovery Committeeat 625-9192.

Business contributionsCOCA-COLA donated a new warehouse in the Cross-

roads Center Business and Distribution Park to theJoplin School District. It was opened last fall as thetemporary site of East Middle School.

SNC SQUARED TECHNOLOGY was up and running just fivehours after the tornado leveled its building. The com-pany, which specializes in electronic medical records,says it recovered 100 percent of client data —350,000 patient records — within three days.

BY JEFF LEHRjlehr@joplinglobe.com

Between the school ground-breaking ceremonies in themorning and the Walk of Uni-ty across Joplin on Tuesdayafternoon, you could hear thehammers pounding at the cor-ner of Wall Avenue and 24thStreet.

A welcome sound indeed toChris Tucker, Leilani Powelland their three children onthe one-year anniversary ofthe tornado that caused exten-sive damage to their currentrental home and belongings,and destroyed so much oftheir town.

For this will be their newhome that Joplin Area Habitatfor Humanity is building at2401 S. Wall Ave. The three-bedroom, two-bathroom housecould be ready by the end ofJune.

“Oh, I’m far more than excit-ed,” Tucker said as hewatched Gov. Jay Nixon andthe governor’s wife, Geor-ganne, join other volunteersin nailing siding on the home.

He said the family membershad just moved into their cur-rent home at 1909 S. Wall Ave.a week before the tornado.The storm broke out all thewindows, tore up the roof andruined almost all their posses-sions. They’ve continued stay-ing there for a year, he said,

despite the house’s electricalproblems and remaining vul-nerability to the elements. Butthey are eager to get their newplace five blocks to the south.

“This is going to save us somuch money,” Tucker said.“We pay a lot at the otherhouse for utilities with it notbeing weatherized.”

The house is one of 16 thatJoplin Area Habitat for Hu-manity has under construc-tion in the city.

The organization alreadyhas completed 14 others andwill be kicking off the Gover-nor’s Joplin Habitat Chal-lenge in mid-June. The project

aims to build 35 more housesin the city’s tornado-affectedarea with a $3.6 million Com-munity Development BlockGrant and the help of sevensports organizations.

The governor and the state’sfirst lady donned tool beltsand picked up hammers tohelp out on the home for abouthalf an hour Tuesday. Nixonsaid he was there to do some-thing “tangibly productive,”and to let other volunteersknow this was not his firsttime on a job of this type. Heworked construction for sevenyears putting himself throughcollege, he said.

“I’ll get better,” he let on-lookers know after his firstfew swings of the hammer.

At one point, the governortook a break to pose for a pho-to with Sage Welch, a boy whoshowed up with his mother topresent a $5,000 check toJoplin Area Habitat for Hu-manity.

The money was raised at thefamily’s annual memorial golftournament honoring theboy’s late uncle, Mark Welch,at the Honey Creek Golf Clubin Aurora.

The governor praised whatHabitat for Humanity is ac-complishing in Joplin.

“It is an organization withdeep roots in churches andcommunities across the coun-try,” Nixon said.

Amid remembrance, the sound of hammers

Teams on trackGOV. JAY NIXON said he spoke Monday

with the owner of the St. Louis Cardi-nals, and everything remains on trackfor the Joplin Habitat Challenge. TheCardinals, Kansas City Royals, KansasCity Chiefs, St. Louis Rams, St. LouisBlues, Kansas Speedway in partner-ship with NASCAR, and the Universi-ty of Missouri athletic teams will becontributing labor and support to theeffort to build 35 homes in sevenneighborhoods.

NIXON SAID THE CHIEFS will be comingto Joplin in June, and the Rams andCardinals later in the year. He saidcontinuing support for the effort fromMajor League Baseball will includethis year’s All-Star Game on July 10in Kansas City.

Marilyn Sixx, of Joplin, on Tuesday embraces her son, Chris Sixx, during the ceremony at CunninghamPark to mark the one-year anniversary of the May 22, 2011, tornado. GLOBE | T. ROB BROWN

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