As it rebuilds, East Tenn. town wrestles with memories of tornado

ATHENS, Tenn. — “My husband wrapped his arms around me, and I prayed to the Lord to please wrap his arms around us too and protect us. I kept praying that over and over — ‘Please, Lord, wrap your arms around us and protect us’ — and he did,” said Virginia Ming, recalling a night that three months later is still crystal sharp in her memory.

Lying there in her husband’s arms, Ming felt her entire home lift into the air: pieces of furniture floating and crashing; dishes and glass windows shattering; total darkness; torrential rain; booming thunder; and chaos.

At around 1:30 a.m. Nov. 30, an EF-2 tornado with winds of more than 135 mph tore a 6-mile slice out of McMinn County, including Deerfield Estates, the Ming's neighborhood of mainly manufactured homes just east of Athens.

The quilt-braid tight town of nearly 14,000 has worked hard, mainly on its own, to rebuild. The job is not nearly complete. McMinn County Mayor John Gentry said it has been the county’s third tornado in a half dozen years, but by far its most damaging, injuring at least 20 people and damaging more than 200 structures.

Even as Athens rebuilds, it wrestles with memories.

What a night

Ming said after the bed returned to earth and it appeared the tornado had left, she scrambled to open the door and found that her stairs to the outside were not there. She would learn later that the stairs were actually where they’d always been — it was the house that had moved about 6 feet from its foundation.

That night, with her husband’s help, she managed to reach the ground, landing in much more chaos. Virginia and Thomas Ming are both first responders as volunteer firefighters and their thoughts were of joining their department to help with damages elsewhere.

One look, even in the darkness, at their neighborhood and it was clear to Virginia Ming, “We weren’t going anywhere.”

With the tornado approaching, a neighbor and her family had fled to a field next to their home. It was a wise move because the house was leveled, but the woman was picked up by the tornado. Virginia Ming found her in the middle of state Route 307, which runs by the neighborhood. The woman's neck was fractured; she couldn’t move.

Ming got a blanket to put around her, stayed with her until more help arrived then dashed off to help other neighbors. Today, the woman is still wearing a "halo" device to stabilize her neck, but she is recovering.

Vietnam veteran Ron Scherbarth’s home is across the street from the Mings.

He points to where he is building a three-car garage to replace the one that disappeared, along with a several-hundred-pound drill press and all of the other tools in the workroom inside. The tornado just picked it all up and made it vanish.

It did the same with the homes of three or four Deerfield neighbors. From his porch, Scherbarth can point to the foundations where they once stood.

“They are just gone,” he said. “Lifted up and gone.”

His American flag is still there.

“That’s the first thing I looked for when I got out of the house. The pole is twisted, but the flag is still flying,” he said. Part of the home itself was torn away.

“I’ve been through Vietnam and now this,” he said, tearing up. “This is worse. This is my home. These are my friends. Fortunately, no one died, but some of them are getting new homes somewhere else and not coming back. I’ll miss them.”

He said the neighborhood is especially tight, holding chili cookouts, picnics and holiday events, and it really pains him to lose good friends.

Pastor Jack Scallions of Fairview Baptist Church said his church ”took a direct hit.”

The church’s steeple is missing. Part of the roof has already been replaced. Totally destroyed were the old church auditorium, a two-story education building, the fellowship hall and the gym. The new auditorium sustained about $500,000 in damages. His residence and the residence of his assistant pastor also were damaged.

For now, as earth-moving equipment clears ground for construction on the church campus, services are being conducted at the American Bedding building on Dennis Street in Athens.

James Long and his wife were about six months from completing a three-year renovation of Van Dyke Mansion while they lived in another home on the property when the tornado came through.

The winds ripped off most of the front to the grand two-story home with stately columns where Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman once spent the night. The antebellum hilltop home was filled with water and left in ruins.

“The first day after it happened I didn’t know what we were going to do,” said Long, who had planned on making Van Dyke Mansion their home. “I thought we were probably going to have to bulldoze it down.”

He said after clearing some of the debris in the days that followed and getting assurance from a building inspector that the mansion was still structurally sound, Long and his wife have decided to give restoring it another try.

Other areas of town were also hit. A Save-O-Lot store on state Highway 30 was among businesses in that area severely damaged; so was the local newspaper, the Daily Post-Athenian, which had its roof blown off.

Athens Strong

As you head into town, signs proclaim Athens as “The Friendly City.”

McMinn County Mayor John Gentry said the town’s friendliness was sorely tested that early morning of Nov. 30 and for many days thereafter. He believes Athens is better off for it.

“It takes time. Every day you try to get something done, try to get a little closer to getting back,” he said. “Neighborhoods definitely came closer.”

The stories of neighbors helping neighbors were endless. Downed trees and power lines across state Route 307 cut off vehicle access for hours to the Deerfield Estates, in some cases requiring neighbors to carry neighbors out more than a mile, Gentry said.

“We had a company open up its plant, feed the first responders,” he said. “I don’t have a clue how much was donated directly through churches, organizations and businesses.

“We have an Amish community and they were there that morning helping people. They were wonderful. I have pictures of them hanging from the roofs with hammers and saws,” he said.

The tornado came just a day after the firestorm disaster in Sevier County. Although the Gatlinburg tragedy gained international headlines, Mark Cochran, Gentry’s assistant, said there isn’t any bitterness about any lack of attention given to Athens and McMinn County.

“Really we benefited in that there was such an abundance of aid coming into Sevier County that they couldn’t handle it all," Cochran said. "We actually had some of their supplies come here.”

Gentry said the county was not able to gain federal disaster status that it had requested, but the community isn’t complaining.

“There has been more than $100,000 contributed to a fund for the tornado,” he said. “We are using that to help in the cleanup. Some of the cleanup is too dangerous for volunteers to do, so we have had to bring in heavy equipment.”

Much of the county’s effort has been in getting rid of the massive amount of debris, more than 6 million tons of it and counting.

“You can see the devastating power of a tornado when you are picking up a toilet from the middle of a farmer’s field,” he said.

The community has held a number of cleanup days; the next one is scheduled for March 4.

Cochran said much work is still needed, especially in getting the fields of farmers and cattlemen ready.

Earlier this week, Mary Brown was overseeing the shutdown at the Tornado Relief Center, which she has directed as a volunteer since it opened several days after the tornado.

The center was set up in the American Bedding building, the same one serving as a temporary home to Fairview Baptist Church.

“We were very fortunate that (owners) Boyd and Dale Reynolds allowed us to use this place,” she said, pointing to the huge, almost empty warehouse storage area that she said at one time was overflowing with “clothing, food and any kind of needed items.”

She said more than 140 families were served at the center.

“We have had hundreds and hundreds of volunteers here,” she said. “It has been the most wonderful outpouring of love you have ever seen.

“Now we have gone from clothing and food to mainly we are doing home repair and debris removal.”

She said she expects that work to go on at least through July, but she plans to be a part of it until “the last person is back in their home.”