Overcast skies and a misty rain mirrored the mood of this tiny community as it came together to remember the 14 Lawrence County residents who died in the April 27, 2011, tornadoes.
“They will never be forgotten,” an emotional Kristi Robertson said as family members cried nearby.
About 200 people gathered Sunday in this western part of the county to unveil a 3-by-5-foot granite monument listing the names of those killed by the tornado.
“We had been talking about this for years and last summer we went to work with fundraisers to make this day possible,” Robertson said.
Mount Hope, an area of about 1,000 inhabitants, was one of the hardest hit communities when an EF5 tornado, with 200 mph winds, killed five who lived within 2 miles of each other and forever changed the area’s landscape.
“He would be proud,” Virginia Terry, 82, said about her only brother, Horace Smith, who died in the storm with his wife, Helen.
“He did so much for this community and I know he would say thank you for this,” Terry added.
Residents in the Mount Hope area started talking about ways to remember the tornado victims in the weeks after the deadly storm in 2011.
“We had to do something if for no other reason than to remind people that something like this can happen again,” said Misty Henderson, who served on the committee that raised money for the monument.
She said two of her friends died in the tornado.
“This storm affected everybody in some way,” Henderson said.
Mount Hope graduate Lanier Sibley agreed. He watched from the front porch of his home near old Alabama 24 as the storm came over the mountain from Franklin County and destroyed the Smiths’ home.
J.D. Parker was the storm’s third victim from Mount Hope before it crossed the highway and destroyed the area’s two largest businesses.
“It seems like it didn’t last but two minutes, but the tornado changed people’s lives forever,” said Sibley, who contributed funds to pay for the monument. “Mount Hope was like a war zone after the storm passed.”
Although the monument is in Mount Hope, Robertson said it’s designed to remember all of those from Lawrence County who died.
Moulton Middle School student Aurelia Guzman, 12, was the tornado’s youngest victim. Her parents and siblings were on hand for Sunday’s event.
“I miss her dearly and it still hurts, but it makes you feel good to know people have not forgotten her,” mother Carolyn Guzman said.
Aurelia was stuck under her father’s work van and died near the family home in Chalybeate.
Jonathan Henderson, who is pastor of Mount Hope Baptist where the community staged after the storm to help each other, said the tornado changed the area’s landscape and him. He said the tornado gave him a new perspective about what’s important in life.
Like many who came to Sunday’s ceremony, Henderson shared his experience from April 27, 2011. He was at work in Decatur when his boss told him a tornado was coming to Mount Hope.
“I told him tornadoes don’t come to Mount Hope,” Henderson said to the audience.
He didn’t know at the time that the tornado had damaged his home and water was pouring through the roof. When he finally talked with his wife, Henderson said he didn’t ask about “where my stuff was.”
He said he wanted to know if his family was OK. They were, but the Hendersons had to rebuild their home.
The new volunteer fire station where he shared his story was made possible by Horace and Helen Smith. They left part of their estate for the station’s construction.
“He loved this community,” Terry said.
by The Associated Press
April 24, 2017
