relationships

relationships
31 years coaching experience/Worked Camps/Clinics on 6 Continents

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Mike Sipe, Rick Belcher, Cole Belcher, and Adam Kleinert

On March 2, an EF 4 tornado hit the town of Henryville.  Almost immediately an EF 1 was in the area and severe hail hit the town.  Both events were devastating to the town and took the life of my uncle, Wayne Hunter.

On Speith Road after the EF 4 hit, the above four mentioned men risked their lives to go out and search for a family member.  While doing so, they stopped and attended to my aunt and uncle.  After seeing that my uncle was not alive, they turned to my aunt, Lenora Hunter.  She was still alive, but bleeding a lot.

What follows is sketchy information on what happened exactly, I may get some of the details wrong, but the story, in its generality, is correct.  After the F 4 tornado hit, Cole Belcher, Adam Kleinert, and Mike Sipe happened onto my family.  When the hail started falling, Cole Belcher went back for more help and Mike Sipe covered my aunt up and himself to protect themselves from the hail.

The hail was baseball and some was softball size.  If Mike hadn't reacted the way he did, my aunt could have died.  Laying there bleeding and battered, being pummeled by that hail couldn't have been good for her.  Adam, Cole, Mike, and Rick Belcher were able to get my aunt back to one of their houses where they were able to tend to her wounds.  From there they put her in a truck, but the roads were blocked with fallen trees.  From what I have been told, Rick drove wherever there a place to go; road, fields, wherever to get her to an ambulance.

Of course, no one can say for sure what would have happened if thise four guys hadn't shown up that day and helped my aunt, but I do know that if they hadn't the possibility of further injury and possible death increased greatly.  I have spoken with a few of these guys and have thanked them and they are like most of the people in our small town, they don't like the attention and they feel that they did only what was needed and expected.  That they did what anyone else in that given situation might do, that may be true, but they were there and they acted bravely.