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.

Story After Story of Heroism During the Tornado

Silver Creek baseball coach Joe Decker's wife, Stephanie, saved her children's lives.  I can't imagine what they went through that day and pray for them now.  What a blessing that they all lived.

Read yet another story of heroism and the actions taken by a brave mother.

The Word "Great"

(Wayne and Lenora Hunter)

Tonight at our men's small group study, we had a side conversation about the word "great".  My comments are that the word gets thrown around a little too often today.  This IU team is "great", that is a "great" person, it's so "great" that you are here, etc.

But the following are true examples of "great" people during the tornado that hit Henryville.  This is what they were dealing with in this video, you see it as it destroys "downtown" Henryville and HHS.

Wayne Hunter

(Darrell Gilles and children)

Darrell Gilles

Angel Perry

These are just three examples of the actions of people during the tornado that saved lives.  It is amazing that so few people were killed and injured as the EF 4 tornado slammed into so many communities on March 2, 2012.

Why Does it Take This?

As many people know, a devastating tornado hit my home town, the town where I coach.  Many homes, businesses and the school are gone. 

I was in the school when it was hit.  I believed that this tornado warning was like all other warnings...and I didn't take it seriously.  I went to a window and saw how dark the sky was and decided I needed to take cover just a precaution.  I had received a text message from the girls' basketball coach Josh Conrad that he and his j.v. coach Kyle Lewis were in his office and I decided it might be smart to go there.

As I approached the door, I could hear the wind picking up outside, very loud.  As I shut the door, my ears popped, they popped again and then I heard a loud sound that had to be the wall of the gymnasium exploding.  At that moment, I hit the ground in the office and covered my head and neck.  Within 30 seconds it was over and there was life before that 30 seconds and our "new normal". 

We opened the door of the office and could tell there had been damage to the school, but we didn't know yet how much.  We were afraid to go anywhere because we knew power lines were down and there was suddenly water everywhere from a ruptured water line.  We eventually made our way out of there and I was struck by how much damage had been done to the building.  Tiles down, windows broken and lockers ripped from the wall, if we had students in the halls as is tornado precaution, we would have had a lot of injured and probably deceased students.

My wife teaches in the elementary and my thoughts turned to her.  Our children were in Sellersburg and I didn't think we both got hit so I was calm about that, but I ran out of the school to try and find a way to find my wife.  The destruction that I saw almost stopped me in my tracks...it was something you see in a movie or some other community in Oklahoma, Tuscaloosa, or Joplin.  Seeing no way in to the school and with it beginning to rain again, I turned and ran back into the school about the time that baseball hail started falling from the sky.  We now know it was a second super cell and a second tornado touched down, but much weaker and not where I was.

I eventually made my way to the high school office where the state police escorted us out.  We were told to go to the Henryville Community Center next door to the school.  I ran...I found my wife and we hugged.  We consoled students and adults, we were consoled ourselves and eventually made our way up highway 31 (after all students were spoken for) to meet up with my father in law who took us home.

In the time after the tornado hit until we headed home, I saw more love and caring from people towards each other than I might see in a year total.  Why does it take this?  Why does something life threatening move people to help then....why not before?  Why does it take something like this for perspective on what is important?

The most emotional thing I dealt with after the tornado was thinking of my children.  That morning they had acted like a 7 and 4 year old might.  Whiny, tired, not listening or moving fast enough for me, so I got really upset with them.  I kissed and hugged them before they left, but I let them leave with them thinking I was upset with them.  As I headed to school that day, I thought about if something bad happened to me that the way I acted could be their last memory of me.  After surviving the tornado, those emotions hit me over and over that I could have left them with that memory of me...angry...with them.

So now our community will continue to clean up the mess created by this tornado.  The entire school is gone, I can't see how any of it can be salvaged.  We have about 11 weeks of school left, but right now, we have no idea what lies ahead.  We have lost homes, vehicles, and other stuff, but most of us have what really matters...our family and friends.

Myself by "America's Poet" Edgar Guest

I have to live with myself, and so,
I want to be fit for myself to know.

I want to be able as days go by
Always to look myself straight in the eye.

I don't want to stand with the setting sun
And hate myself for the things I've done.

I don't want to keep on a closet shelf
A lot of secrets about myself.

And fool myself as I come and go
Into thinking that nobody else will know

The kind of man I really am;
I don't want to dress myself up in shame.

I want to go out with my head erect
I want to deserve all men's respect;

But here in this struggle for fame and self,
I want to be able to like myself.

I don't want to think as I come and go
That I am bluster and bluff, and empty show.

I never can hide myself from me
I see what others may never see.

I know what others may never know
I never can fool myself - and so

Whatever happens, I want to be,
Self-respecting, and conscience free.

The Hardest Part About NOT Coaching Next Year

There are as many reasons as you can think of why I decided to not continue on as the head boys' basketball coach at my current school.  Really, you can name something about coaching and I can explain to you why I have reached the end of my rope at this current. time.

However, there are two reasons that makes me upset, sad, lose composure...whatever you want to call it and those are my two kids.  My wife will support me no matter what I do, coach or not, and really, so will my kids.  I finally broke the news to them about a week ago and my son didn't really understand and my daughter was a little upset.  But when I explained to her why I was doing it and what could happen, she was fine with it.  You could tell she was a little upset, but happy because I was.

But...they had become so much a part of what we were doing.  My daughter would wear her cheerleading outfit for every game.  She would either cheer or not with the high school cheerleaders, but at the games the cheerleaders didn't cheer...she would.  Hard.  Loud.  With all her heart.  I would catch myself during the games watching her impressed at her tumbling abilities and the piercing of her shrill screams when the other team was on the free throw line.

And my son, there isn't a gym he hasn't been in that he doesn't think he owns.  My wife told me that he was extremely impatient to get going to the games and when he would come into the gym his jacket would go flying and he would go right to the middle of the court to grab a basketball to start dribbling.  He would continue to do that until the night was over.  He was in and out of the locker room, he would be in our huddle, he would be giving our players high fives (they seemed to love having him around, and he looked up to them as his heroes.

Knowing that I was taking that away from them was hard, it still is.  I feel I am taking something from them that is not just part of their life, but a fun, important part of their life.  I have had people tell me that I cannot continue to coach just for that reason if it was going to make me miserable, and I agree.  But it really bothers me.  I guess I know that this isn't it for me.  That I will be an assistant at some point and may even coach them.  I do have a key to a gym 24/7 and they will be around the games, but it won't be the same.  They may not notice a difference, but it will be different......to me.