The Tennessean

Copyright 2008

Jimmy Shaw lost his life in the February 5 twister, which claimed 14 lives and damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes in its 16-minute, 19-mile long rampage across Macon County.

Yet, said Shaw's son Adam, the family realized that there are reasons for thankfulness to be found in their collective heartache.

“There were churches from other states and friends of our relatives that we don't even know...there were so many people that helped us out with clothes or food or money,” Adam Shaw said.

It goes as far as complete strangers chipping in and trying to help,” he said. “We're so thankful for that.”

All in all, the February 5 tornado destroyed about 235 homes in the county, and damaged dozens more. Officials say the county has issued 122 building permits to storm victims. Others bought homes that were already standing.

As of this month, the federal government has pumped more than $4.1 million into Macon County, more than half of that in the form of low-interest loans issued by the Small Business Administration. About two in three people who applied for federal aid got nothing.

“People didn't sit around and wait for FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and TEMA (Tennessee Emergency Management Agency) to come do the work for them,” said Macon County Mayor Shelvy Linville. “The very next morning, the work started. Neighbors were helping neighbors, and friends were helping friends.”

“Everybody thinks, ‘Well, it's been nine months - everybody ought to have recovered by now,'” said minister Terry Gillim, who chairs the Long Term Recovery Committee of Macon County. “it is such a devastating thing to lose your home or a loved one...some people are still suffering in a very serious way.”

Jimmy Shaw's name joins others on a simple granite shrine on the courthouse square in downtown Lafayette honoring those who died in the storm.

His loss is one that his family is still absorbing. The popular local businessman was leading his wife, Clydette, and their daughter Amie to the basement when the storm plowed through their Fox Chase Lane home.

Clydette and Amie survived their injuries; the family's 53-year-old patriarch did not.

“This will be the first holiday season we've not all four had each other,” said 20-year-old Adam, who was away at college when tornado hit. “It's going to be different for years, settling in without a member of the family.”

Still, he said, they're inching toward some degree of normalcy.

“Settling in has been a slow process,” he said. “We're so close-knit...we're getting back to a regular way of life.”

Donna Johnson and her three children will be able to eat Thanksgiving dinner in a new home - a real home that belongs to them. The red, one-story house is no palace; a single mom, twin teen-age daughters Kelsey and Kaitlin, and a son in a wheelchair will fill three bedrooms and two baths pretty quickly.

But it's far better than the government-owned singlewide trailer they had called home since June. Before moving into the mobile home, they spent more than three months living with a friend after the tornado took their home.

Johnson and her family hope their new home will bring a sense of closure that they haven't been able to achieve sleeping under borrowed roofs.

They weren't at their Tuck Road home when the storm wiped it off the map.

“I kept thinking, ‘It's just a storm. It's just a storm,” said Johnson's son, Ryan Fishburn, who rode it out at a friend's house. “It was not.”

The Johnson's new home was built by Habitat for Humanity volunteers with wide doors and halls and ramps at its entrances to make it easier for Ryan to get around with his motorized wheelchair, something that was a real challenge in the single wide trailer.

As 18-year-old Ryan watched volunteers paint drywall and prep floors for carpet a few weekends ago, he said moving into the new house would be a key part of his recovery.

“It was hard,” he said of the transition to new living arrangements, “but I had friends that helped me out a lot.

“Once this house gets done, things will be back to normal.

“I think we are getting close to normal as a community,” said Marcus Smith, a building contractor who volunteered his own time to help build the Johnson's' new home. “Some people will never be normal.”

“During this whole time, the community has really pulled together emotionally. It's been amazing,” said Linville.