Henryville, IN is my hometown....

I was so consumed with our severe weather warnings here in Tennessee, that I had no idea what had hit my hometown of Henryville, IN... until my mama called.  Her first question was if we were ok.  The news was full of severe weather all around the South and Midwest.  We heard later on the national news that over 100 tornadoes had touched ground across the U.S. within 48 hours.  She next told me that my high school and town that I had known since 4th grade was basically gone.  March 3rd is a day that alot of us will not forget.... it's been a week and I'm just now able to write about it.

I started attending Henryville Elementary in Mrs. Coombs 4th grade class.  She had sheep and a small farm, so we hit it off immediately.  Come to find out she lived down the road from me.  Her farm was in the path of the tornado and as of today, I'm not sure it's still standing.  Mrs. Coombs passed away several years ago.  The tornado took her neighbor, Mr. Hunter.

I had some of the best teachers... Mr. McKay / 5th grade was one of my favorites.  Elementary and High School classrooms are all on the same campus, so when I entered Jr. High, we just went across the hall.  When I entered High School, we just went across another hall.  I always loved our small school.  Everyone basically got to participate in any activity, sport, club or extra-curricular that you wanted.  Even though we were small, we were still able to compete and do pretty well.  We had/have a state award winning band - Henryville High School Golden Band... wow the memories that come flooding back from band camps, practices, competitions... seems like most of the Jr. High/High School was in marching band or color guard.  I started band in 5th grade playing the clarinet.... my folks were so happy when I made color guard in 7th grade - evidently I was a terrible clarinet player - LOL.  Mr. and Mrs. Barber put The Golden Band on the map and they worked our butts off!

I’ve not touched the surface on all the memories that have come flooding back, but I’ve rambled long enough… please pray for this little community of 1,500 people.  Many were employed by the school, many are still with power, water.  I’m going up the end of this month to help with recovery efforts.  I’ll keep you posted… I just know the Lord is going to do some amazing things in this community, just wait…. He is just that good.