Arkansas family finds healing through their tragic loss 10 years after tornado
PULASKI COUNTY, Ark. – On April 27, 2014, a tornado tore through parts of central Arkansas, killing 16 people and leaving dozens injured.
The tornado carved a 41-mile path through Western Pulaski, Faulkner and White Counties leaving devastation in its wake.
Three members of the Tittle family were the first victims of the tornado that night.
Since that day, they have spent time healing and focusing on moving forward, honoring their loved ones with every breath they take.
It has been 10 years, but for Kerry Tittle, every day that passes serves as a reminder.
“Broken dreams and what we once had,” Kerry said.
The tornado touched down in Ferndale in Western Pulaski County, changing their lives forever.
“It was a really strange sort of green to the atmosphere. I saw trees starting to lay down and we ran for the center of the hall,” Kerry said.
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Kerry, her husband Rob and their nine children, the youngest just 7 months old, rushed to get under the stairwell. Before she, Rob and their two daughters, Tori and Rebekah, could make it, the EF-4 tornado slammed into the house wiping it off of the foundation.
“I mean it hit so fast and was over in like seconds,” Kerry recalled.
Rob, 20-year-old Tori and 14-year-old Rebekah did not survive.
“It was gone. It was just all gone,” Kerry said. “I didn’t know what to do. I had crying children. I had a daughter that was going into shock. I was trying to get my wits about me to figure out what was going on.”
Noah Tittle was just nine years old when the tornado hit.
“I remember waking up and everything was just gone,” Noah said. “I went up to my dad and was shaking him wake up wake up and I realized he was gone.”
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The moments that followed were a blur as neighbors and first responders dug through the debris in the dark to reach them.
“People just started to show up that were neighbors, and they made a makeshift triage up in their house,” Kerry said.
“It was a huge community effort to get us out of here, get us to the road and to the hospital. I’m just so grateful for them,” Noah said.
A decade later, the Tittles are still healing.
“Sometimes I’ll sit there and go, ‘Wow, that really did happen.’ You know? It was huge, but it really did happen,” Kerry said.
Tittle said their faith in God has served as a firm foundation for the entire family.
“I found that in those 10 years, my faith has grown more than it ever did in my entire life,” Kerry said.
Each member of the family has processed their trauma in their own way.
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Kerry Tittle founded her organization “Refined Family,” and travels the country comforting others who are suffering.
Her son, Asa, wrote a book to help kids understand grief and Noah volunteers as a firefighter at the same station that came to his rescue all those years ago.
“It helps heal knowing that I am doing something that makes a big difference to people like the first responders and the community came and helped me,” Noah said.
Three of the Tittle daughters are now married, and Kerry’s first grandchild is expected any day.
For Kerry, these are moments that bring immense joy but also carry a heavy sadness.
“You feel like they should be here enjoying it with us,” she said.
The concrete slab where their home stood is a permanent marker of the tragedy that April day, but every step forward serves as a gentle reminder of the beauty that blooms through it all.
“That’s our hope, that’s the hope that’s within us,” Kerry said. “The promises that God has given us that this isn’t our home.”
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