‘Above all else, love each other’: A community gathers a year after tornado kills 6

A year to the minute since an EF4 tornado tore through Madison County — a collection of country hamlets where family and community are one and the same — a chorus of voices joined to sing “Amazing Grace.”

“‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,” sang those packed in the pews at New Bridge Church, where neighbors had assembled in the disaster’s immediate aftermath to feed and clothe those touched by the storm.

“And grace will lead me home.”

For the gathered, a difficult year of recovery and healing has been possible only through their neighbors’ profuse grace and a deeply personal, unabating love of home — both of which were once again on display at a memorial ceremony Sunday evening.

“Through the loss of life, the devastation and the destruction, we sought hope,” said the Rev. Rebecca Hornback, whose words of welcome at the start of the service were marked by quiet sniffling and the rustling of tissues. “And today as we come together once again to honor the lives lost, to continue to heal and together we look forward in hope.”

For three hours in the early evening on March 5, 2022, central Iowa was gripped by a series of strong storms, including the EF4 tornado that ripped through Winterset, the deadliest twister to hit the state since 2008 when eight people were killed in Parkersburg and New Hartford.

With windspeeds reaching 170 miles an hour, the Winterset tornado damaged at least 52 homes, injured dozens and left six community members dead: Rodney Clark, 64; Cecelia Lloyd, 72; Melissa Bazley, 63; Michael Bolger, 37; Kinlee Bolger, 5; and Owen Bolger, 2.

Melissa Bazley’s daughter Kuri Bolger, son-in-law Michael, and grandchildren Brysen, Kinlee and Owen, who had made the trip up from their home in Missouri to see her new house, took shelter in a pantry when the storm hit.

As the dust cleared, only Kuri and Brysen were left alive.

“In remembrance of my mom, Mike, Kinlee and Owen, please remember to support and accept others, help anyone in need, do what makes you happy and live fearlessly, trust God and know that he has a purpose,” Kuri wrote in a speech read by Diogenes “Dio” Ayala, Madison County’s Emergency Management director. “And above all else, love each other.”

Even though local meteorologists had been warning of possible severe weather for that weekend, the ferocity of the storms and the savagery of their ruin captured many by surprise.

The twister that took her husband’s life and eviscerated her house came out of nowhere, Judy Clark said after the service.

“I am so thankful for the people of this community,” she said. “I look around and I see so many people I don’t know, but who are here to support me and my family.”

“I know that this today has helped me a lot, but I think we all needed it to heal and to move on.”

Just outside Winterset’s town square, trees still twisted and snarled, branches pressed to the ground as though they’d been ironed, act as reminders of the storm system that cut a 160-mile-long scar and left an estimated $1 billion in damages in its wake.

But for those at the memorial, nearly as tangible are the memories of the Iowans who wanted to help, to lend a chainsaw to the cause. Scenes of neighbors down on hands and knees scouring rubble and sorting possessions played out all across disaster zones in Madison, Polk, Warren and Lucas Counties.

So proliferous were the volunteers in Madison County that emergency crews quickly organized two shifts, busing people to affected areas in a donated Winterset school bus. As the temperature dropped and snow started to fall, volunteers kept showing up.

When Stephanie Craig first heard that a tornado had hit her Aunt Cecelia and Uncle Tommy’s home, she said she immediately started making plans: The first to get to Winterset as quickly as possible, and the second to possibly bring her uncle back home with her to Texas.

By the time she was able to get to the property two days later, most of the debris had been cleared. Neighbors had brought in machinery for heavy lifting and the entire high school basketball team had gathered what salvageable belongings they could.

And when Tom Llyod was finally released from the hospital, “we couldn't take him anywhere without people loving on him, talking to him and making sure he knew how they felt about him,” Craig said.

She knew then that she wasn’t going to have to bring him home, she said.

He already was home.

Courtney Crowder, the Register's Iowa Columnist, traverses the state's 99 counties telling Iowans' stories. Reach her at ccrowder@dmreg.com or 515-284-8360. Follow her on Twitter @courtneycare.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Winterset tornado: One year later, Madison County gathers to remember