Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Children, seniors among 23 killed in massive Ala. tornado
BEAUREGARD, Ala. — At least 23 people, ranging from 6 to 89 years old, died Sunday when a massive tornado slammed into the small community of Beauregard.
Here are some of their stories:
Sheila Creech and Marshal Lynn Grimes: Creech, 59, had been staying at companion Grimes’ home in Alabama while damage from Hurricane Michael was being repaired at her Panama City Beach, Fla., apartment building, her granddaughter said.
Creech and Grimes, also 59, had a tumultuous history, granddaughter Desteni Clifton told the Montgomery Advertiser.
As a young couple, they had two children together, before moving on to new relationships and having more children with other partners, Clifton said.
Two years ago, the internet brought Creech and Grimes back together. They rekindled their romance, even planning marriage.
They had been camping over the weekend, bringing along Taylor Thornton, a friend of Grimes’ 11-yearold daughter, Clifton said.
Grimes’ daughter broke both her legs when the tornado hit, Clifton said.
Taylor Thornton, 10, was among four young children killed by the tornado, authorities said.
Taylor had been camping with a friend over the weekend, and she was still at the other girl’s Beauregard home when the tornado hit.
Her father rushed to the scene when there was no word from Taylor. He found only his daughter’s friend and tried to comfort her.
David Thornton refused to leave until his daughter was found, his wife, Ashley Thornton, said.
“He said, ‘The only way I am leaving is with her,’ ” his wife said. “He carried her out from where she was at.”
David Wayne Dean: He was known as “Roaddog” to his friends for his love of Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
His wife, Carol Dean, was at work when the tornado hit. Dean, 53, was in their mobile home, texting a friend to beware the storm approaching the Alabama-Georgia line. His body was found on the other side of an embankment in the neighbor’s yard.
“Our son found him,” she said between sobs. “He was done and gone before we got to him. My life is gone. He was the reason I lived, the reason that I got up.”
Armando Hernandez Jr.:
An energetic 6-year-old, Armando was known to everyone as “AJ,” his grandfather said.
“He kept a smile on his face all the time,” Bobby Kidd said in a WIAT-TV report.
On Sunday, AJ took shelter in a closet with his 10-year-old brother, Jordan. Their father, Steven, “said he could feel his ears start popping,” Kidd said. “The house exploded and the force of the tornado snatched both the kids away from them.”
Authorities found AJ’s body. His brother and father remained hospitalized Monday in stable condition, Kidd said.
Emmanuel, Jimmy Lee and Mary Louise Jones: Jackie Jones got worried when she saw television reports that said the worst of Sunday’s storm was passing close to the Beauregard house where her parents and two brothers lived.
“I decided I’d call down to the house, and I didn’t get no answer,” she said. “The phone just rang and rang and rang.”
That left her unsettled and she called her other siblings to say she feared something was wrong.
She was right. Her parents’ house had been sheared down to its foundation. Her parents, 83year-old Mary Louise and 89-year-old Jimmy Lee Jones, and her brother, 53-year-old Emmanuel Jones, were dead.
Another brother also living in the home, Benjamin Jones, 56, survived.
Mary Louise and Jimmy Lee were “ordinary folks” who had been married more than 60 years and had worked on a farm when they were younger, Jackie Jones said.