Scars from the Tornado (16 page)

Two stories
stood out to me and both of them began on the same day. I wrote about the first
one in a Daily Kos diary. A seventh grader from New York City had read about
Joplin Schools in posts I had written for my blog and decided she had to do
something to help.

With the
consent of officials at her middle school, the young lady began a book drive
and collected more than 100 books for my classroom.

With all of
the frenzy at the beginning of the school year, I did not open the box until a
couple of months later and almost overlooked the young lady’s handwritten note
at the bottom of the box. Her books hold a prominent place on my shelves and
will continue to do so when he make the move to the new East Middle School
several months from now.

On the same
day I finally read the seventh grader’s letter, I found a letter addressed to
me in the faculty
mail room
. The letter, written with
immaculate penmanship came from an 86-year-old woman named Jane Brunet from
Santa Barbara, Calif. It included a $25 check. Mrs. Brunet said she had read
about what had happened to my school and wanted to do something to help my
classroom. She apologized for sending so little, noting that she was living on
a fixed income and told me she would send more when she received her next
check.

As much as I
appreciated the thought, I was not going to allow this wonderful woman to spend
any more of her money on us. I put the $25 to good use, buying materials for our
third quarter research project on the civil rights movement. After that, I had
my students write thank-you letters, both to Jane Brunet and the seventh
grader, who coincidentally also had the first name Jane.

In a personal
message to Mrs. Brunet, I told her we did not need more money, but what we did
want was to establish a pen pal relationship with her to help teach the
students the value of writing letters.

Since that
time, scarcely a week has gone by that we have not heard from Mrs. Brunet and
her postcards, all featuring the scenic beauty of Santa Barbara, are always a
hit with my students. We have shared holidays, school news, family news, and
toward the end of 2012, we received a card in which Mrs. Brunet said she would
be undergoing a heart procedure.

That worried
us. A staple of the 2012-2013 school year has been receiving personalized
postcards from Mrs. Brunet, who determined at the beginning of the year that
she was going to write to each of the students who wrote her. We had received
five or six such postcards when we heard about the impending surgery.

After
Christmas, I found a thick envelope containing 25 postcards. Not only was Mrs.
Brunet back to writing long, personalized messages to the students,
but
she shared that she had turned out to be in much better
shape than originally thought, and the doctors had determined the surgery was
not necessary.

Since that
time, the postcards have continued to arrive. In the big scheme of things, it
may not mean much, but to this teacher and to the students of East Middle
School, one of the positive things that came out of the tornado was the
knowledge that there were people out there who genuinely cared about us.

Every time we
see that familiar handwriting accompanied by a postcard picture of Santa
Barbara we receive that message all over again.

We may be
situated in a far off the beaten path warehouse, far from civilization.

But we will
never be alone.

ABOUT THE
AUTHOR

R
ANDY
T
URNER
is an
eighth grade English teacher at Joplin East Middle School and has taught in the
Joplin School District for 10 years. Prior to becoming a teacher, he spent two
decades as a newspaper reporter and editor. He is the co-author of 5:41:
Stories from the Joplin Tornado and Spirit of Hope: The Year After the Joplin
Tornado, and has written two other non-fiction books and three novels.

DON’T MISS THESE OTHER BOOKS BY RANDY TURNER

5:41: STORIES FROM THE JOPLIN TORNADO co-authored with John
Hacker

SPIRIT OF
HOPE: THE YEAR AFTER THE JOPLIN TORNADO
co-authored with John Hacker

DON’T MISS THESE OTHER BOOKS FROM DROP CAP PUBLISHING

TREASURE OF TRUTHS by Rebecca Haines

COMING SOON A SUMMER OF HEROES by Matthew C. Dyer

PRAISE FOR BOOKS BY RANDY TURNER 5:41: STORIES FROM THE
JOPLIN TORNADO

“This
is an outstanding book, it is a must read if you are from the area near Joplin.
The stories presented are moving.”

“A
true heartfelt journal of survivors and their stories. A true must for anyone
that has been affected by this, survivors; family; or volunteers.”

SPIRIT OF HOPE: THE YEAR AFTER THE JOPLIN TORNADO

“There
is masterful storytelling in these pages - the story of a city that endured
crisis together.”

“A
book well worth the time to read and keep on the shelf for future reference.”