Many of the stories told about the Quad States Tornado begin on the night of December 10, 2021. It was, after all, the night that changed everything for nearly everyone in Western Kentucky.
But not this story.
This story’s roots trace back several years to 2016, to a thousand-year flood in West Virginia that killed 15 people and washed away homes, businesses, and the hopes and dreams of many people.
During that disaster, an architect and businessman named Tom Crabtree stepped up to bring hope. He worked with local non-profits to begin immediately rebuilding homes for those who were displaced. What came of that initiative was Hope Village, a housing community built and gifted to its residents.
This story’s roots also snake and wind themselves to Mayfield, Kentucky…a state over…a few years after the West Virginia flood. They find their way to Taylor Massey, who, in 2021 was hard at work with her parents renovating a home for her to live in, just down from her parents’ home on the same street she’d grown up on. And to Francisco Rios’ home on Sixth Street in Mayfield…the one he’d lived in for 18 years and that he was just recently able to purchase from his landlord, making him an official homeowner.
And then the roots of this story are upended and pulled out of the ground by the mile wide tornado that bulldozed through four states, taking from us what Mother Nature had taken from West Virginia…our neighbors, our homes, our businesses, our towns and yes, our hopes and dreams, too.
Tom Crabtree, and his brother, David, recognized that Mayfield would need the same rebuilding effort that had helped West Virginia get back on its feet. And they knew just the two people in Mayfield that could make that happen.
Joe Orr, a retired Army General, had recently sold his home on Kentucky Lake to David, and it took the Crabtrees only two days after the tornado to get on the phone to Joe.
“I got a call from David and he said ‘My brother is going to call you. You’re the right guy. You’re hired,’ ” Joe recalls.
In just a few days, Joe found himself on a Zoom call with the Crabtrees, leaders of the Mennonite Disaster Service, members of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, and local community leader, Heather Nesler.
From that call, Heather says that Homes and Hope for Kentucky took off quickly. They set up a nonprofit, gathered volunteers and began literally walking what was left of the streets in Mayfield trying to find homeowners who needed help.
It’s there that they met Taylor Massey and her parents, who had ridden out the tornado huddled together in Taylor’s shower, in the home they’d just finished renovating.
“We were not expecting at all what we ended up going through,” Taylor remembers. “The lights went out first and you could hear everything start to smash through. I was on the phone with my sister and my phone flew out of my hand. The shower started to cave in.”
“I’m a Christian so I was praying and asking God to please help us live. When the shower started to cave more, I assumed we weren’t going to make it, so I asked for forgiveness.”
“Then it stopped. Everything was everywhere. We couldn’t tell where we were,” she says.
The Massey family had all lived on Cardinal Road for a long time. Taylor had grown up on this road. When they were able to dig themselves out of Taylor’s home, they went next door to check on their neighbors. And then they went to the house after that.
“The rest of the night we went down the road trying to help people,” Taylor says.
They helped a Hispanic family navigate out of their tattered home and over a tree and downed power lines that were blocking their street. Taylor’s mom translated for the family and Taylor gave the mother her shoes to wear. Taylor and her dad found an elderly neighbor who was injured. She covered him with her sweatshirt and her dad found some other debris to keep him warm. Taylor stayed with the man for two hours until EMTs arrived.
When Taylor learned that Homes and Hope for Kentucky would be able to rebuild her home for her, on the same tract where she’d lived, the gift had an even deeper meaning.
“Getting the opportunity to have this house again is such a blessing for my family because we don’t want to leave the road now,” she says. “I grew up on this road and it means so much to me.”
“I didn’t realize how much it meant until after this.”
On January 28, 2022, Taylor became one of the first five recipients of a new home through Homes and Hope for Kentucky. Francisco Rios was another.
After living in his home for 17 years as a renter, Francisco had been able to purchase it for himself just last year, making him a homeowner. During the tornado, large trees had fallen on Francisco’s home with him, his brother, and brother-in-law inside.
“Three trees coming down and the roots moved the foundation, made a hole in the roof,” he said. “My garage was destroyed completely.”
“Inspection looked at it and said it was no good for living no more.”
The Homes and Hope for Kentucky team have already taken Francisco’s home down, making room for his new one on Sixth Street.
They all stood together on the site of the first home that had been taken down for the project, along with city and state leaders, to say they had the first five homes planned with a goal of 95 more.
“That was full-circle and it was so amazing to see the families and all through the stages how positive they’ve been, how thankful and humble that they’ve been,” Heather says.
“It’s been wonderful to be able to see progress so quickly and for them to be able to remain so hopeful throughout all of this.”
For Heather and Joe, who lead a whole team of volunteers who make this progress possible, they share in the gratitude of homeowners like Taylor and Francisco.
“Mayfield and Graves County has been my home my whole life and so it is extra special to be a part of that,” Heather says.
“It’s humbling, exciting, and very rewarding,” Joe says. As a retired Army General, he knows something of rewarding work.
“My son, a Lieutenant Colonel in Alaska, said he was concerned because I am supposed to be retired and resting. I told him the truth. I said, ‘Son, this is the most rewarding thing I’ve done since I took my uniform off.‘”
“I get to meet every one of these families. Every one of them is a different story. All of them are unique, but they all have a common thread,” he says.
“Mayfield is their home. They want to be back in Mayfield.”
“This week I’m bringing in the first seven families to meet with leadership to try to make that home personal to them. That’s the detail that this program gets into to really help family members recover from a loss of everything they have. Very few people were able to get much of anything out of their homes. In some cases, I’ve taken a house down with everything that person ever thought was important and put it on the curb,” Joe says.
“That’s gut-wrenching, but when I can sit them down and start going over what kind of materials they want and they can make that house personal to them…it takes a lot to make me tear up. I have teared up quite a bit.”
“It’s been a fascinating journey.”
A journey, Joe knows, that wouldn’t have been possible without the disaster in West Virginia that started it all.
“We could never be where we are today without the help of Tom Crabtree,” Joe says. “He brought us three Amish leaders from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. We couldn’t be where we are at without that kind of organizational skill that came and showed us what right looked like.”
For Taylor, the hope that Homes and Hope for Kentucky has brought to her and her family is representative of how the community she loves will be able to rebuild better than ever.
“The moment my foot walked out of that shower, I was immediately grateful to be alive,” she says. “And every step of the way since then has been nothing but a very grateful step because every person that I’ve crossed paths with have told me they loved me or showed me some sort of help or love.”
