Tampa Bay Times from St. Petersburg, Florida • 44

TORNADOES IN PINELLAS: ONE YEAR LATER Homes rife nop coinro Pamelas Park irulbbS Six families are living again on Elmhurst Drive, a year after a tornado destroyed 10 homes there. By MONICA DAVEY Timet Staff Writer Lost and Found In the confusing weeks last year after the tornadoes upended lives and lifestyles, a number of readers sent items to the Times. Two strips of film taken at a wedding. A smiling man with two young children. A yellowed photograph of a stern-faced man.

A letter dated June 23, 1959, that begins: "I was so happy to get your letter today. I lust cried when I read that you are going to come home to see me." Can there be more personal evidence of the storm's destructiveness? If you recognize any of these, contact Alicia Olazabal at the Times at 893-8215. A day later, he found out what devastation was. "The next day, my whole house was wiped out," Welch said. "I remember standing in the front yard thinking, 'Yesterday, I was so upset about my job, and now everything's It was humbling.

"It put things in perspective," Welch said. "I guess it happened for a purpose." A year later, Welch has been promoted into Leverock's corporate offices. He, his 26-year-old wife, Amy, and their 2-year-old son, Brandon, share their new, larger house with a better deal on mortgage payments. "The tornado made me realize the Lord just kind of makes things happen for a purpose," said Welch, whose church, Central Christian, gave the couple towels, sheets and kitchen items right after the storm. "I think it changed my life and put me closer to God." 11 150 Elmhurst Drive If anyone was going to have a tough time building a house, it should have been Pete Bruno.

He has the personality to handle adversity. A comedian to the end, Bruno probably would have laughed if his contractor built the house backwards or if his insurance company refused to pay a dime. As it happened, rebuilding went smoothly for Bruno, his wife and their two children. Please see HOMES Page 5 followed the stories of these families as they have tried to handle haunting memories and to rebuild their homes. Today, one lot stands empty, three families are still trying to finish their homes and six families have moved into rebuilt houses.

Something else was built on Elmhurst Drive in the past year, too: friendships. Said resident Bob Palmer: "Everybody just helped everybody, and it was a good feeling." 11010 Elmhurst Drive A dozen little green bananas are ripening behind Derrel and Loretta Gordon's new house. The Gordons never expected to see another piece of the fruit come out of their yard. In the tornado, the Gordons' 35-foot-tall banana tree had whipped around and around and finally was torn from its roots in the tornado. They thought their 12-year-old pride and joy was dead for sure.

As the Gordons made their daily stops to check on the progress of their new house, they noticed something else rising from the "Sprouts started coming up and coming up," said Derrel Gordon, a 49-year-old salesman, who moved back here in February. "It was son of banana tree. "We lost a lot, but we survived it," said Gordon. "And that banana tree, it's going to outlive us all." 1 1 020 Elmhurst Drive At night, Ricky and Sherry Reed's house was the only light around for a long time. The first family to finish rebuilding, the Reeds and their two children moved in January, a lonely time to be on Elmhurst Drive.

"It was eerie," said Reed, a 37-year-old E-Systems employee who was injured in the tornado. "But I wanted my life to get back to normal as soon as possible. I figured as soon as I get in my house, I'll be back normal. So I was fast." 1 1 1 10 Elmhurst Drive Elmhurst Drive holds several theories on the can-it-happen-here-again question. There are those who take cover when they hear low-flying planes or see tornado warnings flash across their television sets.

Perhaps the area is more prone to twisters, they suggest. Others, including Mary Ledford, aren't too worried. "Not really," said Ledford, sitting beside the swimming pool behind her new house. "What are the chances? We've had ours." 11130 Elmhurst Drive David Welch has come to believe that things happen the way they're supposed to. The day before the storm, the 30-year-old took a demotion in his job at Leverock's Seafood House.

He was devastated by that blow. PINELLAS PARK On this little curve of Elmhurst Drive, residents will throw a block party today to celebrate the anniversary of a tornado. It was a storm that raged down their street, crushing their homes, toppling their trees and tossing their cars upside down. A strange event to memorialize with a party. But maybe not.

"People have said, 'What is there to celebrate said Mary Ledford, a resident of the block. For a while, Ledford wondered, too. Then she reconsidered. "There were people who lost their lives in the tornado," Ledford said of the four Pinellas residents who died. "No one died on our block.

We lost a lot of things, but everyone's alive." Ten neighboring families on the west side of Elmhurst Drive suffered some of the worst damage of the twister, which caused tens of millions of dollars in property damage. All 10 houses were destroyed. Several of the neighbors were injured. The Times has Older from Page 1 1 1 I I Vt--. -v- 3 jm-'- ,5 f'jIL- Timet file photo Not much was left of James Abrams 46-year-old home after the storm.

From bamatSi th mbM, a commiamiiv blossoms Timet photo FRASER HALE Charles and Mary McGrath: Their life together was torn asunder last Oct 3. it easier for her husband, who if he did return would need a wheelchair because of his crushed legs, she says. But he never came home. Now Mrs. McGrath has moved on with her life.

She bowls, volunteers and is part of a hobby group at her park. She watches football games on television and enjoys visits from her three children. Her home is around the corner from the site of her old home and has the new feel of a model house. All that could be salvaged from the rubble were several religious pictures, a religious statue, a kitchen chair and her sewing machine. Dansville pulled together even more after the big storm a year ago.

With local and volunteer help, the community is getting back on its feet. Sanders from Page 1 couple would ever share were suddenly gone. People who prided themselves on never needing anyone's help were relying on friends and strangers for food, clothes, shelter. Some faced a "we-know-what's-best-for-you" attitude from adult children who often tried to reverse roles and become parents to their own parents. A lifetime of memories photos packed in shoeboxes, great-grandma's crystal stemware, mementos of love from children and grandchildren all lost.

"I've noticed some have taken on a more morbid view of life," says Judy Fitzgerald, 54, a sales consultant at Park Royale, which lost 72 of its 309 homes. "They saw homes destroyed. They lost their friends. The shock was more than some could handle." People who survived the Depression and wars now fear the gathering darkness of a summer storm. When the no-name storm of March hit late at night, park residents drifted to Park Royale's community center for support and an impromptu therapy session.

"I don't think some of us will ever get over it," says Irene De-Palma, 55, who lost her home to the tornadoes. Mrs. DePalma says some neighbors even feel guilty because they survived the storm without losing a thing. The tornadoes cut through the back lots of Park Roy-ale, but left the front unscathed. "The residents up front were great.

They helped out their neighbors," says Judy Fitzgerald. "We had many people hurt, and some just wandering and confused." Suddenly being without a home or losing a spouse or friend is trying on anyone, regardless of age. "Mentally, older people go, through the same kinds of things as younger people," says Valerie O'Berry, a spokeswoman for Neighborly Senior Services, which serves many elders in Pinellas. They get depressed over their loss or wonder if they will recover. But people who studied the elderly after hurricanes Hugo and Andrew found many suffered the mental and physical effects longer than younger people.

The feeling of loss is harder to shake when you are closer to the end of life and often settled in routines. Also, physical injuries can take more of a toll on the elderly, exacerbating existing problems. Charles McGrath already had a weak heart and had fought off pneumonia in the year before the tornadoes, Mrs. McGrath says. When he was at Bayfront, "he seemed to rally at times, but maybe I always knew in the back of my mind he wouldn't make it," she says.

But Mrs. McGrath planned. Her new mobile home at Park Royale was built with a wider door to the bathroom. This would make By SABRINA MILLER Tinwt SteW Writer As rain fell from a blinding black sky, Charles McGrath looked up at his wife and uttered a prophecy: "I'll never recover from this." i id K. -A.

NN 1 1 i results within minutes after it blew through his street. "Cole was great for a month after the tornado," Mrs. Harmon says. "Then he had a delayed reaction. He became absolutely petrified when there was a storm.

Just last week, he called me at work and said, 'Mommy, it's thunder and The Harmons lived in a three-room apartment for three months. "We missed our house, our boat, our backyard pool," she said. "But some nice things happened. A couple in Texas 'adopted' the kids and sent checks so we could buy presents. Some members of Pioneers of America appeared in the doorway one day, with Christmas turkey dinner and more presents for the kids.

And somebody anonymous knew all our clothes had been ruined and sent children's things all in the right sizes!" The family expected to go back to their house. But their purchase agreement with the landlord did not hold up, and they could not find anything in the old neighborhood at a price they could afford. "But we did good. We budgeted. We got back on our feet," Mrs.

Harmon said. But they no longer felt at home on 63rd Way. "The first days after the tornado everybody pulled together," she said. "Then they didn't seem to be so friendly anymore. We felt like renters.

"My daughter still has friends she goes to see back there. But now it's all I can do to drive through the old neighborhood." They moved to Largo. "It's not as nice a house in an older neighborhood. But we're a closer family since the tornado," Mrs. Harmon said.

"We don't try to keep up with the neighbors anymore. We've got better values now. This has been a good move for our family." LARGO There was a peculiar rain that day. A miserable, steady drizzle falling from a gloomy, gray sky. Something bad was poised to happen.

That's what Dansville resident Lula Welch thought last Oct. 3 when she peered out of the window of her small home on 134th Avenue at Oak Street, where she lived with her pet chihuahua, Rocky. She dismissed the feeling and went back to her normal Saturday morning routine. Welch still felt something was wrong when she cooked some hamburger for Rocky, who doesn't eat dog food. He wouldn't eat it.

"Rocky felt it, too," she said. "He felt that something bad was going to happen." In a matter of seconds, the wind picked up, the sky got dark and trees began uprooting. The same tornado that swept through Pinellas Park and Largo, killing four people, also touched down in Dansville, destroying 26 homes. "It was just horrible," she said, eyes misting at the memory. Welch said she grabbed Rocky, dropped to her knees and prayed, begging the Lord not to take her house, her only possession.

A year later, surrounded by volunteers outside of what will be her new home in about a month, Welch said she never imagined that the storm would prove to be a blessing for her and scores of her neighbors. Pinellas County's community development agency spearheaded "Rebuild Danville," a long-term, multimillion-dollar project designed to upgrade the area. One phase of that project is the rebuilding of a dozen homes. The Mid-County Interfaith Disaster Response Team, an integral part of the rebuilding, supplied building materials and coordinated volunteer efforts, which are ongoing. Several homes have been completed.

Dansville is alive with activity, with another handful of houses in various states of construction. Many agree that the storm made the already close-knit community, where almost everyone is related, pull even closer. They cooked for each other. They cleared debris and made repairs on each other's homes. In addition to the county's involvement, the outpouring of support following the storm has given the community renewed zeal for the future.

Residents formed the Dansville Rehab Committee, which works closely with the county on proposals for neighborhood improvement. Some also work On her morning walks, Mrs. McGrath passes the site of her former home, where another person has moved in a mobile home. "It's a little strange," she says. It makes her remember that morning in October, the one when she and her husband passed on their usual routine of grocery shopping because of the rain.

It makes her remember how they decided to take naps that Saturday morning, and how Charles took the bedroom because he liked to spread out She took the couch on the porch. Some minutes later, there was darkness. Wind whipped in the blinds, and then the house fell around her. Mrs. McGrath's life was never the same.

"When people say, 'I'm too old to I just look at them and say, 'I'm 78. My whole life has changed says Mrs. McGrath, whose neighbors praise her strength. "And I'm still here." Timet photo JOAN KADEL FENTON In his new kitchen, James Abrams, 85, talks with grandson Jimmie Lee Love, who helped pull Abrams from the wreckage. closely with Friends of Ridgecrest, another neighborhood group.

Residents also are working with a group formed to open a community center for area children. Jim Abrams, 85, feels blessed to be alive. His home collapsed on top of him as he reclined in the living room. As the crumbling, brick chimney and other debris began spiraling toward his head, Abrams said he started "yelling like a billy goat" for someone to pull him out. Because of swift help from Abrams' grandson, Jimmie Lee Love, and neighbors, he escaped with a minor head injury.

The months that followed were rough, Abrams said. Not only was the house he worked so hard to build in 1946 destroyed, but he feared he would be forced to leave the area. Relatives couldn't decide whether Abrams, who has lived in the area since 1944, would live in Fort Lauderdale with his daughter or Oklahoma with his son. In the end, Love, 34, decided to rebuild the house so that he and "Big Jim" could stay together. In about one week, they are scheduled to move in.

"I just feel like the good Lord has blessed me," Abrams said. "I'm just glad to be here." The skies no longer look looks gray to Lula Welch, or her sisters, Sarah Jones and Helen Harris. (Stem 1.800-3884637 SUBSCRIBE TODAY.