Jeff and Stacey Billingsley count themselves blessed, despite seeing their home crushed by a towering oak tree during the devastating May 22 Joplin tornado.
Jeff pointed to several strokes of fate that spared them further misery:
— Had the tornado arrived minutes earlier, it’s likely that they would have been caught in traffic en route to Freeman Medical Center, where Jeff works as a respiratory therapist.
— The EF5-rated twister tore a gash six miles long through the heart of Joplin, but missed Freeman by scant blocks.
— Had they sought shelter in their home, they likely would not have escaped injury-free because their hiding spot — an interior hallway — was literally split in half by one of the huge oak’s branches.
— And despite the extensive damage, the possibility exists they will be able to repair their home, rather than rebuild entirely. “We’ll find out from our insurance adjuster,” Jeff said.
The Billingsleys, who are staying with relatives in Iola while finding a permanent home, recounted their story with the Register.
MAY 22 had been a busy day for the family. Stacey, a high school English, drama and speech instructor in nearby Diamond (Mo.), had just returned home from commencement ceremonies there. Jeff, meanwhile, was preparing for his shift at Freeman, which began at 6 p.m.
As reports began to filter in about storm warnings in Parsons, the family took notice. The storms were headed straight for Joplin. Jeff and Stacey decided they all would be best served at the medical center because their home contained no basement or storm-proof shelter. Stacey loaded daughters Stephanie, 13, and Kirstin, who turns 2 in August, and followed her husband to the hospital.
They arrived minutes before the mammoth storm struck. Stacey and the girls sought refuge in an interior hallway, Jeff in a stairwell in a parking garage.
As Jeff emerged from the parking garage and headed to his office, he heard on Freeman’s public address system a page for “Dr. Aster,” the hospital’s code to notify staff that a disaster response plan was in effect.
Jeff immediately reported to Freeman’s emergency room.
“We still didn’t know just how bad it was,” he said.
THE SHEER SCOPE of the disaster soon became crystal clear, as the wounded began arriving at the hospital in droves. Some walked in. Others came aboard ambulances.
But the primary mode of transportation seemed to be in the back of pickup trucks. Complicating matters was the news that nearby St. John’s Regional Medical Center took a direct hit from the tornado and was “off the grid.” Many of its patients also were shipped to Freeman.
The injuries were as gruesome as one might expect.
“We had people impaled, broken bones, blood everywhere,” Jeff said. “It was like the most gruesome disaster movie you’d ever seen, but 10 times worse.
“It was chaos, but there was an organization to it,” Jeff said, recalling such indelible sights as peeking outdoors at one point to see more than a dozen ambulances lined along the street, all from different agencies.
A steady stream of helicopters began arriving later to transport patients to other hospitals in Kansas City, Springfield and Tulsa.
MEANWHILE, Stacey and the girls had decided to return home. “Or to see what was left of it,” Stacey said.
What was normally a 15-minute drive instead took nearly 3 1/2 hours as they had to backtrack repeatedly because of clogged roads. And with the city’s power out, streets already were eerily dark.
She arrived home to find a large oak tree directly atop their house. The tree’s foliage partially concealed the damage at first. Then, Stacey realized a portion of the tree made it through the roof, with a large branch jutting its way through the home’s interior hallway — which would have been their shelter spot had they stayed at home.
“I don’t know if we would have made it out unharmed,” she said.
She and the girls returned to Freeman before deciding to stay at a motel. The nearest vacant room they found was in Mount Vernon, 40 miles to the east. She finally closed her eyes at 4 a.m. Monday.
STACEY, Stephanie and Kirstin headed to Iola the day after the storm to stay with her parents, Arvin and Kathie Clemans, while Jeff stayed behind for another shift at Freeman.
As chaotic as Sunday night was, Monday night was eerily quiet, he said.
“There was nothing going on at that point.”
Since then, the Billingsleys have made several commutes from Joplin to Iola. They are renting a house in Neosho, Mo., until repairs to their home can be completed. They have lived in Joplin the past five years.
Jeff, 34, is an Osawatomie native. He moved to Iola as a sophomore in high school and graduated from Iola High School in 1995.
He is the grandson of Prudy and the late Jack Fronk of Iola and Aimee Sue Billingsley, all of Iola.
