ATHENS-On April 28, residents of Limestone County will gather around the community’s tornado memorial to honor the memory of the two latest victims whose names will be etched there: 60-year-old Dorothy Hollis and her son, 34-year-old Earl Hollis, who were killed in 2014.
Members of the Tornado Remembrance and Awareness Committee, the group that erected the monument at Bethel Church of Christ Cemetery in 2012, had hoped to never have to add more names to the memorial that already listed 30 people killed by tornadoes in Limestone County’s history.
Now, it lists 32 victims from six tornado outbreaks, including:
May 26, 1924: George Collins, Ethel Collins, James Lewis Collins, Sam Lee Collins, Charles Delbert Collins, Edna Lizzie Collins, Verna Lue Collins and Annie Bell Collins.
Feb. 15, 1939: Josie Emma Crutcher.
April 3, 1974: Louise Cain, Thomas Lee Cain, Willie Alvis Carter, Helen Carter, Teresa Carter, Lillian Green, Amos Green, Elizabeth Hawkins, Herman Lambert, Patsy P. Lovell, Rosie L. Maclin, Hetty Ruth McGlocklin, Sandra Ruth McGlocklin, James Walter McGlocklin, Nobia L. Ruffin, Mary Elizabeth Smith.
May 18, 1995: Chuck Dale.
April 27, 2011: Jan Turner McElyea, Janice Peden Riddle, Glen Riddle and Shannon Sampson.
April 28, 2014: Dorothy Hollis and Earl Hollis.
The memorial service will be at 10 a.m. April 28, one year after a deadly tornado devastated the Coxey Community. It will also mark the four-year anniversary of the April 27, 2011, tornado outbreak that killed four people in Limestone County. Members of the families of the 32 victims are invited to attend, as well as first responders, emergency personnel and anyone impacted by the tornadoes. Call Kelly Kazek at 256-348-1348 or Rebekah Davis at 256-233-6404 for information.
