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headed into town to seehowwe could help.” Allaman, his wife and 14-year-old daughter were 55miles away visiting his in-laws inHavanawhen the tornado hit. They headed home when they got the news. The neighborhood was unrecognizable; their homewas gone. “Without a doubt, the most vivid memory of that day was approaching our neighborhood on foot and not being able to recognize

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senseof giving in the truest sense of theword.” There were storm predictions the morning of November 17, 2013, and the skies were menacing. But there was little advance warning when a twister dipped out of the clouds and touched down just southwest of Washington as an EF-2 with sustained rotating winds of up to 120 mph. The tornado rapidly

strengthened to about 190 mph andwidened as it barreled through the heart of the community destroying more than 500 buildings and homes. Remarkably, only one person was killed. Like many people that Sunday morning, Martin was in church. “I had just walked in to church with my 1-year old son Tyson. We had barely made it to 11 a.m. Mass

even our street as the entire area had been leveled,” Allaman remembered. “Next was the reaction of the first responders and people from surrounding neighborhoods who rushed into the affected areas to help under extremely dangerous and volatile conditions. People showed a tremendous amount of

(L-R) EurekaCommUnit 140Supt. BobGold, EurekaCommUnit 140Asst. Supt. PatrickDurley, FarmingtonCentral 265Supt.Dr. JohnAsplund,Monroe Elementary70Supt.DarrickReiley, District 50Schools Supt.Dr. Patrick Martin, Princeville326Supt. ShannonDuling,MetamoraHSDistrict 122Supt. RandyToepke, Director Tazewell-MasonCountySpecial Education Association (TMCSEA) SallyMasear, AssistantDirector TMCSEAKrissiNeville, TremontDistrict 702Supt. JeffHinman, LimestoneWalters316Supt. Tim Dotson, Central GradeSchool District 51Supt.Dr. ChadAllaman.

when it started raining. I sat down and it wasn’t two minutes later that they had us huddled closer to the center of the church. Our church is probably a couple of blocks from where the tornado went through,” Martin recalled. “We heard sirens and people started to get messages on their phones. A person behind me said that they had received a text message and that their home was completely gone. I knew that neighborhoodwas in the vicinity of ChadAllaman and John Tignor (superintendent of Washington District 52) and I grabbed my son and headed that way...I wanted to make sure they were alright and then check on the schools. “Phone service was terrible and I was trying to reachmywife inBirmingham to let her knowwewere alright. I sent her a text message that she received about 30 minutes later. I could not get back to Chad’s and John’s houses because of the devastation so I went tomy board president’s house, dropped off my son with his teenagers and he and I

courage in the immediate aftermathof the storm.” The Allaman family home is still being rebuilt and they hope to be able to move back in sometime in August, about the time the new school year begins. Meanwhile, they and their two cats and a dog are living in a condo. “Our family is doing well,” he said. “We hurt for those who lost loved ones that day and are thankful there was no greater loss of life or serious injuries as a result of the storm.Weare humbled by and thankful for the wonderful outpouring of support we have received.” Allaman and Tignor both continued to run their school districts in the aftermath of losing their homes and belongings. “How?” youmight ask. “First, with the support of my wife, family, church community, and friends,” Allaman answered.

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