Monday, February 01, 2016

Tributes to unsung heroes and to those lost in tornado needed for new book

Carthage Press Managing Editor John Hacker and I are in the process of writing a follow-up book to 5:41: Stories from the Joplin Tornado and Spirit of Hope, with this one signifying the five-year anniversary of the Joplin Tornado.

As with the first two books, this one, which has the working title 5:41: Five Years Later, will include stories from those who lived through the tornado and from those who were involved in the process of rebuilding Joplin. Some will be reprinted from the earlier books, while we will also include new stories, as well as reporting by John Hacker and me. We will also have some updates from those who were featured in the first two books.

This book will also include never before seen photos from May 22, 2011, and the events in the months after the tornado, most of them taken by Hacker. It will also include new reporting from Hacker and me, and as with the first two books, important historical documents of the tornado and the recovery, including reports and speech transcripts.

As with the original 5:41 book, this one will also include the obituaries of those who were killed by the tornado.

But we are also looking for a different kind of feature for the newest book. We want to do more to commemorate two kinds of people.

-We are looking for brief memories and/or stories about those who lost their lives in the tornado.

-We also would love to have memories and/or stories of the heroes, both from Joplin and from outside, who helped in the days, weeks, months, and years following the tornado, the unsung heroes.

-And as I mentioned in an earlier post, we would still love to have any first-person accounts of the tornado and/or the recovery process, and the events that occurred in the years following, including such things as the reopening of Mercy Hospital, the 2012 Joplin High School graduation, the ceremonies that took place on the one-year anniversary of the tornado, etc.

We will need to have these by Friday, February 19.

Those submitting stories for consideration can e-mail them to rturner229@hotmail.com or send them via message to us via personal message on the Inside Joplin Facebook page.

Thank you!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Seems like a lot of folks in Joplin are trying to continue to benefit from the tornado.

Anonymous said...

Well, someone needs to record this as part of the history of Joplin--Brad Belk hasn't done diddly-squat at the museum. Trying to record everyone's stories, instead of a few self-aggrandizing press releases, is important for future historians and descendants doing genealogy research and disaster planners charting long-term effects, etc. If you don't see the difference between $10 for weeks of work versus $5 million for a quickie Texas con job or thousands for the Tears tour, I've got an old Pepsi plant I'd like to sell you...

Anonymous said...

I am surprised that the Joplin Museum doesn't have a tornado exhibit. A visitor to Joplin would expect to see that.

Anonymous said...

I'm not surprised, 3:03--but then I've known Brad for more than 25 years.