A Community Regroups

Patsy Roberts has dealt with disasters for more than half a century but nothing like the March 31 killer storm in Cross County. A ‘high EF3’ tornado with 150-160 mile per hour winds walloped Wynne, destroying its high school and smashing surrounding neighborhoods. In the Peterson Street development, designed with big lots and a lakeview for two-story rock and brick homes, the violent monster left her numb.

Standing on a concrete foundation where her living room used to be, Roberts stares at the pile of rubble on the curb. Splintered 2x4s and broken rafters are sprinkled with an assortment of shattered tiles and twisted insulation. The home — clearly an extension of who Roberts is — now makes a 15-foot-high mound of trash to be hauled away.

“You are paralyzed mind-wise, and you’re paralyzed emotionally when it’s yours,” says Roberts, a Farm Bureau Insurance agent who started as a secretary with the company in January 1970. “You just can’t even think. People would ask ‘what can I do for you?’ and all I could say was ‘I don’t know.’ I said those three words the most. ‘I don’t know. I don’t know’ and truer words have never been spoken. Finally, I just said ‘you do what you think is best for me because I don’t know.”

The massive storm, which first ravaged the Little Rock and Jacksonville area, hit Wynne late on a Friday afternoon while Roberts was en route to cheer on grandsons at a baseball tournament in Fayetteville. She was told to stay away for the night but returned Saturday morning and met an adjuster at her house later that day. On Sunday, she received a check from Farm Bureau. By mid-day Monday she was back at the office where she knew exactly what to do.

“Someone else from the community can come to me after something like this and it’s completely different,” Roberts says. “Those are easy decisions for a Farm Bureau agent. ‘Here is what we are going to do. Here is what your coverage is. You’ll need to list your contents.’ All of the answers and all of the suggestions are second nature to you because helping someone else is what you’re used to doing.”

No surprise, it was someone else who had to remind Roberts, too, that she needed to file a claim.

“What the people did for me — clearing the debris, assessing the damages, getting anything out that was salvageable — just makes me so thankful and proud of our community,” she says. “I couldn’t be prouder of how our community, really all Cross County, has helped each other. It’s been so remarkable, rallying together. Businesses and individuals.”

Roberts and others have embraced the community mantra ‘Wynne Strong’ since the storm.

The old coffee shop warehouse in Wynne was quickly set up as a stop for anyone needing just about anything, including a plethora of cleaning supplies like brooms, mops, towels and washcloths.

Disaster relief stations started serving free food.

Wynne Baptist, First Assembly, Camp Calvary, Harmony Health Clinic and Wynne Junior High were set up as shelters.

The Odell McCallum Community Center was without power briefly but when a generator arrived it started serving hot meals daily. Most days the community could select from three different hot meals provided by area vendors. The choices included BBQ ribs and sandwiches, grilled burgers, smoked chicken, gumbo, whole hams, etc. On April 7 (a week after the storm), four hot meal flavors were offered and there were Easter baskets for children provided by Sutton Family Dentistry.

Ritter Communications provided a charging station for phones and computers. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) set up in the Sears parking lot. Legal Aid of Arkansas was available for counsel. Portable toilets were stationed at two locations.

Debbie Morris, who works at Hefty Seed in Augusta but lives in Wynne, is known for her heart for others. Looking to help, she was told to phone Leanne Lovell, an organized lady who has stepped up to be the pseudo distribution manager at what was the vacant Colony Shop warehouse. The building’s owner, Chris Bouland, loaned it to the city for use as a supply house for storm victims.

“I called Leanne and told her that I had a friend who wore smaller sized women’s clothes and wondered if she might know anyone in need,” Morris says. “Those sizes are kinda hard to find.”

Lovell quickly answered Morris with the name of Patsy Roberts. Roberts had just been to the warehouse picking up needed items but couldn’t find much to wear.

“I think Patsy felt inadequate because she was meeting with so many clients and couldn’t put on that business attire,” Lovell says.

“I’ve always looked up to her as a businesswoman,” Morris says. “I got some things together and met her that afternoon in a church parking lot. Patsy cried and talked and cried and talked. I got to pray with Patsy.”

“If someone in this community can’t do anything else, they’ll hug you and cry with you,” Roberts says. “That’s been very important.”

And Roberts, wearing a white blouse brought to her by Morris, smiles and proudly says her extended family has shined, too. “Our agents, our adjusters, everybody.

“We have an adjuster in our office and a lot of companies are not blessed with that. We have a Farm Bureau adjuster that works here, strictly for Farm Bureau, in the community. So, they’re firsthand. It is quick, fast, fair, friendly service. Our agents and adjusters are vital. We care about the community. We love the community. We’re here to help the community. We want to take care of them as quickly as possible and it has been evident in Cross County during this disaster for every Farm Bureau insured.”

The cliché ‘nothing brings a town together like a tornado’ rings true in Wynne. Rebuilding this Cross County farming community is underway. It’s Wynne Strong. •