Heart of Henryville healing after 2012 twisters

Three years ago, Tricia Gilles, her husband and three children clung to each other inside their home as a tornado packing 170 mph winds tore through the heart of Henryville, obliterating much in its path.

Praying for survival, the family felt the tornado lift and hurl its house from its concrete-slab foundation.

"It took us up over the power lines ... threw us several hundred yards into our neighbor's field. And then as soon as it dropped, the house just shattered and we were laying there in this debris," she said.

Though seriously injured, the family members survived to share their harrowing story on http://march2recoverystories.org/, a site organized by the March2Recovery aid organization and the Purdue University College of Technology in New Albany. The site was developed to help survivors of the March 2, 2012, tornado discuss and process the tragedy that befell their town and others in rural areas of Southern Indiana and Kentucky.

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At least 34 people were killed in Southern Indiana and Kentucky that day, including one man near Henryville in Clark County: Wayne Hunter, 62, a retired nurse who lived with his wife Lenora just west of Interstate 65.

The Gilles family is just one of many who were left picking up the pieces of their lives and building anew. Across town, nearly 20 people hurried into the basement at Mount Moriah Baptist Church as the tornadoes barreled down, racing up a ridge and obliterating the small building above them.

Shorn trees still mark the area and a smattering of damaged homes still need repair or razing after residents lacked the money to rebuild or decided to rebuild elsewhere.

Almost three years to the day of the tornado, the spacious new Mount Moriah church building opened, welcoming its congregation back.

"We did far above what we could ever have imagined," said The Rev. Terry Lanoue. "This God shows up in times of need."

The church supplemented its insurance coverage by tapping into emergency money left in a trust fund set up decades ago by legendary Henryville native and Kentucky Fried Chicken founder Col. Harland Sanders, whose parents are buried in the cemetery next to the former church site across the road.

While the donations that stocked the church's food pantry ran out long ago, members hope to soon begin opening up its facilities so more area residents can enjoy amenities such as its half basketball court in its auxiliary building, which served as its temporary worshiping spot until the new one was built.

Other area landmarks also have been rebuilt in Henryville, such as its school, Goodfella's Pizza and Budroe's Bus Depot diner.

The Marysville Community Center — a historic former two-room schoolhouse and more recently a popular site for family reunions — also reopened with a new roof and windows.

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"Everybody pulled together," said Carolyn King, who directed the steering committee of March2Recovery, one of several area organizations and government agencies that helped coordinate donations and volunteer rebuilding efforts.

The Gilles family has relied heavily on its faith to heal emotional scars, and Tricia Gilles encourages others who experience traumatic events to talk with someone about it.

"Just reach out, whether it's turn to God, turn to a friend, turn to a supporting family member. But you've got to talk about it," she said.

Reporter Charlie White can be reached at (812) 949-4026 or on Twitter @c_write.

See a gallery of images and a video from Henryville at www.courier-journal.com