CORDOVA, Alabama -- A woman who died when a tornado flattened her Cordova home was refused shelter earlier in the day at a nearby church, her teenage son says.

Madison Phillips, 16, said he and his mother approached Long Memorial United Methodist Church after the first of two tornadoes hit the Walker County city on April 27. His mother asked a woman at the church's front door whether they could come in, Phillips said. "We're not letting anybody in the church," Phillips said the woman replied.

His mother, Annette Singleton, told at least two people about the encounter, according to interviews with them.

But Phillips and the two people who heard the story from Singleton say they don't know who the woman at the church was, and Long Memorial's pastor said he has found nobody affiliated with the church who turned Singleton away. The Rev. Ryan Rosser said the church served its traditional role as a shelter the day of the storm, and anyone could have come in.

"The church was open all day, and people were coming in and finding refuge there," he said.

Still, Phillips' account has fueled debate and concern in Cordova, particularly in the black community. Though Phillips said race was not mentioned, he presumed he and his mother weren't welcomed by the woman at the predominantly white church because they were black.

"Can I say I know that's why they wouldn't let us in? No," Phillips said. "Can I say that's why I think they didn't? Yes."

While the facts may be open to debate, this much is not in dispute: When a second storm blew through Cordova at about 5 p.m., Singleton, a 45-year-old mother of four, was killed. So were Jonathan Doss, 12, and Justin Doss, 10, white brothers who were visiting the family's home when the tornado hit.

They were killed trying to ride out the storm in a home Singleton had rented several weeks earlier that was just down the hill from Long Memorial.

The storm hit at least five hours after the alleged encounter at the church, based on the accounts of two people who spoke with Singleton that day.

Homer Rodgers of Cordova said he met Singleton on the morning of the storms on the street near her house. "She was real agitated and worried about the storm. ... She kept telling me another storm was coming because the Lord is not through," Rodgers recalled. "She asked me, 'Do you know anywhere I could take shelter?'"

Rodgers said Singleton told him she was going to try Long Memorial. "She came back, and they told her no," Rodgers said. "She said, 'I'm going to go home and pray.'"

Jacqueline Doss, the stepmother of Jonathan and Justin Doss, said Singleton came to her brick apartment at Cordova Manor about noon or possibly earlier on the day of the storms. Singleton, who was a former resident at the apartments, told Doss about having been turned away at the church, according to Doss.

"She was very upset," Doss said. "She said, 'It's ridiculous.'"

The visit lasted until about 3:30 p.m., Doss said. Then, thinking the worst of the weather had passed, Singleton and Phillips headed home, with Doss' stepsons tagging along, she said.

When the next storm hit, Phillips said, he and his mother didn't even discuss trying to go back to the church with Jonathan and Justin. Instead, they went to a small hallway in their rented home and hoped for the best.

"My mama had a Bible and some candles," Phillips said. "Two or three minutes later, I heard a big ol' rumbling, and the house came apart."

Phillips remembers the walls breaking off, the ceiling caving in, the floor sinking and the smothering sensation of not being able to breathe. The next thing Phillips knew, he was walking outside, dazed. Someone took off Phillips' shirt and tied it around his bleeding head. "I said, 'Where my mama at? Where those (Doss) boys?'"

It wasn't until much later that he learned the answer. Doss, who told a hospitalized Phillips the boys were dead, said he began bemoaning his mother's attempt to get in the church: "They wouldn't let us in."

The North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church has heard the allegations about a tornado victim being denied shelter at Long Memorial, an almost century-old church named for one of Cordova's founders.

"We've learned about it from folks like you and the people around the town," said the Rev. Ron Schultz, the superintendent of the district which includes Long Memorial.

But Schultz said Methodist officials know little beyond the basic accusation and what the pastor has told them: that the church served as a shelter to many people on April 27 and its members know nothing about anyone being turned away. Schultz said the conference hasn't attempted to investigate further. "How do you sort out fact from rumor?" he said.

Rosser, who has been pastor of Long Memorial for five years, said he did not contact the victims' families, but he asked everyone he knew to ask at the church whether anyone had been turned away. The answer, he said, was no.

While Rosser was not at the church when the afternoon storm hit, he said he was there earlier in the day, and he left the sanctuary unlocked with the expectation people would come there, as they traditionally do, for safety.

Among those who availed themselves of the church's basement that afternoon was Terry Kelley.

Kelley, a Full Gospel minister who does not attend Long Memorial, said he arrived at the church about 10 minutes before the second storm hit. He said he spent those minutes trying to urge others to come into the church for protection.

"We were getting people as fast as we could," Kelley said. "It didn't matter if they were black, white, brown or whatever."

Kelley added that he couldn't recall if any blacks were among the 25 to 30 people who took shelter there -- about half community residents such as himself and half members of utility crews in town to restore services after the morning storm.

After emerging from the church, which was also damaged, Kelley helped remove what he believes must have been the bodies of Singleton and the Doss brothers from a ditch. He also said he helped the rescue workers tending the injured, including, he believes, Phillips. He said he had not heard the claim that Singleton and Phillips were denied entrance to the church.

"I was pretty much the last person to come in the door," he said. "Had they come and asked for shelter, they would have been granted it. There would have been nobody turned away."

The story has captured significant community interest in Cordova. Some black ministers confronted Rosser about the story, and a running dispute about the allegation has appeared in various threads on Facebook.

Phillips said some of the information that has been circulated has not been accurate. But a number of people say they are convinced the basic story is true.

"I think it's classism as much as racism," said Pete Bush, who is black and the former football coach at Cordova High School. "I know these people. If I would've gone there, they would have let me in. They didn't know her. And she was poor."

When he first heard the allegation, Bush said he felt compelled to look into the matter, talking with Phillips and others. "I just couldn't sleep about this," he said.

The Rev. Darren Allen, pastor of the predominantly black Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Cordova, also investigated the story and was among four ministers who met with Rosser. "What our goal was as a community was to make sure this never happens to anyone else," said Allen, who added that he is considering a public rally to focus on a need for civility and for public shelters.

Former federal judge U.W. Clemon, who represents Phillips' sister, Rheashell Perkins of Birmingham, said he is looking into the matter but is unsure what can be done. "The immediate problem," Clemon said of the church, "is it's a private institution. If it does not receive public funds, it may be entitled to discriminate."

For Phillips, though, the issue is more basic.

"The reason I made it, my mama made me strong. She made all of her children like that," said Phillips, who has gone to live with his oldest brother, a Marine stationed in Hawaii. "But every time I think of my mama, I get sad."

Phillips said he wants the truth to come out. "I don't want them to overlook it," he said. "I want to wake people up. I want 'em to know."

News staff writer Val Walton contributed to this report. Join the conversation by commenting below or e-mailing Demonia at rdemonia@bhamnews.com.

