The news story below was published in The Weekly Vista Oct. 12, 2011
“After Joplin, Volunteer Says He’s Seen a War Zone”. By Douglas Grant
Ralph Bartley has never served in the military, but he has seen what a war zone looks like. That’s how he described Joplin, Mo., as he arrived there within 12 hours of the May 22 tornado that killed nearly 170 people and destroyed more than 7,500 homes and businesses.
Bartley was one of several members of Bella Vista Christian Church who went to Joplin on Monday, May 23.
Bartley, 32, an employee of the Benton County Sheriff’s Office, left work that Sunday night, stopped at home long enough to change his clothes and then headed north to Missouri. “I felt I had to go to help,” he said of his response to the disaster.
He grew up in Pittsburg, Kan., so he is no stranger to severe weather, including twisters.
A series of tornadoes swept across Kansas on Sunday, May 4, 2003, destroying buildings and killing residents in several towns, including Mulberry, just 10 miles from Pittsburg. “I remember all the people who came to help us,” he said.
Bartley has good memories of Joplin. “Living in Pittsburg, it was to place to go to a restaurant, out for the evening.”
He said both of his parents had been in St. John’s Hospital at one time or another. The building, while still standing after the tornado, was for all intents and purposes a total loss.
Bartley arrived in Joplin in the wee hours of the morning, May 23. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but he was ready for anything.
He and a team of other volunteers were sent out on foot to find storm victims and provide whatever assistance they could.
He remembered one house in particular, where a man was picking through the rubble. “We asked if we could help. The man’s response was, ‘How do I know you won’t steal my stuff?’” Bartley said. Bartley was prepared for that. After showing his Sheriff’s Office identification, he finally convinced the man they were indeed there to assist. “What really bothered me was he had children about the same age as mine. It could’ve been…,” Bartley said, his voice trailing off at the end.
Bartley said nobody spoke while they worked. When they were done, the man said he didn’t know how he could ever thank them.
Others from the church who traveled to Joplin in those first days after the disaster were Rebecca Pullen and her sister, Christina Almaraz, Leo van Oudheusden, Paul Mega and Bartley’s wife, Kim.
“We started immediately collecting supplies,” Pullen said of the first hours after hearing of the devastation. She recalled seeing an entire room of the church filled from wall to wall with boxes of relief supplies. “It was incredible; there was so much food, water, clothes, toys. I’d never seen anything like it before,” she said.
Pullen remembered arriving in Joplin and getting her first look at the destruction. “I was shocked; it was sad. It’s beyond description.”
Unlike Bartley, Pullen had never seen or experienced such havoc. After seeing it first hand, she was surprised more people were not killed. Pullen was there on Thurs., May 26. By that time, she said, the fear of what had occurred the previous Sunday was starting to turn to other emotions. “Four days into it, the people were glad to be alive; they were grateful to have each other.” A number of victims told her, “All of this stuff can be replaced.”
While so many had lost everything, there were still signs of strength just about everywhere, Bartley said. “There was a cross or an American flag on nearly every house, or what was left of it,” he noted.
Pullen recalled seeing people digging through sheds, or what used to be sheds, and wondering why. Then it hit her. “They were looking for anything they could salvage,” she said. Pullen also recalled what it was like walking through the neighborhoods. “There were so many smells beneath the piles of rubble. You didn’t know if it was an animal or rotting food,” she said. She tried to block out thoughts that it could have been a human being. She also remembers packing bags of water, gloves, dust masks and other items for the volunteers and taking them to Joplin. “It was so emotional for me,” she said. “I was the one who packed them, and then I handed them out.”
Bartley and Pullen said their time spent in Joplin was an emotional roller coaster. Both were impressed by the miracles that occurred in Joplin than by the devastation they saw. Bartley met one man who said that if his house - which had been shifted off its foundation by the tornado - had moved any other direction, he and his entire family would have likely perished.
Then there was the man who accepted Bartley’s help to clear out some of the things that could be saved. They would point to something and ask if the man wanted it. At one point, Bartley noticed a dresser lying off to the side. “How about that?” he asked the man. “No, that’s not mine; it’s my neighbor’s,” the man replied.
Pullen saw one house that had been lifted off its foundation and moved to the neighbor’s yard. In the bathroom, sitting on the shelf where it was when the tornado hit, was a can of shaving cream. It had barely moved.
Returning home after seeing all of that destruction affected each person in a different way.
Pullen said little was spoken on the drive back. "I remember looking in the back seat, and somebody would be asleep and another just staring out the window,” Bartley said.
When he first came home after that first trip, Bartley said his son thanked him, telling him, “You did a great job, Dad.” He also said his children were hugged a little tighter following his experience.
For Pullen, the trip and what she saw made her realize just how fragile life is, and what is really important.
“I’ve learned to simplify. I didn’t need all that stuff,” Bartley said, referring to the material things.
Pullen donated a lot of her “stuff” to the relief efforts in Joplin. Both said they will return to the city when they can, to do whatever they can. In fact, Pullen has decided to volunteer later this month to help ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” build seven houses. But first, she is traveling with some other church members on a mission trip to Cambodia.
“We love Joplin,” Pullen said.
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