Grand Rapid Press
CASTALIAN SPRINGS, Tenn. — At first, rescuers thought it was a doll. Then it moved.
In a grassy pasture strewn with toys, splintered lumber and bricks tossed by the tornado's widespread wrath, 11-month old Kyson Stowell was lying face down in the mud, 150 yards from where his home once stood.
"It looked like a baby doll," said David Harmon, a firefighter who had already combed the field once looking for survivors. Then he checked for a pulse. "He was laying there motionless ... and he took a breath of air and started crying."
The field already had been combed once for survivors, and finding anyone alive seemed improbable. Hours after the storm, there was devastation everywhere: The body of the boy's mother was found in the same field, houses were wiped to concrete slabs and a brick post office was blown to bits. But except for a few scrapes, Kyson was fine.
At a makeshift shelter for storm victims at Hartsville Pike Church of Christ in nearby Gallatin, the Rev. Doyle Farris said the child was a reminder that people "should never give up, even in the midst of the worst storm."
"If you look, you can find an inspiration or a bright spot," he said. "The child will always be a reminder in this community of that message."
Kyson's story emerged as a tale of hope amid spectacular misery as residents in Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas tried to piece their lives back together after the nation's deadliest twister rampage in two decades killed 59 people.
The extent of the damage still was being tallied Thursday, two days after the storms.
Federal and state emergency teams dashed into the hardest-hit areas, along with utility workers and insurance claims representatives. President Bush, who declared five Tennessee counties major disaster areas and ordered federal aid, planned to visit the state today.
Though homes were destroyed, communities flattened and loved ones lost, there were signs everywhere that recovery, while far away, was possible: Food and clothes began pouring in for the homeless. Baby Kyson was discharged from a hospital and was in the care of his grandparents. He had scrapes and gashes on his cheek and by his big blue eyes, but otherwise was fine. Clinging to his grandmother, he fussed a little -- something he normally does at naptime.
As word the tornado was coming spread through the community Tuesday, the Stowells called their 23-year-old daughter Kerri warning her to take cover. In a phone call with her fiance's sister, Kerri said she was bracing for the storm in the bathtub, clutching her baby to her side.
The phone cut out as Kay Stowell and her daughter spoke. Then came an ominous voicemail -- no words, just the sound of wind.
It took two hours for the Stowells to drive around the downed trees and power lines and make the four-mile trip to Kerri's home -- or what was left of it. It was during that time that rescuers Harmon and Karl Wegner decided to give the pasture one last look.
When the Stowells made it to the scene, they saw a firefighter holding the baby.
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