Wild ride
In search of safety, one family finds that a car is no match for an EF-5.
Megan Harrison, ’08, and Chris James relax at home with their sons, Rowan (left), Camden and Gavin. The family narrowly avoided tragedy on May 22 when they drove straight into the storm. Camden was born just over two months after the harrowing ordeal. — Photo by Aaron DuRall, ’11
A
t 2:59 p.m. on August 7, Camden Christopher James came into the world. Just a few months earlier, his mother was terrified she might not see her baby born.
Missouri Southern alumna Megan Harrison, ’08, was spending a typical Sunday evening playing with the sons of her boyfriend, Chris James, when sirens sounded on May 22. “I heard them go off, so I stepped outside just to see if I could see anything,” Harrison said. “It looked fine, so I came inside and turned on the news.” A large storm cell was brewing just
37 crossroads / fall 2011
outside of Galena, Kansas, not far from Harrison’s west Joplin home. “I’m kind of freaking out because I’m scared of storms to begin with,” said Harrison, who was 28 weeks pregnant at the time. She called James and asked him to come home. His mother called and invited the family to her Arbor Hills home, which has a basement. Harrison met
James in the garage, where they loaded the two boys — Gavin, 5, and Rowan, 4 — into the car and headed south. “I could tell (James) thought we should stay,” Harrison said. “I was thinking about the boys, and I was freaking out, so I said we should try to make it to Arbor Hills. It was the wrong decision, obviously.” A black wall loomed in their path at
