cover story
The Hall Family
O
by drew taylor
n April 27, 2011, Amie Hall was sitting in DCH Regional Medical Center with her son, Karter, when her mother asked where Amie’s daughters were. Groggy from medicine she was taking, Hall last remembered seeing her daughters, Khloe and Kristyn, with her and Karter in Alberta, looking for help alongside hundreds of others in the aftermath of the tornado. However, Khloe and Kristyn were nowhere to be found. “For a minute, I thought I was losing it,” Hall said. “I knew they were out there.” Earlier that day, Hall had received a call from her then-husband, Keith Matthews, as he was driving from work on Hargrove Road. She and her three children were at their home on 25th Avenue East in Alberta when Matthews called. “It just seemed like everything got dark and he started screaming, ‘It’s a tornado! It’s on the ground,’ ” Hall said. “I said, ‘Stop playing.’ ” By the time Hall realized what was happening, the tornado was only two blocks away from the house. After trying to get her children out of one of the rooms, she felt herself fly into the air as the tornado carried her home nearly 150 yards. “I thought we were going to die,” Hall said. At the time, Matthews heard the house crumble as he was on the phone with Hall. “I remember hearing stuff being thrown around, and I lost contact with her,” Matthews said. “It took about two hours before I could make it back.” After landing, Hall knew she was in the rubble of Alberta Elementary School after recognizing books and signs she had seen in the school. From there, Hall went to locate her children. When Hall found Karter, he had a cut and burn along his head, as well as a fractured nose and jawbone. He was 1 at the time. A police officer said Karter was going to die if they didn’t get him to a hospital, she said. In the hours after the tornado, Hall and Matthews searched the area to find her daughters. Khloe was found on a neighbor’s porch, while Kristyn was found in Holt with a family friend who had taken her there. In the five years since the tornado, Hall has had a mixture of feelings about what happened but, ultimately, she learned what her priorities in life were. “I think sometimes you have to go through something really devastating to know what life is 46
pHoTos | MicHelle lepiAnKA cArTer
TOP: Amie Hall and her children, Karter, 6, Kristyn, 5, and Khloe, 8, in their new neighborhood. Their home in Alberta was destroyed when it was picked up and moved from its foundation, with the family still inside, by the 2011 tornado. ABOVE: Karter, then 1, in the shelter after the tornado. RIGHT: The young family, with father, Keith Matthews, in a shelter in 2011.
all about,” she said. “It’s about family, happiness and taking advantage of every day.” Matthews said even though he and Hall are no longer together, the storm taught him to never take life or family for granted. “I could’ve lost my kids that day,” Matthews said. “I think about it all the time, and it makes me be more thankful about things because it could’ve been a lot worse than it was.” However, Hall has regrets about what happened to Karter. Since the tornado, Karter has suffered from post-concussion syndrome, which has included long bouts with nosebleeds and migraines. “If I had just watched the news or not turned the TV off, nothing would have ever happened to
Karter,” she said. Hall’s oldest daughter, Khloe, was 3 when the tornado destroyed her house, a memory that affects her to this day. “When it gets dark early, she freaks out because she thinks it’s always a tornado,” she said. “She barely likes to go outside.” Hall said she tries to calm Khloe down when she begins to become fearful of the weather. “I tell her I won’t let anything happen to her,” she said. “I tell her she doesn’t have to worry.” Today, Hall has a lot of gratitude that her family survived the tornado. “It makes you appreciate life because a lot of people didn’t make it,” she said.