Assisted living center residents who were temporarily displaced by a tornado that struck their Shawnee facility commemorated the twister's one-year anniversary with a fitting expression: There's no place like home.
Along with the popular "Wizard of Oz" mantra, Brookdale Shawnee paid homage to other elements of the classic book and movie during a party on Friday at the center, 3947 N Kickapoo. There was the yellow brick road, an inflatable rainbow that greeted visitors at the entrance and "flying monkeys" that hung from the chandeliers. A stuffed bear was dressed as the iconic Wizard of Oz character Dorothy Gale ― complete with brown pigtails, a blue and white gingham dress and, of course, ruby red slippers. And music from "The Wizard of Oz" movie soundtrack wafted from a speaker at the facility's entrance, setting the tone for the party inside.
Shelee Stewart, Brookdale Shawnee's director, said the center was celebrating because none of the 35 residents living there at the time of the storm were killed when a tornado ripped off a large portion of the roof, water poured inside and all the windows were blown out on April 19, 2023.
Resident Don Warstler, 88, said he was so happy to get back to the Shawnee center in fall 2023 that he "cried like a baby."
"It feels good to be back," he said.
Stewart said Warstler and other center residents were sent to live at sister facilities in Ada and Stillwater or with family in the storm's aftermath. But, she said residents and staff were back at the newly repaired Shawnee facility by August 2023 and that was also cause for celebration.
She said she was at her home in a nearby city when the tornado cut a swath through Shawnee on that April evening. The center director said she and her husband drove to facility as quickly as they could after the tornado hit and were forced to make their way along Kickapoo Avenue on foot when storm damage prevented them from driving on the street. Stewart said she was hailing her staff members as the "true heroes" of that night because they helped make sure all of the resident were OK during the frightening ordeal.
Warstler and another center resident Sharon Tiger, 77, remembered the night the storm came through the city.
"I could hear something that sounded like a cement truck," Tiger said. "I didn't know it was the tornado."
She also recalled that her small dog kept jumping from her bed and hiding in a closet. Tiger said after the noise from the storm subsided, she opened her door to find debris swirling in the air and wet carpet from the rain that poured from the damaged roof.
Warstler said he recalled the moment he realized how still it seemed outside his window. He said the calm was soon disrupted by sounds of debris hitting the building, and he also heard a nearby tree being struck by the tornado.
Both Warstler and Tiger said staff at the Brookdale Stillwater assisted living center where they lived temporarily were wonderful to them. But they were each glad when they were able to move back to Brookdale Shawnee, which had become their home.
"I'm also just grateful nobody got hurt," Tiger said.
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