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April 27: One Year Later

In one year since the tornadoes, many have tried to assess what happened by reflecting on statistics like the cost of the damage and the response of the insurance companies ... unless you have a family member who was killed that day. What they lost can't be quantified.

Nine people were killed in Calhoun County that day. They are unforgotten. Here, we tell their stories.
Mike Roberts signs a large board at a memorial observance at Janney Furnace Sunday afternoon for the April 27, 2011, tornado. (Photo: Bill Wilson/The Anniston Star)
Neighbors gather to share storm stories
Calhoun County residents on Sunday remembered the tornado of April 27, 2011, gathering at ceremonies in two communities where lives and landscapes were changed forever. The stories they shared made it clear the storm won’t soon be forgotten.
Apr 29, 2012 |  0 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend
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An area where two houses used to sit near Ohatchee is seen from the air last week. (Photo: Trent Penny/The Anniston Star)
One year on, mixed results in storm zone
On either side of Cochran Springs Road, there are forests of half-trees. Snapped by the massive storm that barreled through here on April 27, 2011, thousands of trunks stood here for a year like the chimneys of a burned city. Now those trees are sprouting. New leaves have emerged from the broken trunks, covering the hills with a blanket of foliage.
Apr 29, 2012 |  0 comments | 7 7 recommendations | email to a friend
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Community honors storm victims, volunteers
At First Baptist Church of Williams -- once the nerve center of the volunteer recovery effort -- about 100 people gathered for the first local event marking the anniversary of the April 27 tornadoes.
Apr 27, 2012 | 7 7 recommendations | email to a friend
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Video: April 27 ... one year later
Trent Penny takes to the skies to tour storm damage one year after the April 27 tornado outbreak.
Apr 27, 2012 |  0 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend
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Alabama, still standing: Today is a day to reflect on the deadly storms of April 27, 2011
The articles on The Star’s front page this week mark the passage of 12 months since the deadly storms of April 27, 2011. All nine victims from Calhoun County have been featured.
Apr 27, 2012 |  0 comments | 5 5 recommendations | email to a friend
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Photo by Trent Penny
13-year-old was storm’s youngest local victim
Chris Haney thinks often about the little girl pinned under the big house. He doesn’t think about what he could have done differently. He doesn’t dwell on the fact that there might have been just a few minutes between the time 13-year-old Angel Stillwell died and the time her body was freed from the rubble. You have to put that stuff behind you, he said. But he does often think about the things Angel missed.
Apr 27, 2012 |  0 comments | 15 15 recommendations | email to a friend
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The family of Spencer Motes, killed while seeking shelter in the old Mamre Baptist Church on April 27, 2011, gathered there to remember him earlier this month. Motes' daughter Destiny finds an old dictionary in the rubble of the destroyed church. On the upper right is his mother, Deborah Motes, and fiancée, Sera Winters. (Photo by Bill Wilson)
Mamre Baptist and Motes family recover after storm
Spencer Motes died on April 27, 2011, when the tornado hit the church where he had sought shelter. His family misses him, feels his absence, sometimes forgets he is gone.
Apr 26, 2012 |  0 comments | 20 20 recommendations | email to a friend
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Siblings' lives changed with loss of parents on April 27
Mike and Tina Forrest told Facebook friends that they feared nothing as the tornado approached. But their deaths on April 27, 2012 changed the lives of their grown children.
Apr 25, 2012 |  0 comments | 14 14 recommendations | email to a friend
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Memorial services for storm victims set for this weekend
Memorial services for the nine Calhoun County victims of the April 27, 2011 storms will be held throughout the weekend.
Apr 24, 2012 |  0 comments | 8 8 recommendations | email to a friend
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Lipscomb family holds on to lessons from parents lost in storm
Bill and Linda Lipscomb were the kind of lovebirds who kissed in front of the kids, held hands whenever they could and never raised their voices at each other. A year after the April 27 storms, their family remembers them as the perfect couple.
Apr 24, 2012 |  0 comments | 35 35 recommendations | email to a friend
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