By Jake Bell

Finally, Glenn Bogle heard the sound of a ringing phone. He had been trying to reach his wife, Hollie, for some time after the storm. Unfortunately, it seemed like everyone was trying to call someone.

Once she answered, Glenn listened as Hollie, nearly out of breath, described the awesome and terrifying display of nature she had just witnessed from work: an EF-4 tornado clawing its way across Murfreesboro.

Glenn already knew this. He had just lived it.

“You know how we were talking about putting new siding on the house this summer?” he said.
“Yeah,” replied Hollie.
“I don’t think we have to worry about it anymore, because we took a hit.”

Less than one hour before, Glenn was sitting at home watching news of the approaching tornado on TV with his Boston terrier, Molly, by his side. The storm got his attention.

“I walked and looked out the back door and I’m seeing the rain blowing sideways and the trees laying over,” said Glenn. “I ran down the hall and put [Molly] in the hall closet.”

Just as Glenn himself got in the closet, the tornado unleashed its full fury on the Bogle’s home, ripping it apart and sucking the closet door right out of his hand. He never heard a siren. He never heard the “freight train.” All he could hear was total destruction in progress.

Items in the kitchen were tossed about and personal belongings hurtled down the hallway past the closet, where Glenn had fallen into the corner. Within a matter of seconds, the overwhelming power of the storm peeled off most of the roof and shifted the entire house on its foundation, rendering it a total loss.

“It looked like a bomb had gone off,” said Hollie, remembering the sight of her yard littered with fragments of trees and debris from other homes. It was as if the storm had destroyed everything in its path, except the Christmas tree that the Bogles had stored upstairs. It remained standing on a fragment of the roof, its branches ornamented with pieces of insulation.

“You think you know your neighbors until you go through something like that, then you really get to know your neighbors and they are wonderful,” said Hollie.

Right after the tornado, family, friends, neighbors and even strangers reached out to help the Bogles rebuild. They now live in a new brick home on the same lot on Spike Trail where the tornado swept through just one year ago. Their yard is still covered in straw to help nudge out the grass which has yet to fully re-grow.

“You are thankful for your life every day,” said Hollie. “When the sun comes up in the morning, it’s a little brighter.”