Plaza dedicated to tornado victims, community’s strength
Leader photos by Nancy Bergeron
Devyonne Jones shakes hands with Ella Brown, grandmother of 2019 tornado victim Kendra Butler and great-grandmother of victim Remington Butler, during Thursday's Ruston Strong Memorial dedication held near the historic, century-old smokestack on North Monroe Street. The smokestack was in the storm's direct path yet was unscathed.
Citing the biblical directive to bear one another’s burdens, the Rev. George Lee, left, pastor of The Springs, urged the crowd at Thursday’s Ruston Strong Memorial dedication to remember how the city rallied after the April 25, 2019, tornado and to continue to build on that unity. Approximately 100 people attended the event held on the fifth anniversary of the storm that killed two people.
Cameron Murphy and his grandmother, Cathey Jackson, share a quiet moment in the plaza.
Cameron Murphy remembers walking up Lamar Avenue with his younger brother, Remington Butler, and joking that the street belonged to Remi. Lamar was Remi’s middle name.
Now, Murphy and his family figure the short street really does belong to Remi, because Lamar Avenue is less than a stone’s throw from the new Ruston Strong Memorial plaza, dedicated in part to the memory of Remi and his mother, Kendra Butler.
Kendra, 36, and Remi, 14, died huddled together in a hallway when the EF3 tornado that hit Ruston shortly before 2 a.m. on April 25, 2019, hurled a tree on top of their Evans Street home.
Murphy and a female cousin were pulled from the rubble shortly afterwards; it took rescuers longer to get to the bodies of Remi and Kendra.
On Thursday, the fifth anniversary of the killer storm to the exact day of the week, about 100 people gathered at the base of the century-old smokestack on North Monroe Street to dedicate a space at the base of the stack to Kendra and Remi’s memory, and to Ruston’s resilience in the tornado’s wake.
The smokestack is about two blocks from the Butlers’ since-razed residence.
“This smokestack is right in the heart of where the tornado came by, and it stood strong,” Ruston Mayor Ronny Walker said.
Walker said the plaza, with its benches and plantings, is not only to honor the Butlers but also to remember the city employees and volunteers who helped the city rebuild. Officials say they want people to see the stack as a symbol of strength and healing.
“But at the same time, remember there are people who are still hurting,” Walker said.
The tornado cut an almost 7-mile diagonal path through the city and parish.
It initially touched down just northeast of the intersection of Highway 80 and La. 818 in southwest Ruston, crossed South Maple Street, tore through part of the Louisiana Tech University campus, crossed nearby Greenwood Cemetery, where it intensified again, pummeling Evans Street, and causing more severe damage for the next third of a mile before it jumped I-20, heading northeast.
“It’s hard to believe it’s been five years,” Murphy said.
He and his grandmother, Cathey Jackson, Kendra Butler’s mother, wept as they sat together on a bench, reading the inscription on the bronze plaque for the first time.
“It’s just like I felt five years ago when I got the phone call (about her daughter and grandson’s fate), Jackson said. “Today, it seems like it happened all over again.”
Family members said they are grateful to the city for creating the plaza — one they say Kendra would love because she liked the outdoors.
“We feel honored, and we are so thankful for everything the city of Ruston has done to keep them in their memory,” Jackson said. “This is a place I can come and sit and know I’m not far from them.”
Butler family friend Anna Lathan, of Gibsland, walked with family members to the plaza.
“It’s a good memorial — sad, but still, yes, very good,” Lathan said. “ Only time will heal. You can’t forget, but you can get better dealing with it.”
