In Carter County, Gay Kennedy and her sister Jane Doughtery are sometimes known by the nickname “the Twister Sisters.” The name traces back to April 24, 2002, when a tornado crossed U.S. 60 about a mile east of Ellsinore and lifted the car they had been riding in. More than 20 years later, the story is still told, often with laughter.
The storm that day would leave destructive across the region. Beginning near the Current River on the west side of Van Buren, the tornado carved a path across Carter County with winds estimated as high as 210 miles per hour according to the National Weather Service.
The sisters had gone to Poplar Bluff that day for a doctor's appointment and so Kennedy could buy paint and curtain material for her kitchen. Jane was driving her 1998 Ford Taurus as they headed home. “It had been a beautiful day, absolutely beautiful,” Kennedy said.
Earlier that afternoon, forecasters had warned that severe storms could develop across southeast Missouri, with the threat increasing into the possibility of tornadoes.
As they drove, they began meeting cars with their flashers on. “We never have the radio on because we’re too busy talking,” Kennedy said. “I just thought, ‘somebody’s sick. They’re really, really sick,’” They then met a car waving them down. “Both the driver and the passenger had their arms out, waving for us to turn around,” Kennedy said.
Doughtery said she too was preoccupied in enjoying their conversation. “I really wasn't paying any attention, until all of a sudden, we could see all this stuff flying through the air and it was like ‘we got to do something,’” Jane said.
By that point, according to the National Weather Service, the tornado had already intensified, crossing U.S. Route 60 near the Current River and tearing through parts of Carter County, where homes and businesses were being destroyed.
As they kept driving, more debris began rising above the treetops. “I really think one of them was a dryer,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy knew they needed to find shelter immediately. “I just said, ‘Jane, we got to get out of this car,’ and we did and laid down on the hillside and waited for it to come,” she said.
The tornado, already cutting a path hundreds of yards wide, was moving southeast toward Ellsinore, where some of the most severe damage would occur.
Not long after the tornado lifted the car from the roadside shoulder. “It hit right above our heads and went over us. I remember seeing it,” Kennedy said. “The side mirror hit the back of my head, and then it hit right below our feet and went on down the hill.”
In those seconds, their thoughts shifted quickly from instinct to the people they loved, each of them processing the danger in their own way while trying to stay calm. Even as fear set in, they focused on protecting one another and holding on to whatever sense of control they could find.
“[I was thinking about] my family and what they are enduring. I felt pretty safe. I was holding Gay down,” Doughtery said.
Underneath that composure, the possibility of what could happen became impossible to ignore for the two. “I honestly remember thinking that we might not make it,” she said. “It went through my mind that we might see our mom and my grandbaby that day.”
Despite their fear, both Kennedy and Doughtery began praying. “I remember praying that God would just put his hand over us, and he did,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy said the feeling was not exactly what others had described as a tornado to feel like. “You hear people talking about being in a tornado and feeling suction. I never felt that really. I felt completely just there.” She added this was because God’s hand had been upon them.
With the vehicle no longer visible from the highway, Jane went up to the highway to flag help. Eventually someone stopped and an ambulance was dispatched from Poplar Bluff. “She tried to get me to get in the car with her. I said, ‘No, I can't leave my sister just laying down there,’ but she called for help for us,” Jane said. As they waited, hail began to fall. People who stopped covered the sisters with towels, blankets, tarps and raincoats.
After surviving the tornado, Kennedy sustained multiple injuries, including fractures to her C5 and C6 vertebrae, her right shoulder blade, her left jaw and several ribs. She also suffered an eight-inch gash to her head.
“I couldn’t feel my hands. Couldn’t feel my feet,” she said. “I couldn’t move them because I was looking, but I couldn’t feel them.”
Dougherty walked away with a few bruises and had been lying on top of her sister as the tornado passed.
Across Carter County, the storm destroyed 13 homes and caused damage to many others. As it continued into Butler County, entire neighborhoods north of Poplar Bluff were impacted, with dozens of homes destroyed and some leveled completely by the force of the winds, according to the National Weather Service. 16 people, five with critical injuries, obtained injuries from the tornado, but there were no fatalities.
Looking back, Kennedy realized the importance of where they ended up laying on the hill as one reason they survived. “We laid down in just the right place,” she said. “Higher, the car would have hit us the first time. Lower, it would have hit us when it landed the second time.”
Jane said the day still stands out over twenty years later. “Every time we pass that particular spot, we say, ‘that's where it happened.’”
The sisters, who once argued over sharing a bed and playing with dolls, had grown closer in adulthood. The tornado, they said, did not change who they were, but it impacted their lives.
“We’ve always figured out a way to laugh through about anything,” Gay said. Jane agreed.
"The joy of the Lord is my strength, and I try to remind myself of that all the time because you get moments that are hard to grasp, but God's always there,” Jane said.
Today, the nickname “Twister Sisters” still follows them through Carter County.
“It definitely makes you realize that life is so precious and God is so good,” Gay said. “Just enjoy every minute. And remember to thank God for it, because only by the grace of God were we.”
