Plainfield pauses to remember

Ceremony at stone memorial marks disaster anniversary

PLAINFIELD — Standing beside the dark stone memorial to the Plainfield tornado, 10-year-old Ryan Huff traced the victims's names Monday with one finger.

   He lingered for a moment on the last few. Phoumy Senephimmachac. Patricia A. Skoien. Brian Paul Stohm.

   "It's a lot of people," Ryan said, his voice hushed.

   Not far from him, hundreds of people had gathered. They were there to remember the lives that were lost in the Aug. 28, 1990, storm and to celebrate what Plainfield had become. It was a time for public remembrances and private glances back.

   "It was a lovely place then and it's a lovely place now to live and raise a family," said state Sen. Ed Petka, R-Plainfield, one of the officials who spoke to the group.

   Like Ryan, some people in the crowd were just babies when the disaster happened. Others weren't even born. Some lived in other towns. Many, like Dennis Murphy, were long-time Plainfield residents who lost almost everything in the storm.

   Now retired, Murphy had walked to the 6 p.m. ceremony from his nearby home. Although he doesn't punch a time clock now, he's busier than ever. He had to make time for the memorial, his wife, Marianne, said.

   Earlier that day, Murphy had his own little memorial at home. An avid gardener, he took a break from moving perennials and grabbed an iced tea. He sat down, realizing it had been 10 years to the hour since the tornado hit.

   "I went to the basement very quickly," he said, thinking about the day. "When I came up, there was no real roof. When I looked down, there was a ceiling fan, but it wasn't mine."

   Former Mayor Mary Latta stepped up the podium a little while later. When she spoke to the crowd, she told a story from the days just after the tornado. At the time, someone asked her if anyone would want to live in Plainfield after the disaster. Of course they would, she said.

   Latta looked out at the huge crowd and continued, her voice rising.

   "It's easy to see that people want to live, and work and pray in this beautiful place we call home," she said. "May the winds of fury never visit our community again."