GLADE SPRING, Va. ? After the tornado in April, Santa Claus was found in a field behind where Joe Lester?s house used to be.
This month, the three-foot-tall plastic decoration stood lit up in front of Lester?s new house, staked down in case of wind.
?He?d survived a lot already,? said Lester of the faded but still-glowing rendition of St. Nick, ?even being stolen.?
In an almost-finished new home still strewn with tools, the living room could have been on a Christmas card, with presents stocked under a tree covered in bright blue lights and ornaments that, somehow, had also survived the storm.
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What was lost
When his family?s house was blown apart on April 28, the night when devastating tornadoes struck Washington County, Lester never imagined he?d be in a new house by Christmas.
?Really, in the blink of an eye, everything was all gone,? he said. ?It?s just amazing that more people didn?t perish?. to be alive after this?that?s as good a gift as you could ask for.?
But standing with his wife in their new living room ? she scrubbed the insulation from the tornado-tossed lights so she could use them on the tree ? he said the volunteers who came in droves to rebuild his neighborhood have been amazing.
Including his four houses destroyed on Stagecoach Road which belonged to family members. Eight months after the storm, all of them ? and most of their neighbors ? are back in their homes.
?I lack a little siding is really what I lack,? he said, ?and then a lot of cleanup.?
He said he still has fences to build ? and a pasture filled with unimaginable debris. Even then, he said, the landscape is forever changed. And some of his neighbors have moved away for good.
?Trees that I played in when I was a boy, barns, all that?s gone?. It?s still so much different that it?s just hard to get used to,? he said.
?Probably the worst thing is the fear of what could come this spring. I guess that?s probably laying heavy on the mind?. Ever since this happened, the wind blows here it seems like all the time.?
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What was gained
On Dec. 14, Lester saw a sign of hope that he?d never seen before, not in his 56-year lifetime living on Stagecoach Road: Christmas carolers, more than 80 of them, walking and singing on a? warm December night.
They came from Glade Spring Church of God, walking through the neighborhood from their brand new building, rebuilt with the help of donations after it was leveled by the storm.
?[Some of] the older people, they were crying, and they would come out and sing with you,? said church usher Michael Rosenberry. ?We all had a good time. It was just a good time in the Lord.?
The carolers were there from four different churches ? all different denominations ? in Glade Spring.
?The people in the community, they?ve come together as one. Not just as churches, not just as houses, not just as buildings, we?ve all come together as one whole community,? said church member Vida DeBord, describing what?s changed since the tornadoes struck.
?We?ve met so many people that live around us that we?ve never met, and now we are friends. We see each other on the street, and everybody is talking and smiling.?
The church, meanwhile, is better than before, with a new fellowship hall, kitchen, classrooms and sound technology ? and an elevator that makes all the facilities handicapped accessible.
Though the church?s insurance didn?t cover the full cost of rebuilding, DeBord said donations poured in ? enough, even, to replace the neon cross that?s been visible on Interstate 81 since the 1970s, and to add a steeple with a bell.
?We?ve had donations,? said Steve DeBord, a deacon in the church and Vida?s husband. ?We?ve had people just get off the interstate to donate funds to rebuild the church.?
When materials came in that were more than the church needed, they were sent to their neighbors, who were working to rebuild homes along Stagecoach Road.
?God will supply, and he has,? said Vida DeBord. ?God has supplied.?
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Christmas in Glade
Still holding the smell of fresh carpet and fresh paint, the sanctuary was nearly full on Sunday morning.
Pastor James Walls said it was special to be spending Christmas in the new building, which was dedicated just before Thanksgiving.
?On April 29 we were just staring at a pile of rubble, as much of the community behind us was,? he said. ?As you can see, today most of the houses have been rebuilt. Some people are struggling, but things are starting to get back to normal.?
Sunday?s Christmas play featured Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus under a cardboard stable, with animals and a tiny angel with a tinsel halo; the sermon was on seeing Jesus.
?It?s not the gifts you get under the tree, it?s not how expensive they are or how beautiful they are, it?s Jesus,? Walls said, addressing the congregation on the meaning of Christmas. ?He is the light of the world?. He is for everyone, everyone in the whole world.?
As the congregation stood among the brand new pews with brand new shape-note hymnals, singing filled the air with the sounds of a guitar, piano, drums and the rising murmur of prayer.
?We?ve been blessed beyond measure. It was hard?but now we know that God had a purpose,? Walls said.
?People have seen how tragedy can bring [people] together and how God has brought us through, and have the faith here to believe in Him, trust in Him that He can bring us through it no matter what it is.?
dmccown@bristolnews.com
(276) 791-0701
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