Weeks before St. Libory woman's wedding, a tornado changed everything. Then brides stepped up
As nearly every bride knows, planning a wedding is no easy task.
But when that stress collides with surviving a tornado just three weeks before the big day, it can feel like a fever dream.
It’s certainly not something 20-year-old Graci Boersen imagined during her nine-month engagement to Micah Rhoades.
Graci Boersen and her soon-to-be husband, Micah Rhoades, are set to be married June 12.
A few weeks after getting engaged, the couple dove into wedding preparations — choosing a location, booking a venue and shopping for a dress ahead of their June 12 wedding in Grand Island.
Last weekend was no different. On May 16, Boersen finally finished her wedding bouquet. The next day, the couple met with their videographer after church and bought thank-you notes for her recent bridal shower.
But by that Sunday evening, Boersen and her mother would be sheltering in their basement as a tornado ripped through, destroying their home outside St. Libory, which is about 11 miles north of Grand Island.
“When people say wedding planning is probably the most stressful, I’m like, I totally agree,” Boersen said. “And then this happens, and I’m like, all right, this is just like a whole other level.”
Something new
Before the tornado, the home in Howard County still carried that new-house smell for Boersen and her mother, Christina Parden. Construction on Parden’s dream home began last fall and the two had only moved in at the beginning of May.
Graci Boersen and her mom, Christina Parden, at Boersen's graduation from Central Community College. The two moved into a new home near St. Libory in May. The home was later destroyed in a tornado.
“She’s been dreaming of this house since as long as I can remember,” Boersen said. “She planned this thing to the detail, like everything, she had drawn out, and so we were so excited about it.”
On May 17, Boersen and Parden made their first grocery run since moving into the house.
“It kind of sounds dumb, but we were really excited about it,” Boersen said.
After unloading the groceries at home, they began watching the weather as a storm began to roll into the area.
“I’ve never liked storms. I’ve always been terrified of any kind of storms, so I don’t really find much amusement watching the scary clouds form,” Boersen said.
Christina Parden moved into her dream home near St. Libory at the beginning of May with her daughter Graci Boersen.
As they watched the darkening sky in the distance, Boersen decided to jump in the shower — a routine her family often followed before storms in case the power went out.
Barely a minute later, she heard her mother yelling.
“She came into the bathroom and was like, ‘Graci, you need to get out of the shower, it’s right there,’” Boersen said.
Something blue
A lifelong Nebraskan, Boersen has had her fair share of tornado warnings. But that evening marked the first time she ever saw a tornado as a funnel twisted through a cornfield and headed directly toward their home.
“It was just the weirdest sight,” Boersen said. “I just remember us standing there and in shock.”
Boersen and Parden rushed downstairs to hide in the storage room with their dogs. Moments later, the power went out.
As they sat huddled together in the dark, clutching their dogs tightly, they began to pray.
“You could start hearing the house shake, and then it just gradually got worse and worse,” Boersen said. “Then all of a sudden, I could just hear the whole house just rip off of the foundation. And I can’t even describe that feeling.”
Looking up, she could see slivers of light before debris began whipping through the air. Boxes and storage totes — many still packed from the recent move — started crashing down around them.
“I just kind of thought, ‘The house is going to cave in,’” Boersen said.
The tornado lasted only about three minutes. Still soaking wet and wrapped only in a towel, Boersen found the first pieces of clothing she could from her basement bedroom.
The aftermath of Christina Parden and Graci Boersen's home near St. Libory after a tornado destroyed it May 17.
Within moments, a storm chaser appeared at the stairs, calling down to them with a blue sky behind her.
“They helped us get out, and then we saw that the whole house was literally gone,” Boersen said. “It was so scary.”
Nearly everything upstairs was lost, including the wedding decorations and newly received bridal gifts.
“There was sadness, but it was a lot of just shock,” Boersen said.
The tornado, which was later documented as an EF3, was on the ground for 11 minutes and hit top speeds of 160 mph, according to the National Weather Service in Hastings.
Something borrowed
In the days after the storm, Boersen’s family members launched a GoFundMe page and shared her story on social media.
“I’ve had like hundreds of messages from other brides that were like, ‘My wedding was a couple months ago or last week, and you can literally use anything from my wedding stuff,’” Boersen said. “People have been amazing.”
Brides offered flowers, picture frames, greenery and serving pieces. Wedding vendors volunteered backdrops, decor and tablecloths free of charge. Some even offered to handle setup and teardown on the wedding day.
“There’s no other word to describe it besides just beautiful,” Boersen said. “They all understand what this time feels like, and they just want to help any way, because they know how stressful it is.”
Among the borrowed decor, Boersen will still have some of her original wedding items. Her wedding dress had been dropped off for alterations just a week before the tornado, and Parden’s dress is already at the dry cleaners after being located in a cornfield.
But other losses were irreplaceable.
One of the hardest was a dresser Parden had refinished to serve as the wedding’s entry table.
“I kept finding chunks of it everywhere, so that was very sad for me because she was really excited about that,” Boersen said. “I’m a very sentimental person when it comes to things. When I see things, it reminds me of the moments.”
A few days after the tornado, a family friend pointed out how unique it was to see so many brides contributing pieces of their own weddings.
“She was like, ‘You know, it’ll be really cool to see all of these other people’s wedding stuff in your wedding. It’ll be this really beautiful picture because you have all this community that is part of your wedding now,’” Boersen said. “I never thought about that.”
And a happily ever after
In the aftermath of the storm, Boersen admitted she began questioning the wedding itself.
“Wedding planning, it’s very emotionally draining and it’s just very hard, but then something like this happens, and you’re like, is this the right thing? Is this what we are supposed to be doing? Maybe God’s telling us it’s not the time to get married,” Boersen said.
But as friends, family and strangers rallied around the couple to ensure the wedding would still happen, Boersen’s confidence returned.
“This is how our wedding’s gonna be, and it’s gonna be beautiful. It’s gonna be perfect,” Boersen said. “It’s given us that much more clarity.”
And it’ll be a day she’s sure she will remember for the rest of her life.
“I do feel like the wedding is going to be just that much more special for us,” Boersen said. “I already know that I’m probably not going to be able to get through the day without crying just because I’ll be thinking of all the stuff we just went through, and all the love, and all the things that people have given us.”
A tornado that ripped through Howard County destroyed four homes near St. Libory.
Related
A tornado destroyed four homes near St. Libory as part of a line of storms that dropped twisters across eastern Nebraska on Sunday afternoon a…
