On our Road to Ruscha trip down old Route 66 we met many people that have touched our hearts and we will remember forever. One of those people is New Yorker Ronaldo Robledo, a retired NY firefighter who currently works as a social worker. He was staying at the same hotel as we were near Los Angeles, California and we began to talk in the hotel lobby over breakfast. My roommate on the trip Katie B who is from the same town as I, found out that not only was Ronaldo from the state of New York like my husband but was also from the Hudson Valley area where my family previously resided. The same day we met Ronaldo was an afternoon of great tragedy in my city of Moore, Oklahoma. An EF-5 tornado, the worst of the worst, had touched down, causing a path of destruction through housing developments and business areas including an elementary school and junior high.
My middle daughter is a junior high student and was still at school less than a mile from the ongoing tornado damage. My other two children were at my house taking shelter with my mother and husband but Destiney my 13 year-old was still at school where they had lost power. I heard the news and started getting calls from my oldest daughter Courtney about the tornado. Then Courtney told me she had lost contact on the phone when Destiney and heard one of the junior highs had been hit by the storm.
Some in our group from the University had gone to Universal Studios in Hollywood and this is where my horror began to unfold. Power was lost at my house, phone lines went down and then on top of all that, my phone ran out of power at the park. The others in my group went on a few rides as I tried to explain the severity of the moment and being 1500 miles away and helpless. I stood alone, paralyzed in the middle of hundreds of people passing by as they laughed and enjoyed their day as I just began to cry out. I cried out to God and prayed out loud. I bawled and moaned like a hurt animal and I know people began to look at me and wonder what was happening. I began thinking of going to LAX to fly home to my kids. All I could do was make a plan of quick return being so far away from my family. My stomach knotted and I began to feel nauseous as I ran around the park looking for an electric outlet to power my phone. I finally found one in the ladies room and I stood there crying and praying out loud.
Finally hours later, I received word that all my family had been reunited, my children and my sister’s family were uninjured. All of our houses were still standing. Even though I was born and have spent much of my life in Oklahoma, I was never as scared of a tornado until my sister completely lost her home to a tornado in May 2011. Now I understand from her loss to that tornado, how much damage can be caused and how easily a life can be lost. Our families had managed to escape this one, this time. However, the Friday after we returned on our trip, my house was hit by a tornado on a much smaller scale. We lost part of a roof, had water leaks, a brick support beam damaged, a tree fall partially on the house and leaving one side of the house impassible and on the other side of the yard part of the fence had been torn down. We were alive and these things can be repaired. After having friends loose their homes and lives on May 20th, I still don’t feel I have the right to complain one bit.
Long story short about Ronaldo from New York: he flew from California while he was relaxing on his vacation, to Oklahoma to volunteer his time at a relief center. Also, to find out what a small world this, when he arrived in Moore, Ronaldo was partnered with one of my dear friends Karen who volunteers with the Red Cross. Both Ronaldo and Karen worked together but did not know that they knew me until later. I think God brings people into our lives for a reason and during this trip both myself and Katie B from Moore, needed comforting and reassurance to get through the rest of the trip. Ronaldo was one of those guardian angels.
- Shelly Perkins on University of Oklahoma Road to Ruscha trip 2013
