1 year later: Holton tries to move on from chaos of March 2

HOLTON, Ind. - One year ago, Holton was in pieces.

The March 2 tornado killed three and injured many more.

Homes were blown away, or torn to shreds, a school and church that once stood by the highway are gone, and many trees were sheared.

The town was devastated.

One year later, blue tarps still shelter some homes and insulation is exposed on many more. Mailboxes stand sentry to empty lots.

The trees, given odd haircuts by the tornadoes, are sprouting new limbs.

But as winter starts to yield to spring, Holton is coming back. Jane Crady from Catholic Charities of Indiana sees it.

"It's starting to come together,” Crady said. “We've got eight houses up… we’re hoping by the end of July these houses will be finished and people can finally move back in."

Drywall is up on a new home in the same spot where a mobile home was destroyed. Mobile homes aren't allowed in Holton anymore.

But prayers are allowed, and for the people of Holton who suffered through March 2, a house built by volunteers and donated money is a prayer answered.

The town hopes to rehab 12 more homes that were either damaged or destroyed, but they need more volunteers and donations to do it.

One year later, items the winds blew as far away as Middletown are still arriving in the Holton long-term recovery office.

Cynthia Melton is the case manager, and a resident.

"Emotionally, we are getting there,” Melton said. “I lost my childhood friend in this."

A picture of her friend, Ronnie Picket, still sits on Melton's desk. His body was found blown into the fields behind where his mobile home once stood.

"You were hoping to find them but it was just kind of that you knew in the back of your mind it wasn't going to turn out like you wanted. But you still had to look," Melton said.

Armando Hernandez was also killed on the day of the storm. He too lived in a mobile home. And Holton just recently lost another man to the injuries he sustained on March 2.

Ted Tolbert died in January after almost a year of recovery on life support. He was 71.

"He never did get to come home. We thought he was getting better… and he never did get better, so he never got to come home," Tolbert’s wife, Brenda, said.

The Tolberts were in their mobile home when the tornado ripped through Holton.

“I was watching television and news came on that there was a tornado and they mentioned Holton, so I picked up the dog and I walked into the room where my husband was and… I said ‘where should we go?’” Brenda recalled that night. "We just sat down there and it hit. I mean it was that quick.”

Brenda suffered a broken neck in the chaos. She left the hospital on Mother’s Day in 2012, but her walking is still affected and she can barely use her right arm.

One year later, Brenda doesn't live in Holton anymore. There’s nothing to go back to. She has only visited three times since March 2, 2012 and she says she'd give up what's left to have her husband of more than 40 years back.

"You just miss somebody you know when you… I guess time will heal that, but it's just hard," Brenda said.

Brenda said the last time she went back to Holton was on Feb. 27 to visit her husband’s grave on his birthday.

Moving on in Holton is hard. The reminders are everywhere. But these God-fearing people have faith and each other. And life does go on.

"The moral of this story is always be prepared because life is short and you never know when it's going to end, so enjoy life," Melton said.

“Appreciate what you have,” Brenda Tolbert says. “Might not be much, but appreciate what you have and be thankful that you’ve got your health. Appreciate your family and love ‘em and tell ‘em you love ‘em every day.”

The town will hold a celebration and memorial service at 3 p.m. on March 2 at the Holton Christian Church and will ring bells at the times the tornadoes struck.