AUBURN, Ala. (AP) - One year after their lives turned upside down, David and Ashley Thornton are still living in a state of shock.
“The shock is every day,” David said. “It hasn’t changed, it hasn’t gone away, it hasn’t gotten lighter.”
The Thorntons’ 10-year-old daughter, Taylor, was killed during the March 3, 2019, EF-4 tornado that ripped through Lee County. Taylor was one of 23 people who lost their lives to the storm.
She was at her best friend Kayla Grimes’ house following a camping trip with Grimes’ family. The tornado tore through the Grimes home on Lee Road 38, killing Taylor, Grimes’ father Marshall Lynn Grimes, and Grimes’ soon-to-be stepmother Sheila Creech.
Although a year has passed, March 3 is still etched into the mind of David, who went to the tornado scene in an attempt to find his daughter.
“I remember the devastation,” he said. “I remember our routine, and then that afternoon everything went crazy. Devastation. Life turned upside down.”
ABOUT TAYLOR
Taylor was the sweetest child the Thorntons could have asked for. Their faces still light up when they speak about her, remembering all the good things that made Taylor… well, Taylor.
“She’s a funny little girl,” Ashley said with a smile. “Very sweet, loving. She didn’t meet a stranger. She loved everybody. Everybody was her friend.”
Taylor was a fourth-grader at Lee-Scott Academy. She had been there only a few months, but the staff at Lee-Scott loved her as if she was a student there her whole life, her father said.
“They treated her like she was born and raised there,” David said. “They just loved her to death from the head down.”
Taylor loved to skate, color, be with family and friends, ride horses and a litany of other things. Taylor loved being a big sister most of all.
“She was so excited when she found out she was going to have a brother, or a sibling rather,” Ashley said. “As soon as she found out she was going to be a big sister, she was so excited.”
Faith
The Thornton family has had to move on in life without Taylor, something that has proven difficult because the family sees her everywhere it goes.
“We can’t go down Opelika, can’t pass by the fountain (without seeing her) because she loved the fountain,” David explained. “We can’t go to a restaurant because that’s where she was at.
“We got her name on the wall at Niffer’s. She wrote her name on the wall at Niffer’s, and she’s got fingerprints of her everywhere.”
Despite the grief and shock, the Thorntons say they are continuing to heal and move past the grief by relying on their faith.
“The Good Lord’s the only one that gets us through it,” Ashley said.
The Thorntons are active members of the Gateway Family Church in Auburn. They say their faith, church family and their own family have helped them tremendously during this past year.
“I don’t even want to know where I’d be if I didn’t have our faith – my faith – to get me through it,” Ashley said. “I’m afraid I’d be depressed and not wanting to get up or do anything. You know, like not want to live life or God forbid commit suicide or something awful if I didn’t have it.”
Faith has been a compass for David even before Taylor’s passing, which has helped point him in the right direction since her death and has given him some comfort.
“Not getting to see her grow has been really difficult,” he said. “But we know she’s in a far better place, and that’s comforting.”
LIFE WITHOUT TAYLOR
The Thorntons encountered numerous firsts without Taylor in their lives, which all proved more difficult than the last.
“It started with every holiday that hit after March 3 from Fourth of July – because we always did the same thing together on the Fourth of July – to her birthday in October,” David said. “Thanksgiving, Christmas, her birthday, has just been … it’s not the same. None of it.”
Although those days are difficult, the couple continue in a positive way because of their 1-year-old son, McCrae.
McCrae may not realize what has happened, but David and Ashley want him to know about Taylor and how much she wanted to be a part of his life.
“(We’ve been) telling him about her even though he’s not quite 2,” David said. “Letting him know that he had a sister who loved him and that he is not an only child. Letting him know who she was, how much she wanted him and to be a part of his life.”
REMEMBERING TAYLOR
The Thorntons still see Taylor every day, mostly due to the fact that their son looks a lot like her.
The Thorntons celebrated what would have been Taylor’s 11th birthday this year by releasing 11 Chinese lanterns at Providence Baptist Church, a tradition they plan to continue with each passing year.
David and Ashley also plan to get tattoos in memory of Taylor. Ashley is still undecided about what she will get, but David plans to get her heartbeat, name, birthday and the day of her death.
The family also has plans to remember the day Taylor died with each other.
“We’ll be together, spend the day together… and just remember her,” Ashley said.
The Thorntons decided to take March 3 off work to be with each other and plan to be at Providence Baptist Church to support other community members.
“We both decided to take the day off, just be with each other and also try to be available for the community,” David said. “We’ve been supported by them. There are other people that are hurting that we need to support as well.”
Among the activities at Providence Baptist Church is a ground-breaking for a memorial where the 23 tornado victims will be remembered forever.
Knowing that Taylor will be remembered in this community forever is something her family will never take for granted.
“I think once you pass away it’s easy to get kind of forgotten because, I mean, you’re not here anymore. Your loved ones remember you, but the community doesn’t,” David said. “But I think with this tragedy, it’s kind of hard not to remember that we lost 23 people in our community. I think it’s fantastic that they’re doing it.”
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