Moore family found refuge at Wal-Mart during storm

Chazlie Jones of Moore, Okla., has never been a loyal Wal-Mart fan, but a close encounter with tragedy during Monday’s horrific F-5 tornado has changed her mind.

Jones and her fiancé Thomas Brey were picking up their marriage license on Monday (May 20) when the deadly storm was brewing several miles away. She said they knew there was a storm threat, which is all too common in this time of year in the Oklahoma City area.

“We decided to go and get the kids, my 8-year-old daughter at her school and the baby at the daycare,” Jones told The City Wire in a phone interview. "The lines were long as parents were all trying to get their kids picked up ahead of the storm."

The clouds gathered quickly about 3 p.m. as the family headed home, some three miles away.

“We knew we needed to pull over, the sirens were sounding but there was no where to stop. Businesses were closed up and time was running out,” Jones said. “We saw a man standing at the door of the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market waving people into the store, so we pulled into the parking lot, grabbed the kids and ran inside.”

She said they were calmly ushered to the meat cooler where roughly 65 people were gathered to wait out the storm.

“The store manager kept a watchful eye out the fire exit door and within minutes he herded us into the freezer. Kids, older folks and store workers were given butcher coats to wear inside the chilly freezer where we waited out the worst of the storm,” Jones said.

Adam Stutzman, the store manager at the Neighborhood Market, said the building began to shake, the sound of a loud freight train weighed heavily on their ears, skylights began to pop, as merchandise swirled about the store. He said the worst of the storm lasted about three minutes, before the calm set in.

“When we opened the outside door we could see a church roughly 20 yards behind the store was half gone and the worst of the devastation was about 100 yards away. We were very lucky to remain on the extreme edge,” Stutzman said.

Jones said Stutzman’s calm demeanor throughout the ordeal was incredible giving the magnitude of the storm.

“My fiancé is a disabled veteran serving two terms in Iraq, and a hero in my eyes, but that store manager is very much a civilian hero to my entire family,” Jones said.

Stutzman, humbled by the comment, said he didn’t do anything special, but just used common sense and preparedness training he has acquired as a lifelong resident of Oklahoma and his 16 years with Wal-Mart. The Neighborhood Market sustained minor roof damage during Sunday’s storm that hit Shawnee and Stutzman said he had roofers there to repair the damage when the storm hit on Monday.

“They were great helping us keep watch ahead of the storm. My entire team is to be commended for the job they did as well,” Stutzman said.

He hadn’t been back at the store long when the storm hit on Monday. Stutzman said he attended his son’s award ceremony at school at 2 p.m., and then drove his family home to get into their storm cellar.

“My wife asked me if I was going back to the store, and of course I was. I made it back and we started to get everyone inside around 3:30. We didn’t want to turn anyone out into the storm, so we stayed open as long as we could,” he said.

The Neighborhood Market closed after the storm so damages could be repaired and power restored. Stutzman said the store reopened about 10 a.m. on Wednesday (May 22).

Jones said they made it home fine and did not sustain any serious property damage, but the emotional wounds will be felt for years to come.

“My 8-year-old daughter lost a good friend in the storm and explaining that has been extremely hard. We’re a close community, our kids play softball together and we have become like extended family to many who have lost homes and loved ones. It’s hard,” she said.

Jones and Brey plan to marry on Saturday as scheduled.

Stutzman said for him it’s business as usual at the Neighborhood Market he has managed for eight years.

“We are glad we could we help," he said.