Family rebuilding house on same foundation laid bare by tornado

Karen and Rick Simon, with their daughter-in-law, Rebecca Simon, stand outside their new home on Tower Road in the Saltillo community. Karen and Rick are rebuilding on the same foundation where their house stood before it was completely destroyed by a tornado on April 27, 2014.
Karen and Rick Simon, with their daughter-in-law, Rebecca Simon, stand outside their new home on Tower Road in the Saltillo community. Karen and Rick are rebuilding on the same foundation where their house stood before it was completely destroyed by a tornado on April 27, 2014.

In January, after much soul-searching and praying, Rick and Karen Simon of Saltillo made a major decision. They decided to rebuild the home they lost in last year’s tornado on the same spot — on the exact same foundation that was laid bare on April 27, 2014.

“I know we said we wouldn’t rebuild here,” Rick said, “but we just didn’t see any place else here on the farm that we liked.”

Karen said it took the couple a while, “and a lot of prayer,” to make the decision.

“One morning, we just woke up and said, ‘Let’s do it,’” she said.

“We’ve been going to New Life Church, and one Sunday in January, it seemed the sermon was just meant for us,” Karen said. “It talked about putting 2014 behind you and starting a new year.

“That’s what we are doing. We felt a sense of peace come over us after we made the decision. I know it’s the right decision. This is home. We are going to try it again. I hope this will be the last time we ever have to rebuild.”

Rick and Karen have now lost four homes to natural disasters — two were destroyed by tornadoes, and two by fires.

Rick and Karen started building the new house on Tower Road about March 15. The first thing they did was install a safe room.

“That was a have-to thing for us,” Karen said. “All the neighbors who are rebuilding have one.”

Rick said the new house will be basically just like the old one, “with just a few changes.”

The Simons’ oldest son, Kenny, and his wife, Rebecca, lost their home at the same time. They lived right next to Rick and Karen.

The slab that was once the foundation of their home remains bare — Kenny and Rebecca are going to rebuild somewhere on the family farm, but not in the same location where their home once stood.

Kenny and Rebecca are renting a house in Conway. Both still work for the University of Arkansas, Division of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service in Little Rock.

“We’re pretty much back to normal, aside of being back here on the farm,” Rebecca said. “The kids went back to school and daycare, and we went back to work about two weeks after the tornado hit last year.

“We’re going to build back here on the farm, probably between here, where Rick and Karen are rebuilding, and down there where Jacob lives.”

Rick and Karen’s middle son, Jacob, lives with his wife, Erica, and their 6-year-old daughter, Katie, on the other side of his parents. It was in Jacob’s safe room that the family rode out the tornado. Jacob’s house received only minor damage from the tornado.

“Kenny thinks that spot might not get hit if another tornado comes through here,” Rebecca said.

Kenny pretty much takes care of the family farm.

“He’s been spending all of his spare time cleaning up the farm, mending fences. That’s how he is coping with the loss,” Rebecca said.

“We did not lose any cattle. We were very fortunate,” she said.

“The kids — Nicolas, 12, Kendra, 7, and Addyson, 5 — still get a little scared when the weather turns bad,” Rebecca said, adding that they attend school and daycare in Vilonia. “What I tell them … what I want them to know … is that tornadoes don’t happen every day.”

Rick and Karen have been living in a recreational vehicle since the tornado.

“One of Kenny’s friends offered to lend it to us,” Karen said. “It’s been a blessing.

“We talked about renting in town, but that’s not for us,” Karen said. “I grew up on a farm. The country life is the only life for me.

“We’ve done the RV by choice, not because of money or anything else. We wanted to be here on the farm.”

Karen retired last August after 30 years of teaching kindergarten in the Vilonia School District.

“I’ve really had to find things to keep me busy,” she said with a smile. “Rick would go off to work, and I would be there in the RV by myself all day.

“I still take care of the grandkids some, and I go visit my parents up near Enola.”

Both Rick and Karen said they are still “devastated” by last year’s tornado.

“But we have our family,” Karen said. “That is what is most important.

“It’s a miracle that no one in the family was hurt. God was looking over us.

“We are just so fortunate that we could all walk away. If someone had been killed, that would have been the end of me.”

Rick said so many people have helped them during the past year.

“People have been so good and have worked so hard to help us,” he said.

“I just hate that this happened to us,” he said. “You could pout about it the rest of your life, but what good is that? Not one of us was hurt or killed. We are thankful.”

Rick and Karen hope to have their new home ready by June, just in time to greet the newest member of their family. Their youngest son, Jeremy, and his wife, Elizabeth, are expecting their first child in July, a son, Kobe. Jeremy and Elizabeth live in Morrilton and plan to move to the farm someday.

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