Tornado destroys home in Indiana while owner visits family in Irvine

Phyllis Rawlins was visiting her parents, Paul and Anna Lois Arvin, in Estill County when she received a call on Sunday afternoon that her home in Kokomo, Ind., had been destroyed by the tornado that ravaged the area.
Her grandson and his wife lived in the upstairs level of the home that her late husband, Edgar “Eck” Rawlins, built a few years ago.
The grandson was at work, but his wife and some friends from church were at the home.  When the storm hit, they went to the basement, but the wind was so strong that the walls caved in, and a car that was parked in the garage above fell partially through.
The car fell on one of the women, and a couple of them had broken bones but all are expected to recover.
Family members took Phyllis home and delivered clothes and other necessities.
A brother, Paul “Bird” Arvin, also made the trip to Kokomo to help his sister sift through the rubble that was once her home.
Phyllis desperately wanted to recover her late husband’s wedding band.
She told her brother that the ring was in a small pouch.  Bird searched for it a couple of hours, then took a break.  When he went back to his search, he found the ring.
“I had a feeling I’d be the one to find it,” he said.
He stayed with Phyllis and Eck a lot when he was young and says he used to cry to go home with them.  “We were really close,” he said.  “Eck’s the one who nicknamed me ‘Bird.’”
Bird says his sister broke down and cried when he found the ring.  “She said, ‘I can quit searching now.’”
Bird said the devastation in Kokomo was unbelievable.  “It’s something to see it on the news, but when you see it in person, it is unreal,” he said.
His sister is now staying with her son who lives about a mile away from her house.  His home was untouched by the tornado.
Phyllis’ story of recovering her husband’s wedding band made the CBS nightly news, as well as several other news broadcasts.
Phyllis’ niece, Jennifer Arvin, was among a group of Estill County residents who collected a van-load of supplies to take to tornado victims in Kokomo.  Susan Lynch, Lynn Daniels and Greg Tuttle also went to help with relief efforts.