Meade County family affected by tornado in Enterprise, Ala.
By KAREN KENNEDY Meade County residents Shannon and Linda Loose were much relieved to hear their son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren in Alabama survived last week’s tornado. However, their 17-year-old granddaughter, Courtney, a senior in high school, was in the science wing of Enterprise High School when the tornado hit the school head-on. Although Courtney sustained a serious leg injury, she’s going to be fine. Sadly, not everyone survived the tornado. Eight students at Enterprise High School were killed and many others were injured. All told, 20 people were killed in Alabama, Georgia and Missouri as a result of this storm. When the tornado struck, the wind was so strong that it literally pushed students down the hallway. “There were four of us there in the science wing,” said Courtney. “A pregnant teacher got on top of us.” The teacher put her body over Courtney and another student in an effort to shield them with her body. After it was over, Courtney found herself trapped under metal, which two other students moved to free her. Due to a deep laceration on her leg, there was blood everywhere, and she could see the bone in her leg. Courtney was scared by the amount of blood and could only think of getting out of there and calling her parents. At press time, Courtney, who is in the hospital, said she had already had three surgeries, with surgeons performing a skin and muscle graft during the third surgery. A huge University of Louisville fan, at the time of the tornado Courtney was wearing her UofL Bowl Championship Series shirt that she’d received as a gift from her grandparents in Meade County. Unfortunately, the hospital staff had to cut off Courtney’s favorite shirt. When grandfather Shannon Loose contacted Neutral Zone in Louisville to have the store send Courtney another shirt, Neutral Zone decided to send Courtney not one but two shirts – a BCS shirt and an Orange Bowl shirt – and would not accept payment for the shirts. The store doesn’t usually ship items out on Saturdays, but store management decided to forgo its usual policy and got the shirt on its way that same day so that Courtney would have it by Monday. The University of Louisville has sent Courtney an Orange Bowl team photograph, also at no charge. A florist in Alabama went above and beyond on a special gift basket that Shannon and Linda Loose sent to their granddaughter. “Everyone has been just great,” said Shannon Loose. “It’s nice to know there are such good people out there.” Courtney expects that she will need to stay in the hospital for another week. The Loose family remains optimistic that the surgeries will address the problems with Courtney’s leg and that she will make a full recovery.
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This senior year photo of Courtney Loose arrived in Shannon and Linda Loose’s mailbox the day the tornado struck Enterprise High School in Alabama.