‘We could have been planning a funeral’: Grassy business owner sheltered in truck during tornado

GRASSY, Mo. (KBSI) – A higher-end EF-2 tornado first touched down in Grassy, Missouri, early Wednesday morning.

“God spared our lives,” Jerry Trentham said.

Trentham lost everything he had worked for to the tornado: a business he dedicates working at six of seven days a week.

He has lived in either Grassy or Glenallen for his whole life and decided to ride out the storm from inside his truck.

“When I laid down amd got comfortable to go to bed, the truck began to rock around,” Trentham said. “Then everything hit, loud booms and crashes. And then about 30, 40 seconds, it was over.”

His initial thoughts were to sleep inside his truck within one of his shelters so as to not wake his wife after getting back from a long haul.

He was originally planning to avoid incoming hail, with no thought of a tornado.

But he was overcome with emotion when he got up to see what had become of his business.

“Hard, you know,” he said. “I worked all my life. And my family gathered around, and I said ‘Who would want to quit with the family and the team that we’ve got?’ It’s hard to look and see the pieces thrown around, but they can be built. I’m just glad that our lives were spared, but I feel for the ones that lost lives.”

The business has operated for over 40 years: first, as a roofing company but since 1997 has since been using wood waste to make both animal bedding and grilling pellets for smoking meats and food.

Trentham’s daughter, Holley, is one of his four children who helps run the business now.

With Easter around the corner, she was just happy to hold him again.

“My dad could have been injured or not with us today,” Holley Hukel said. “We could be planning a funeral. So, I’m very thankful that we can replace all of this. It’s okay.”

Hukel also knew the family of five who suffered injuries as the tornado ripped through the community.

Many, she said, have undergone surgery, but the children have been released.

The father has been dealing with broken bones in his back.

Knowing them and seeing the damage, Hukel said it’s not something she thought she would live to see.

“This is the stuff you see on the news,” she said. “You don’t become the news. That was the thing. It’s like, I know I’ve seen this, time and time again, and my heart just hurts for these families that have experienced this. You don’t ever expect it to be you in that situation.”

Trentham says plans are to rebuild and to keep going, while taking the time to give thanks for what they do have this Easter.