In Greensburg

Matt Deighton, Greensburg native and volunteer coordinator for the South Central Kansas Tornado Recovery Center, gave our group a tour this afternoon. We rode in an old school bus on loan to the volunteer center by the Church of the Nazarene in Dodge City.

The tour included a quick stop at Matt’s house, one of the few in town that is inhabitated. Matt bought the house and lot for just over $1,500 and repaired it. Remodeling isn’t complete, so he showers at the volunteer village.

Out back of his house is the tornado siren that he says saved his life. He salvaged the siren, and says he plans to paint it gold, mount it on an old axle and take it around to people’s houses to sound in celebration of their birthdays.

When the tornado hit, he was living with his mother in his folks’ house. After it was destroyed, he stayed at first in a gym, then eventually moved to Bucklin in an 8×29 trailer. Matt was the first from Greensburg to be offered a FEMA trailer. He later switched to a larger FEMA trailer — his first new home — and lived in what Greensburg residents call Femaville in the southwest part of town before moving to his current home.

Matt says his life has changed dramatically in stages since the May 4, 2007, tornado. It’s about to change again. His mother, who was staying in Oklahoma before spending the past six weeks in Tampa, Fla., is coming home.

He left Greensburg mid-afternoon to pick his mother up at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport. A plumber was to install a handicap toilet while he was gone.