The December 10 and 11 EF3 and EF4 tornadoes that ripped through four states did more than displace people. It destroyed long-built homesteads, scattered belongings along long debris tracks and killed scores along the paths.
In the weeks that have followed, social media has served as a matchmaking service — linking families searching for catapulted valuables with those who’ve found them in their yards, on their farms or near their businesses.
Facebook has been a unique bastion in this quest, and it’s just the place Donnie Adams went on December 16 — seeking the owner of some family photos and birthday cards from the 1990s.
A contractor by trade, Adams and his crew were helping clean up a specific property in Princeton near Deerfield — working to split a large tree.
In doing so, they made a miraculous discovery.
Finding the items wasn’t so much the miracle; it was their condition. Torrential rains arrived in west Kentucky less than a week after the severe weather rocked the region — and had these belongings been exposed to the elements, it almost certainly would’ve ruined any photos and cards.
Adams said the way these items were shielded by the tree helped prevent mud and rainfall destroying their physical integrity.
Meanwhile, through Facebook, Adams was able to learn these photos and cards belonged to retired Caldwell County Middle School teacher, Crittenden County High School graduate and Class of 1968 Murray State alumna Edith Carner — whose family resides near Deerfield.
Adams was able to return the items to the Carner family himself, in what was a blessing of its own right.
And, honestly, he almost didn’t discover them.
Carner’s cache wasn’t the only thing Adams was able to locate during his work on this house, either.
While Adams took to his own Facebook page to connect with Princeton for a small Christmas miracle, a group called “Quad State Tornadoes Found Items” does exist — and to date has more than 85,000 people posting and discussing return and relief efforts.
