Grace under fire – Danielle Campbell
Danielle Campbell was the perfect teammate, said her softball coach Bruce Vonder Haar. In or out of the lineup, the senior outfielder was always up on the bench rooting for teammates.
And when Vonder Haar asked her to switch to slap hitting this season, to utilize her superb speed, Campbell didn't flinch.
“Easy to coach,” he said. “Always has a smile on her face. You wish you could have every team member like Danielle Campbell.”
Her altruistic manner was never better displayed than when her life was in peril the day of the tornado.
Sitting on the family couch with her sister, doing homework, Campbell heard the sirens signaling a twister approaching. That's not a big deal around these parts. Locals are almost immune to the sound, like a fire alarm at school.
“But then our power went out,” Campbell said. “And then I could hear the train sounds.”
Not a real train. The sounds of a fast-approaching EF-5 tornado that hasn't yet touched down have been compared to an approaching train that is pulling up a grade with six or so engines pulling in tandem. There's also a pulsating low frequency sound that can be felt in one's chest, like big bass speakers from a car.
Campbell knew and felt something big was about to happen and wrangled up her sister, her mom, who was cooking in the kitchen, and the family's dog.
“We didn't have time to go down to our basement, so we all huddled in the closet,” she said.
At that point, Campbell can hear every sound and recall every thought.
“The trees start to shake real loud and the wind just screams,” she said. “Trees start breaking and glass starts shattering. My mom says it's a major tornado and we need to start praying.
“Our whole house started to shake. A few moments later we can hear our ceiling being torn off. Everything started collapsing. At this point I'm thinking I'm going to die and I'm expecting for everything to go black and to experience some sort of sharp pain.”
Campbell said she began to pray her hardest at that point, but it's what she prayed for that resonates in Vonder Haar's description.
“I'm just praying that it's me and not my sister or mom because my sister is just going to be a freshman this year and she has further to go than me. I'm really hoping my mother doesn't get hurt or anything because my sister needs my mom.”
A reminder of that devastating day - 5-22-2011 - is etched
into a tree trunk that sits outside the mall campus.
Photo by Todd Shurtleff
Fortunately, all the Campbells survived, but neighbors literally had to pull the trio from the only thing left standing.
“I just remember seeing devastation everywhere,” Campbell said.
Campbell admits she was traumatized by the experience, but softball and being on a team helped heal her emotional wounds. Though she wishes her near-death experience on nobody, she has learned a great deal from it.
“First off, material possessions aren't important at all,” she said. “All that matters is family. You realize that you have to continue on, that you can't lay down and give up once something bad happens. You have to keep pushing.”
She admits feeling panicky when storms and thunder shake the Joplin area now. She'll wake in the middle of the night and check the weather station for updates.
“I get shaky and I don't like it,” she said. “I realize to a point it controls my life right now. But I'll eventually get over it. You realize that everything gets better.”
Though Vonder Haar credits Campbell for being such a giver, the 18-year-old says coaches and teachers were some of the biggest heroes in the tragedy.
“A lot of them lost their homes or church and certainly place of work as well,” she said. “Even though they did, they dropped everything they had to deal with and help us. That was pretty amazing.”
As were volunteer medical people, who on the spot worked on the nearly 1,000 injured residents of Joplin. Campbell said those medics have inspired her to attend medical school eventually.
“I saw what those people did and the impact they made and I want to do that with my life,” she said. “I want to impact people in a positive way, especially if they've experienced the worst thing ever.”
