Woodward, Oklahoma -
A Woodward
woman says she's blessed she'll be able to celebrate her 88th birthday with
loved ones this weekend.
Wilma
Nelson rode out the deadly April 15 tornado clinging to her weather radio in a
bedroom closet. News 9 returned
to Woodward Thursday to check on Wilma.
"I'm just
getting along pretty good now. Life's not easy. At times I get depressed,"
said Nelson.
Nelson lost
just about everything, except family photos, when the tornado took her home of
46 years three months ago.
"Occasionally
[I have flashbacks] especially at night. [I wonder] ‘How did I survive that?'"
4/17/2012
Related Story: Woodward Woman Shares Stories Of Survival In Two Deadly
Tornadoes
Nelson is
going to see her 88th birthday, she says, because she had a weather radio next
to her bed at 12:20 a.m. on April 15. That radio woke her up and gave her the precious
seconds she needed to get into the bedroom closet just before the rest of her
bedroom caved in on her bed.
"That
weather radio definitely saved her life, saved a number of lives here,"
said Woodward Emergency Management Director, Matt Lehenbauer.
Lehenbauer
says thanks to a large donation, on July 13 the Red Cross will be giving away
as many as a thousand weather radio's to Woodward or Ellis County residents. Those
weather radios that normally cost $30 or $40 each.
"Wonderful!
That's great! Something that surely everybody needs," said Nelson.
Since a few
weeks after the tornado, Nelson has called Woodward's Providence Place Assisted
Living Center home.
"They're
very kind here. And we have three meals a day. And I'm going to get lazy I'm
afraid," joked Nelson.
Nelson's
earned some rest and relaxation as she enters another chapter in her life.
"I
don't know how god left me here. He must have a purpose for my life. That I'm
still here I hope I can fulfill that purpose some way," said Nelson.
Wilma Nelson
