Sad homecoming for Joe Don Rooney
Sheila Stogsdill, who has been covering the aftermath of the Picher tornado for The Oklahoman, and I wrote this story about Joe Don Rooney of Rascal Flatts returning to his hometown of Picher in the wake of last weekend’s twister. It’s an expanded version of the story that ran in The Oklahoman today.
Country artist surveys former home
PICHER – Joe Don Rooney was 19 years old when he left his boyhood home in Picher for Nashville, Tenn.
The country music star returned to his hometown Tuesday, but there’s no going back to the house where he grew up.
“It’s basically demolished,” Rooney said in an interview Wednesday.
Rooney, guitarist for hitmaking country trio Rascal Flatts, came back to Picher to volunteer with the American Red Cross, which is helping out in the aftermath of Saturday’s devastating tornado. The EF-4 twister caused seven deaths, at least 150 injuries and destroyed 114 homes.
His reaction when he surveyed the remains of his hometown: “Wow.”
“I have seen a lot of pictures (of the destruction),” Rooney said Wednesday. “It looks like a war zone. It’s under such horrible circumstances to be back home.”
“Bad ending to a sad story”
Rooney, 32, tried to emotionally prepare as he drove down Francis Street, but the sight of mass destruction left him numb.
When he got to the house his parents bought in 1975, just months before he was born, he found all the windows were blown out. Chat from the mountainous chat piles that surround the community are now embedded in the sheetrock.
Everything south of his childhood home “is history.”
Since he got into town, Picher’s most famous son has been comforting and talking with family and old friends as he walks though broken glass and debris.
“I think it’s a bad ending to a sad story,” he said. “In a weird way, it’s like God is just trying to help out (the buyout).”
Since 2006, the town has been under a federal buyout program, which pays willing residents to relocate from the town polluted by decades of lead and zinc mining.
If the tornado had hit Picher five years ago, hundreds of people would have lost their lives, he said.
“The problem is now fixed sooner rather than later,” said Rooney, who has watched the slow fade of his hometown from afar.
On Tuesday, state and federal officials toured the area, visited with displaced residents and said no government funds will be used to rebuild Picher.
“They looked everyone they talked to in the eye – they really listened to the people,” Rooney said.
While his brother, Mike, still lives on the north side of Picher, several of Rooney’s relatives have participated in the buyout. His parents moved to Baxter Springs, Kan., after their home was bought out last summer, and his sister, Robin, recently moved to Quapaw after her house was bought out. Another sister, Kelly, lives in Nashville.
None of Rooney’s family was hurt in the twister, but a good friend, Jack Kelley, and his son, Brandon, were injured. Kelley’s wife, Mistie, was killed.
“We went to high school together and played sports together,” Rooney said of Jack Kelley.
Rooney graduated from Picher High School in 1994 with 25 other classmates.
“In a small town, everyone knows everyone and it’s a family,” Rooney said.
He said the first thing he noticed after the destruction was how the people are all working together. There are no hard feelings between anyone – the one bright spot in all of the destruction.
Helping out
Along with notching No. 1 hits and platinum album sales, Rascal Flatts has become known for its philanthropic efforts, particularly on behalf of the American Red Cross, Make-A-Wish Foundation and Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, a Nashville, Tenn., a nonprofit research and teaching hospital.
“I have learned a lot about relief efforts through the Red Cross,” said Rooney, who was wearing a Red Cross vest Tuesday as he toured the remains of the town.
He and bandmates Jay DeMarcus and Gary LeVox have been part of the American Red Cross National Celebrity Cabinet since 2004. The group prominently featured a Red Cross worker, along with other everyday heroes, in its video “Every Day,” which debuted last month.
Along with volunteering with the Red Cross in Picher, Rooney said he made a personal donation and the group wired money for the relief efforts earlier this week.
In addition, the band is turning its scheduled Sept. 25 concert at Tulsa’s new BOK Center into a fundraiser, with a majority of proceeds from the show going to tornado relief efforts through the Red Cross.
Rascal Flatts will receive Sunday night the 2008 Academy of Country Music/The Home Depot Humanitarian Award. The award will be presented at the 43rd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, which will air live from Las Vegas at 7 p.m. Sunday on CBS.
The band also is nominated for the entertainer of the year and vocal group of the year awards at Sunday’s Academy of Country Music Awards.
-BAM
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Rascal Flatts is the most amazing group of all time in any genre of music. They have done such amazing things for sooo many people across the country. They deserve every award they have won and sooo much more. I am truly thankful that none of Joe Dons family were harmed in this natural dissaster. They are such kind hearted people, and I know that God smiles down on them every day. Gary, Jay, and Joe Don are the BEST!!!