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4:26 p.m. • 5-21-13

Weather Forecast for Raleigh

  • Wed: Thunderstorm.
    • Hi: 84° F
  • Thu: Thunderstorm.
    • Hi: 80° F
  • Fri: Partly Cloudy.
    • Hi: 76° F

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> 7 Day Forecast

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Published: 2011-04-20 18:22:00
Updated: 2011-04-21 07:51:37

Cary workers recover yearbook for Sanford tornado victim


Beth Pope, Sanford tornado victim
Beth Pope, Sanford tornado victim
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One victim on Saturday's storms was reunited Wednesday with a piece of her past.

Beth Pope's home in Sanford was left splintered by the tornado that hopscotched its way from Sanford through Raleigh. She and her husband escaped without injury, but their son remained in UNC Hospitals on Wednesday with a punctured lung.

"We've basically lost everything we had," Pope said. "I could feel we were being lifted up. I just started screaming. It's a miracle that we're still here."

Some of her memories also survived unscathed.

The tornado carried her 1978 Lee County High School yearbook about 30 miles to Cary, where SAS employees clearing storm debris found it on the software developer's campus on Monday.

SAS posted pictures from the yearbook to the employee website, and Shannon Heath then went looking for the book's owner.

Using the name "Beth Morgan" found in the book's autograph section, she posted information on her Facebook page. Someone else took the information and posted it to a Facebook page set up for storm victims in Sanford.

"We just really wanted to get it to her, because in times like these, you hold onto whatever you can," Heath said.

Within 12 hours, someone linked the yearbook to Pope.

WRAL News returned the yearbook to her on Wednesday.

"I am surprised it's still intact," she said, adding that the book and the memories it contains have never been more important.

"It definitely does mean a lot to me that somebody cared enough to try to contact me and try to give me some of my memories back," she said. "It's just a part of my life."


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There is a NC Lost & Found on facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/NC-Tornado-Victim-Lost-and-Found/205855619434496

Yeah, if any of the sanford people want their insulation back. Come to Cary, got plenty. - Mike Troll

to miketroll3572..... I tell you what, maybe you should keep it to protect your ___ from the next tornado......we would say why dont you come and donate some time and help pick our insulation up, but we wouldn't want people with your attitude...or disrespect - Kasper

See, I get humor out of that. Sure it's probably a bit too soon to joke about it, but I didn't get a nasy vibe of of Mike's post. Relax, it's the internet.

sayit - "I wouldnt consider an F3 a "Small" tornado."

Me either.

An F5 is tops; an F3 is more than half way there.

I know when the tornadoes hit E OH and PA some years ago, photographs were found some 80 miles north in my dad's yard.

Some things were never found. A Benjamin Franklin stove dealership in Tidioute, PA had 80 cast iron heating stoves in stock. None of them were ever found.

Amazing.

I found debris in a field off hwy 401 but I'm sure it came from nearby. It was a stuffed animal, contact lens case and blanket.

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      — Tuesday, May 21, 2013 4:18 PM
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