‘We lost our matriarch’: Family mourns great grandmother killed in tornado
MAURY COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) – Funeral services for the great grandmother killed after an EF3 tornado that hit Maury County will be held Wednesday.
Cheryl Lovett, 67, was inside her home in Spring Hill with her aunt when the storm hit last Wednesday.
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“We lost…we lost our matriarch,” Cheryl’s daughter Brianne Lovett said as she began to cry. “She retired Wednesday, so she could be home with all of us.”
That dream was ripped from the Lovetts hours later as a tornado tore through the family’s property.
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“My brother was screaming for me. He was praying,” Brianne explained, saying she and her brother’s family live next door to their mom. Brianne added their family of six, including newborn twins and five dogs, all took cover in a bedroom closet.
“A picture my mom gave me fell on top of us and I just held it up and prayed. I felt it. I felt it take my house,” Brianne said.
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It’s a feeling and sound that she said will forever haunt her mind.
“The babies was screaming and my daughter screaming, ‘Mommy,’ it will haunt me forever,” she said.
According to Brianne, the family farm on Blackburn Lane is now a sight that’s too hard to bear, where you see rubble burning in a hole.
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“It’s awful to see it the way it is. My whole life’s been here my whole life,” she shook her head.
Brianne is now vowing to carry on her mom’s spirit by staying strong as the family looks to start over.
“I got to handle it for my babies. I got to handle it for my brother. I have to handle it no matter how hard it is. I lost my best friend; we all lost our best friend, but we are going to make it. We are going to make it. She was a strong woman and I’m her made over, I know I am. I know I am. I am that woman. I am my momma and I will keep going for my family.”
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Brianne said she is counting her blessings as her daughter gets to graduate high school Tuesday, May 14, before they honor her mother the next day at the funeral. Brianne is also set to welcome another grandbaby on Thursday.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family.
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