Tennessee woman killed in Columbia tornado remembered as a 'free spirit'

By the time Cheryl Lovett received word a tornado was barreling toward her Columbia home, she didn't have time to act, family members said Thursday.

Brooke Helmick, Lovett's niece, said her cousin, Brie Lovett, sent a frantic text message to her mother warning her of the large tornado barreling toward them on Blackburn Lane.

Cheryl, 67, and another relative, Penny Lovett, were together.

"Brie was on her way home from work. They got to the church first," Helmick said. "My cousin texted them at like 5:18 p.m., told them they needed to get out."

The two women lived in a mobile home next door to Brie Lovett. There was no where safe for them to shelter, Helmick explained. She said her aunt brushed off the warning with a laugh.

"That was the last time they heard from her," Helmick said.

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Cheryl Lovett was found about 100 feet from the home. Penny Lovett was found alive, albeit in critical condition, in the field next to their home. She was rushed by helicopter to Vanderbilt University Medical Center for care.

Three others in the path of the tornado were also injured, officials said Wednesday night. Maury County officials have not yet publicly identified any of the victims.

The home Brie Lovett shared with her 18-year-old daughter, set to graduate next week, her brother, his wife and twin babies is gone.

Alisa Helmick, the youngest of four siblings, remembered her older sister well. Cheryl was the third child in the bunch.

"She was a free spirit, a hippy," she said. "She loved animals, nature. She'd go by the creek and hang out with the family all the time."

Cheryl Lovett was also a giving person.

"She was my older sister," Helmick said through tears. "She was my big sister."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee woman killed in Columbia tornado remembered as a free spirit