Roberts & Hart Funeral Home

Couples, cousins, children and “ordinary folks” were among the 23 people killed when a massive tornado wiped out a rural Alabama community. One family lost 10 relatives and had more hospitalized with serious injuries. Here are some of their stories: JONATHAN MARQUEZ BOWEN and MYKHAYLA WALDONNine-year-old Jonathan Marquez Bowen was a good student who loved video games and superhero movies, his mother told The Associated Press. “He really was a really loving child. He brought joy to so many people,” said Shamel Hart of Auburn, Alabama.Hart, Jonathan and his 12-year-old brother Jaylen were visiting 8-year-old Mykhayla Waldon and her family in Beauregard when the tornado hit.They watched Mykhayla’s dance competition on Saturday, and the girl’s troupe ended up “winning first in just about everything and they ended up taking the huge trophy,” Hart said. “She was great. She was wonderful.”On Sunday, the families hung out again at Mykhayla’s home. Her mother and Hart are cousins, but Hart said they grew up together and felt more like sisters. She called Mykhayla her niece.Four adults and five children were in the house when a tornado warning went off on one of their phones. “By then it was pretty much too late. The tornado was pretty much already there,” Hart said. “We just had enough time to grab all the kids.”The adults piled on top of the children in a hallway to protect them, Hart said. “The house just ripped apart in front of us, like the floor snatched clean from under us. Everything was up in the air,” she said.Jonathan and Mykhayla landed near each other, critically injured. Hart performed CPR on her son and instructed Mykhayla’s mother how to try CPR on the girl, but both children died.VICKI BRASWELLVicki Braswell was “Nanny” to her grandchildren, as well as everyone else who stopped into the Beauregard home she shared with her daughter, family friend Christy Norris told The Assoc...

Report by Mae Azango [email protected]In accordance with the late Bishop’s wishes, her eldest son, Rev. Charles Roberts, Jr., preached her funeral discourse, which was also attended by top government officials and dignitaries, including former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor, Nimba County Senator Prince Y. Johnson, clergy men and women of different Christian dominations.“She was a sweet, loving and understanding mother. She will beremembered for her service to the church and humanity. She will also beremembered for her faith in God and the obedience to His words. Yes, she prayedfor me on every occasion. She prayed for the nation; the church and the family.Her favorite hymn was: ‘Lead and Guide Meall the Way.’ Her favorite bible verse was Romans 28: 8, ‘All things work together for good, to themthat love the lord, and are called according to his purpose,’” he said.“In the tributes you will hear many things about Bishop Mai Barclay Roberts but I submit to you that there are things you do not know about her. “My mother was a very humble woman who always shied away from honoring programs. She believed that all honors and glory belong to God. She never boasted of achievements, neither did she boast about who her father was, accept in reference. She did not care that she was the granddaughter of Liberia’s former President Edwin J. Barclay. It was not important that her father, Justice Anthony Barclay, was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia. You see, what mattered most to my mother were Jesus Christ and the things of God,” he pointed out.According to him, living for God was what defined his mother as aperson during her life, and if his mother were alive, her advice to all wouldbe ‘Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness, and all otherthings would be added unto you.’“If I were to ask her today of what I should talk about to God’s people, she would sa...