As a deadly tornado bore down on Joplin, Mo., last month, Joe and Klista Reynolds made a split-second decision: they pulled into a Home Depot.
The move to seek shelter in the giant store probably saved their lives and those of their two daughters, though not everyone made it through the ordeal.
At Home Depot's annual meeting Thursday, Chairman and CEO Frank Blake honored four employees for helping to save lives in Joplin -- including one, Dean Wells, who did not survive.
"I just can't thank you enough for your wonderful performance in this time of great tragedy," Blake said.
Blake read a letter from the Reynolds', who described the effort employees made to get customers to the break room, and to safety. The couple spent the storm under a break room table, crouched on top of their children.
"When it was over, there was a hole right next to where we were sheltered so we could crawl out," they wrote, calling the employees' actions heroic.
The four employees -- Jason Smith, Joe Barbosa and Joe Cabalero and Wells -- listened to weather radios, manned doors and swept the store looking for shoppers who needed shelter. Wells was killed, Blake said, when he saw a man and two children outside the store on his final sweep and tried to get them inside.
Steve Cope, the Joplin store manager who was off duty when the May 22 tornado hit, drove to the store as soon as the tornado passed and was overwhelmed by what he saw.
"It was very emotional," said Cope, who accepted an award on Wells' behalf. "I lost it. The building was gone."
Home Depot has announced it will rebuild the Joplin store.
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