Daughter mourns mother killed in tornado

COLUMBIA, Tenn. (WSMV) – A Midstate family is grieving after a woman was killed in the tornado in Maury County on Wednesday.

Family members said 67-year-old Cheryl Lovett touched so many lives.

Brianne Lovett said her whole world changed in a matter of seconds.

In a single moment, Lovett said she lost not only her home, but also her mother and almost everything she owned.

“She was just a great person. She was wonderful,” Lovett said.

A mother, grandmother and friend kidnapped in the blink of an eye. Brianne Lovett said the sound of the rushing wind was one of the last things she heard before she almost lost everything.

“I was on the back porch just watching,” Lovett said. “I had just gotten home from work. I was just watching it get quiet and then I noticed the wind.”

Lovett said her whole world would spin next.

“After I had everyone and the dogs in the closet. I jumped head first into the closet and that was when the tornado had hit my house. It’s just gone,” Lovett said.

She said she tried to call her mother on the street and warn her, but it was too late.

“She may have been sleeping in her room, but she was home,” Lovett said.

Lovett said both her mother and aunt were kicked out of their home. They found their aunt and rushed her to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. But Cheryl Lovett was found dead.

“She was my best friend and my brother’s. She was her grandchildren’s best friend,” Lovett said. “You couldn’t make her angry. She was always smiling. She was always happy. She was a wonderful person. I never wanted anything.”

She said her family isn’t the only one grieving this loss.

“This is Lulu. My son went there to find as much of my mother’s things for me as he could and he found them sitting on one of my mother’s chairs,” Lovett said.

Lovett sends a message after Wednesday’s tornado.

“Just listen. I know they said ‘tornado warning’ and people here were of the same opinion, we thought it wasn’t going to happen, it wasn’t going to happen, and it happened. It happened. Just go under cover.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family recover.

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