4-year-old's tornado memories include Miss Ruth's final hug

About the series

The first in a series of stories that look at how some of the April 28 tornado survivors are coping three months later.

LOUISVILLE – Four-year-old Ashtyn Rose Mitchell remembers it all.

She remembers Ruth Bennett, the 53-year-old owner of Ruth's Daycare Center in Louisville, picking her up and holding her extra tight as the wind outside made loud, scary noises.

She remembers the wind taking her breath when Miss Ruth opened the door and raced toward a storm shelter, Ashtyn still pressed firmly against her chest.

She remembers the wind lifting them off the ground and blowing them some 150 feet "into the bushes" — child-speak meaning the limbs and branches of downed oak trees.

She remembers crying and screaming, but Miss Ruth wouldn't say anything. "Miss Ruth was asleep," she said.

She remembers calling for her mama and daddy and sister and brother. Soon, three men wearing firemen uniforms appeared and pulled her out of the bushes and took her to the doctor in their truck. She hoped someone could make her left leg stop hurting.

She remembers that the firemen didn't awaken Miss Ruth. She remains puzzled by that.

Ten people died in Winston County when the EF-4 tornado roared through April 28, including Bennett, who made headlines nationwide for her courageous act of devotion.

She spent the final seconds of her life amid some of the angriest weather imaginable but managed to help give Ashtyn the priceless gift of life — and the unforgettable memory of Miss Ruth's final hug.

Since the storm, Sheena Mitchell has taken to calling her youngest daughter by her first and middle names.

"The name Rose comes from my aunt and my great grandmother," she says. "When I think of them, I think of strong women. And I know Ashtyn Rose is strong, too, after all she's been through."

She suffered a broken left leg, a lacerated liver, several broken ribs, an 8-stitch cut on her forehead, and various scrapes and bruises.

She spent a week at Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children in Jackson and four weeks in a body cast. After it was removed June 2, her left leg was still mending and the muscles in her hips and legs had weakened. She could only crawl most of June. But with steady rehabilitation sessions she is walking again — and with barely a limp.

"The doctors are amazed," Sheena says. "They all thought it would take a lot longer."

Emotionally, the healing has been slow.

"She will say in her sleep, 'Miss Ruth, hold me' or 'Miss Ruth, where are you?' " Sheena says. "She doesn't like sleeping alone, and doesn't like for me or my husband (Willie) to be too far away.

"She used to love blankets and cuddling. But not anymore. She's like 'Don't touch me.' "

Sheena is sitting in the den of her father's home in Louisville. She points to a photo on the wall of Ashtyn Rose when she was about 2 years old.

"The little girl in that picture? She left April 28, the day of the storm. She is not the same Ashtyn Rose anymore. Counselors think she will return to her old self, but they can't give us a concrete time frame. So we just take it day by day."

Sheena, who works as a nurse at Pioneer Community Hospital of Choctaw County in Ackerman, and Willie, a line supervisor at Tyson Foods in Carthage, also are going to counseling with Ashtyn every two weeks. In addition to Ashtyn, they have a daughter (Tykeia, 14) and a son (Jayson, 2).

"When she was in that body cast, it took both me and Willie to handle her, so we both had to take off work," Sheena says. "We didn't get a lot of rest. We got behind on our bills. It hasn't been easy."

And there is another issue facing the family: Ashtyn doesn't know that Miss Ruth died.

"Even though she's been in another daycare now since June 26, she notices things," Sheena says. "She's seeing places being rebuilt, and she'll say, 'My (Head Start) school is broke. Miss Ruth's daycare is broke. But when they get fixed, Miss Ruth will come back.'

"She noticed that Miss Ruth's vehicles had been moved off the lot where the daycare center was. Her son and daughter did that. But Ashtyn Rose believes Miss Ruth came and got those vehicles and will be back soon.

"And it's hard for me to accept that Miss Ruth is gone. After she passed away, I couldn't eat, couldn't sleep. I know she gave her life trying to protect my daughter. And she would've done the same thing for any of the 45 children under her care."

Ashtyn began attending Ruth's Daycare Center when she was 7 months old.

"Me and Miss Ruth's daughter went to high school together and used to hang pretty tight," Sheena says. "I had heard how good her mom was with children. But I had no idea how good.

"She understood children. I used to joke with her that she was still a teenager. She had a zippy red Camaro, was always dressed to the nines, always had her nails done, wore the latest fashions.

"And she loved those kids. She was always buying them things. And you never had to worry about throwing your child a birthday party. She had it under control. She might ask you to supply the cake. If you couldn't do that, no problem. She'd take care of it. To this day, she is the only person who could get Ashtyn to eat vegetables."

The level of Miss Ruth's commitment to the children in her care could be measured by her address, Sheena says.

"She had a really nice brick home out in the country. But when the house next to the daycare center came up for sale, she said she had to buy it. 'Gotta be near my babies.' That's what she'd always say.

"She went from a big house to a wood-framed, two-bedroom, one bath house. But it was close by. If one of the babies got sick, she could take him or her over to the house and keep the others away from maybe getting sick. She always went the extra mile."

Sheena looks down at Ashtyn Rose, who is sitting on the den floor and singing full volume.

"She made it. She's here with me today," Sheena says, her voice cracking with emotion. "So is Miss Ruth in so many ways. I think on those special days ahead — graduation, first date, good report cards — Miss Ruth will always be a part of them.

"I'm glad she remembers Miss Ruth holding on to her and giving her all so Ashtyn Rose might survive. Maybe the memory of that will be the push or the nudge she needs one day to be the best she can be, knowing that somebody made such a sacrifice for her."

Contact Billy Watkins at (769) 257-3079 or bwatkins@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @BillyWatkins11 on Twitter.