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Friday, May 30, 1997

Twister wipes out 'special' family of five

By MIKE COCHRAN / Associated Press Writer

JARRELL, Texas (AP) - The young woman was angry, heartbroken and near tears. She did not want to talk about the Igo family, Larry and Joan, the daughter Audrey, the twins John and Paul.

It had been a long and terrible day, she explained, apologetically. But silence was impossible.

A tornado had killed them all.

"I can't tell you what they were, what they meant to this town," she said ever so softly, yet defiantly, ignoring for the moment her customers in the Jarrell County Market.

"Words can not describe how wonderful they were."

The young woman did not identify herself, nor was she pressed to do so. The Igo family was something special in this tiny bedroom community 40 miles north of Austin.

"They kept the Baptist Church going," the woman said, referring to the small white rock and frame First Baptist Church where the entire family sang in the choir.

And the sense of loss was enormous.

The Rev. Max Johnson, pastor of First Baptist, said the Igos were so musically talented that he referred to them as the "Von Igos," a takeoff on the Von Trapp family from "The Sound of Music."

Although the Igos had not been officially listed among the known victims as of Wednesday, Johnson and others knew they were dead and could not camouflage their grief.

"The last time I saw them at church they were singing for us," he said, "and it was very uplifting."

As the storm was brewing, the minister said, Igo closed the auto parts store he owned in Jarrell and drove home early. It was not known at once if the boys were already home or if Igo took one or both with him.

The twins would have been sophomores next year.

Meanwhile, Joan Igo, a special education elementary teacher, left school with Audrey for the short trip to the house in the soon-to-be doomed Double Creek subdivision.

"Joan and Audrey decided to rush home ahead of the storm," Johnson said. "They actually rushed home into danger."

If either or all had stayed in place, they would have survived.

"But the house was totally demolished," Johnson said. "I was the first person at the scene. Nothing was left but the slab."

He said he was there because his son had called from the Jarrell feed mill to warn of the impending tornado, and they had suddenly lost communication.

"I thought he might be in the storm and I raced down to the feed mill. It turned out he was all right, but the tornado had come within yards of him. That's when I saw the total devastation."

That was not the only twist of fate. Just hours before her death, Audrey Igo, who would have been a senior next year, received the medals she won in a recent state high school choral competition.

After high school, Audrey had planned to continue her studies at the University of North Texas' renowned music school.

Referring to the medals, Penny Thomas, the administrative business manager for the Jarrell Independent School District, said: "She was very, very excited. It was like that made it official."

Later, as she struggled to find something positive in this tragedy, Mrs. Thomas said she heard the sounds of a mockingbird singing.

"I knew," she said with a sad smile, "that had to be Audrey." Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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