PHOTO: The seamstress who repurposed a wedding dress is pictured holding a pair of scissors silhouetted against the dress. | Abigail Fowler photo
By JANET CARDEN | Special to arkadelphian.com
More than 25 years ago, a devastating tornado tore through Arkadelphia and uprooted foundations of life and families. Power, homes, businesses, and lives were lost on March 1, 1997, but kindness proved far more superior as Arkadelphians came together to help one another through a shared crisis.
Right after the tornado hit, Cheryl Covington and her husband went to check on their friends’ two girls staying with their grandparents for the weekend. The pair drove as close as they could, but at about four to five blocks out, they were forced to walk over debris and rubble to get to the girls. Once they arrived, they saw significant damage and knew the grandparents and girls needed to get somewhere safer.
Covington took one girl and her husband took the other and walked the four to five blocks back to their car. The couple also helped the elderly grandparents through the debris-ridden roads.
“It was so weird to see places completely wiped away and it was disorienting navigating that while trying to get to the girls,” said Covington, describing buildings that were completely decimated and others that were severely damaged.
Because the tornado was so traumatic for many, it’s no surprise that Abigail Fowler—one of the girls saved by Covington—remembered the moments leading up to the tornado.
“I saw some winds forming and then my grandparents told us to play turtles and my grandma covered my sister and my grandpa covered me,” said Fowler.
Fowler recalled her grandparents fondly, saying they had handled the situation well for her being the oldest of the two girls and only 3 years old. Without finding shoes, the girls couldn’t walk on their own, which is why both Covingtons carried the girls to their vehicle.
“They were our safety,” said Fowler, emphasizing the chaos of the tornado with the memory of finding toys all over the yard. “We still found random marbles and Jacks decades later from childhood.”
As friends of the family, Covington kept up with Abigail and her family. Years later, Covington’s daughter, GraceAnn Covington, was getting married and planning her wedding.
Weddings are chock-full of traditions, and one that occasionally occurs is the repurposing of a mother’s wedding dress for a daughter to wear on her big day. In this case, GraceAnn wanted to wear her mother’s dress at the reception. Covington kept her dress for 32 years and wanted to maintain some of its 1990s charm while allowing her daughter to give it a modern update. Covington reached out to Fowler, who only took on a few projects a year, as repurposing clothing wasn’t her main focus or job.
“I was honored they would ask me to be a part of their mother-daughter bonding moment.” Fowler said, happily describing the process of taking into consideration Covington’s wishes for the dress while giving the dress the modern update that GraceAnn wanted for her reception dress.
“She was just so great to work with and made sure that we were happy every step of the way. I was just really happy with how everything turned out and that we were able to kind of give [the wedding dress] a second life.” Said GraceAnn, explaining how Fowler would check in with Covington and GraceAnn frequently throughout the process.
What made this moment even more impactful for Fowler was being able to repurpose the dress in the same home that kept her safe all those years ago during the tornado. She even noticed how she was remodelling her home at the same time the Covington’s were getting their dress repurposed, creating a full circle moment for the group of women.
Though the tornado did damage, both mendable and irreparable, Fowler and the Covingtons were able to share a special moment of remarkable kindness and purpose, each in their own way.
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