By Dick Berry - email
Posted by Dave Dykema - email
NORTHWEST OHIO (WTOL) - Seven people lost their lives when tornadoes struck northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan Saturday night and early Sunday morning.
Bailey Bowman and her boyfriend Gerald Lathrop were returning from dinner along SR 795 when the twister dropped down out of the sky.
They stopped their car and made a mad dash for the Lake Twp. Police station.
"The tornado picked me up," said Lathrop. "I landed between two boulders. Whole building collapsed on me. I crawled out, and an officer from the township let me inside."
But Bowman wasn't so lucky. She was killed.
"They went out and found Bailey in the yard. She didn't make it," Lathrop said.
Bailey leaves behind her grieving boyfriend and young son Gerald Junior.
"Bailey was energetic. Filled with life and just an amazing person," Bailey's dad, Mike Granata, said.
Also remembered the day after tornadoes destroyed property and lives: four-year-old Hayden Walters and his mother Mary.
Both died when a tornado ripped through their home in Millbury.
"He was always running around and having fun. Driving his mom and dad crazy. Afraid he was going to fall off or hurt himself. Energetic, full of fun and life," said Scott Gibson, describing Hayden.
Earlier Saturday night Scott and Kristie Gibson had the Walters family over for dinner. Mary and Kristie were best friends.
"She was a people person. She loved kids and that showed at home, work, school, church. Everyone knows that everybody loved her too," Kristie said.
Mary's husband Ryan and their daughter Madison are hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit at Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center.
Here's a list of those who have lost their lives in these storms: Bailey Bowman, Kathleen Hammitt, Ted Kranz, Hayden Walters and Mary Walters.
The names of the two other victims have not yet been released.
