Jennifer Davis-Irwin remembers her father as someone who loved working on motorcycles, loved cooking bacon and eggs, cheeseburgers — “two bad things for you” — and loved being around family.
But she’ll also remember him as a hero.
Around 11 p.m. on Monday, an EF-2 tornado — with winds up to 135 mph — landed north of the west Tennessee city of Camden. Davis-Irwin said when the tornado came for her father’s mobile home, he acted to save his sleeping girlfriend.
“He ran towards her from the back of the trailer and jumped on top of her so she wouldn’t get hurt, and saved her life,” Davis-Irwin said.
She said that’s what Patrica Kendall told her while Kendall was in the hospital recovering from gashes and cuts. The county emergency management agency director said 67-year-old Carl Frazee and Kendall were thrown out in a field from their trailer.
Their home was one of seven in the county that were completely destroyed. Emergency responders had to cut through fallen trees to reach them. Frazee was responsive when responders found him, yet he ultimately didn’t survive.
“He meant a lot to me, that’s for sure.” Davis-Irwin said. “He was the most giving person. He would do anything for you.”
Davis-Irwin said she had gotten closer with her father in the past four years, ever since her sister died in a car accident, a day after Davis-Irwin’s birthday. She would often come pick up her father to drive him places because he didn’t have a driver’s license. She would have his back, and he would have hers.
Kendall and Frazee had lived together in Benton County for decades after meeting in California, building up their mobile home over the years.
“And they fixed up that trailer to be so beautiful and put so much time and effort. And we all helped, you know?” Davis-Irwin said. “And now it’s just blown to pieces.”
Davis-Irwin said Kendall and Frazee didn’t have insurance on their home, a place that lays in pieces now along Bethel Church Road. But she said the community is rallying to help her and others affected begin to recover.
Apex Bank in Camden is setting up a fund to help those affected by the tornado. Local businesses and the Camden Police Department are accepting donations including clothing. And a cook at First United Methodist Church is making more food for a weekly dinner and inviting volunteers and those impacted by the disaster.
“He always fixes so much food. Whenever we’re feeding fifty people, you can probably feed 200. So he was like, let’s open it up,” said Laura Lamb, a member of the church. “We were already serving and we always have an abundance.”
Benton County Sheriff Kenny Christopher said local officials have already received cleanup assistance from outside counties, and more is expected this weekend.
"We’ve just received an outpouring of clothing, food, anything you can imagine,” he said. “I think we got everything as good as it can be, with the amount of damage we had.”
Meanwhile, the National Weather Service is finalizing preliminary survey results from the tornado.
Samantha Wright, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Memphis, said the tornado in Benton County was very likely the same storm cell that killed at least 24 other people in Nashville and middle Tennessee, and could have been the same tornado.
“We’re thinking that it’s probably the same cell, just started over in Carroll County and kind of got bigger and better, went to Benton County and just continued,” Wright said. “There’s definitely a chance that it could have just cycled through. It would get some energy and die down, and get some energy again.”
A service is being held Sunday for Carl Frazee at Plunk Funeral Home in Camden. Davis-Irwin said she’s following his wishes by having some of his ashes spread near one of his favorite creeks nearby.
Though, her dad had another idea for a service when he was alive.
“He wanted me to have him a big party and everybody get drunk. I said ‘I can’t do that, Daddy,’” she said with a laugh. “That’s what type of person he was.”
