Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
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Sammy Linebaugh ReportingCommon sense tells us there's no way a Book of Remembrance with its paper pages can survive a raging river. But days after the flood washed away her home, a St. George resident got quite a surprise.
Glenna Sanderson: "One by one, and my husbands fruit trees he'd planted, one by one."
It all happened so fast says Glenna Sanderson. The swollen river just started gobbling everything in its path.
Glenna Sanderson: "I didn't get any clothes. I had grubbies and house slippers."
Recently widowed, Glenna's neighbors helped her save a few precious items, her husband's paintings, and some of her own, like one she painted of her mother. The rest of her belongings, her home, were gone. It would be devastating for most people, but then Glenna Sanderson isn't most people.
Glenna Sanderson: "Losing my dead husband of 64 years, the most wonderful marriage I've heard of on earth, to lose the home was no big thing."
Sure a home could be rebuilt, but Glenna was about to get a surprise -- the gift of getting back something she couldn't replace. About a week after the flood, Bart Imlay and his family were out on their property searching through the debris. Among the clothing and appliances and shingles Bart found a book.
Bart Imlay: "Really surprised it wasn't hurt any more than it was."
Resting on a log, partially covered by stray plastic, a mile down river was Glenna Sanderson's book of remembrance.
Bart Imlay: "It looked like it got on that log and road it all the way down."
Glenna Sanderson: "It was just a pure miracle."
The pages and the pictures dating back generations were mud-caked, but otherwise untouched. The genealogy she'd spent months researching was all legible. This was her only copy.
Glenna Sanderson: "I have just felt so blessed every day."
That's Glenna say neighbors, wise and aware -- in every storm, there is a bright side. Glenna Sanderson is featured in a book memorializing the January floods in the St. George area. The book has helped raise money for flood victims.
