The national media ignored it.  If you don't live in the Memphis area, then you might not even be aware that it happened.  But for us Mid Southerners, the specter was all too real.
    On July 22, 2003, between 6:30 and 7:30 AM CDT, a line of thunderstorms roared into the Memphis area that included straight-line winds up to 100 miles per hour.  Trees were uprooted, homes and automobiles were destroyed, and much of the city was without electricity for over a week.
     Elmore Holmes of Lower Mississippi Woodworks was among the most unfortunate: his home, while he was in it, was crushed by a massive willow oak tree.
    But even as he crawled from beneath the wreckage, Elmore saw something of great value lying on the ground all over town.
     Premium hardwood.
     Elmore enlisted the help of Scott Banbury, president and CEO of Midtown Logging and Lumber Company, to mill the tree that destroyed his home into beautiful oak planks, much of which will be used for flooring when the home is rebuilt.
     Elmore set out with his chain saw and splitting tools and covered the town, determined to offset his personal misfortune with a professional windfall.  He found valuable woodworking stock in the form of oak, walnut, cherry, hackberry, and honeylocust trees.
     The following photographs show scenes from the aftermath of the Big Storm.
 
 

 
 
 

Scott Banbury prepares the trunk of Elmore's tree for the sawmill by ripping it with a chainsaw.

Scott looks on as his cousin, Austin Scott, completes the task of ripping the log into quarter bolts.

 
 
 

A stack of premium oak lumber rises from the ground in Elmore's backyard.

Nobody's gonna freeze to death at Mom and Dad Holmes's place this winter.  That's because there was plenty of scrap wood left over from the log after the milling was done.