Storm brings high Tide

PHIL CAMPBELL – The smile across Kolby Wilson’s face Thursday showed more than just that of a six year-old having a happy birthday.

It was a smile filled with relief and escape.

For the first time in two weeks, Wilson was able to enjoy himself the way a kindergarten student should.

Thursday, State Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow and Wilson’s classmates threw a birthday party in his honor, complete with an Alabama hounds tooth birthday cake, Alabama balloons and Alabama gifts.

For Wilson, those Alabama gifts were a welcomed gift. He was one of four students in his kindergarten class to lose their homes during the April 27 tornado that ripped across Phil Campbell and East Franklin.

During a magic show held last week for students from areas affected by the storm, Morrow noticed Wilson standing in the crowd holding his shirt as if he was trying to cover it up.

Morrow approached Wilson and his teacher, Alicia Swinney, asking how he was.

“He was holding his shirt so nobody could see it,” Morrow said. “I asked him what was on it and he said it was an Auburn shirt. I told him that I liked it and he said he didn’t because he was an Alabama fan.”

The Auburn shirt was the only thing he had to wear that day.

“I didn’t have anything else to put on him,” said his mother, Jada Colbert.

That’s when Morrow decided to do something special for him.

“Johnny Mack found out his birthday was this week and wanted to do this for him,” Phil Campbell Elementary School principal Jackie Ergle said.

“This is a memory that he will never forget. The tornado is a memory he will never forget, but so is this. It is just so good to see him, and all of these children, having fun again. They have been through a lot.”

Wilson had been suffering from a series of seizures for months and the trauma of being in the tornado had made things worse.

“He has been having a terrible time,” said his grandmother, Jackie Colbert.

“He was in the house with his mother and sister they held a mattress over their head when the tornado came over. He told me ‘you know the bad guys, well this is the baddest guy you will ever meet,’ talking about the tornado.

“But this is the best day he’s had in a long time.”